Shira-Lee Shalit is an award-winning director, writer and filmmaker. Most recently she wrote and directed "The Oh Gees" starring Didi Conn (Grease), Kathryn Kates (Orange is the New Black) and Tony nominees Austin Pendleton and K.Todd Freeman. Nominated for BEST COMEDY at the Cannes Shorts Film Festival snf winner of BEST COMEDY at the Paris Short Film Festival, the Piermont Film Festival, the Award Of Excellence for DIRECTION and ENSEMBLE at Best Shorts Film Festival and an official selection at the LA Comedy Film Festival.
Her feature film debut, A-List, a comedy starring Academy Award Nominee Sally Kirkland (Anna, JFK), Renee Taylor (The Nanny) and Daphne Zuniga (Melrose Place) won the AUDIENCE AWARD at the Milan International Film Festival, the Gold Remy for BEST COMEDY at Houston's Worldfest Film Festival, and was an IFP Project Awardee. She directed Open Air, starring Lynn Cohen (Munich, Sex and the City) which was selected in over fifty film festivals, winning BEST SHORT at the New Jersey International Film Festival and Acefest, the Silver Award at Mexico International Film Festival and the AWARD OF EXCELLENCE at Accolades Film Fest. Chosen by Steven Spielberg out of 12,000 directors, as one of 18 Finalists for the Fox/DreamWorks TV show, "On The Lot” Shira-Lee wrote and directed three films: Check Out, Beeline and Open House, to great critical acclaim from the judges. The very first short film she wrote and directed, Full Cycle, was named a Regional Finalist in the Student Academy Awards.
Theatrical productions include the World Premiere of LAByrinth Theatre Company's Devil of Choice (Cherry Lane Theater), The Johnsons (Jack Theater), What's Wrong With You -(Stella Adler Studio's Harold Clurman Theater), Any Other Name (PFAC), Nick and Zoe (IRT Theater & The Bridge Theater, The Women of Padilla (American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Girls Will Be Girls (NY International Fringe Festival -winner Fringe Favorite), Fault Lines (TBG Theatre) and many more. Workshops include Lyle Kessler's Temptation and Other Sins (Planet Connections), Evelyn Dreams of Horses (Judson), Halley Feiffer's How To Make Friends Then Kill Them (LAB Intensive Ensemble) and many more at Rattlestick, LAByrinth Theater Company, Cherry Lane Theatre, EST, The Actors Studio, Barefoot Theatre Company (Associate Artistic Director 2015-17), Nylon Fusion, Dixon Place, Vertigo Theatre, The Lark, JPProject, NYMadness, WGAE Screenplay Series and LaMama.
Named Head of the Directing Actors division at Columbia University's Graduate Film program, she is also on faculty at Manhattan's Stony Brook/Killer Film's MFA Film Program and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
A graduate of NYU (BFA- Acting) and Columbia University (MFA - Film) Shira-Lee is a proud member of The Actors Studio Playwright/Director Unit and NY Women in Film&TV. A National Foundation in the Arts Awardee, she was chosen as a Presidential Scholar of the Arts in Drama and received the award at The White House.
Shira-Lee is an abstract artist and her paintings can be viewed on shiralee-shalit-art.com. Most recently her artwork was featured in the NYTimes Critic's pick film, "High Tide", starring Marisa Tomei.
Her feature film debut, A-List, a comedy starring Academy Award Nominee Sally Kirkland (Anna, JFK), Renee Taylor (The Nanny) and Daphne Zuniga (Melrose Place) won the AUDIENCE AWARD at the Milan International Film Festival, the Gold Remy for BEST COMEDY at Houston's Worldfest Film Festival, and was an IFP Project Awardee. She directed Open Air, starring Lynn Cohen (Munich, Sex and the City) which was selected in over fifty film festivals, winning BEST SHORT at the New Jersey International Film Festival and Acefest, the Silver Award at Mexico International Film Festival and the AWARD OF EXCELLENCE at Accolades Film Fest. Chosen by Steven Spielberg out of 12,000 directors, as one of 18 Finalists for the Fox/DreamWorks TV show, "On The Lot” Shira-Lee wrote and directed three films: Check Out, Beeline and Open House, to great critical acclaim from the judges. The very first short film she wrote and directed, Full Cycle, was named a Regional Finalist in the Student Academy Awards.
Theatrical productions include the World Premiere of LAByrinth Theatre Company's Devil of Choice (Cherry Lane Theater), The Johnsons (Jack Theater), What's Wrong With You -(Stella Adler Studio's Harold Clurman Theater), Any Other Name (PFAC), Nick and Zoe (IRT Theater & The Bridge Theater, The Women of Padilla (American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Girls Will Be Girls (NY International Fringe Festival -winner Fringe Favorite), Fault Lines (TBG Theatre) and many more. Workshops include Lyle Kessler's Temptation and Other Sins (Planet Connections), Evelyn Dreams of Horses (Judson), Halley Feiffer's How To Make Friends Then Kill Them (LAB Intensive Ensemble) and many more at Rattlestick, LAByrinth Theater Company, Cherry Lane Theatre, EST, The Actors Studio, Barefoot Theatre Company (Associate Artistic Director 2015-17), Nylon Fusion, Dixon Place, Vertigo Theatre, The Lark, JPProject, NYMadness, WGAE Screenplay Series and LaMama.
Named Head of the Directing Actors division at Columbia University's Graduate Film program, she is also on faculty at Manhattan's Stony Brook/Killer Film's MFA Film Program and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
A graduate of NYU (BFA- Acting) and Columbia University (MFA - Film) Shira-Lee is a proud member of The Actors Studio Playwright/Director Unit and NY Women in Film&TV. A National Foundation in the Arts Awardee, she was chosen as a Presidential Scholar of the Arts in Drama and received the award at The White House.
Shira-Lee is an abstract artist and her paintings can be viewed on shiralee-shalit-art.com. Most recently her artwork was featured in the NYTimes Critic's pick film, "High Tide", starring Marisa Tomei.