About Susan Giosa

Susan Giosa was born in Connecticut on November 23, 1963 but was raised in New York since the age of 2. Her love for acting and the craft started at a very young age. Her mother was an actress who studied at The Actor's Studio in New York with acclaimed acting teacher Lee Strasberg. Interested in all the arts Susan trained as a classical musician starting at the age of eight. She entered college majoring in music but soon realized acting and the theatre was her first love. Susan graduated Magna Cum Laude from Queens College, City University of New York with a degree in Drama/Dance.

Ms. Giosa continued her education and received a Masters Degree in Drama-Theatre from the same university. Much of her graduate work was done in England at the prestigious acting schools in London, RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) and LAMDA (the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts). While there she had the honor of performing at the world famous Edinburgh International Festival. Her graduate advisor was the late Bertram Joseph, a leading expert on William Shakespeare and his works. Her thesis, "Maureen Stapleton, The Life of an Actress" was written from personal interviews she conducted with the extraordinary stage and film actress herself. Susan also spent time interviewing Eli Wallach, Ms. Stapleton's close friend and an accomplished actor in his own right, and Sam Cohn, Maureen's theatrical agent at ICM.

Upon completing her thesis Susan was privileged to study at the Warren Robertson Actor's Workshop in New York City with now renowned acting teacher and coach, Larry Moss. Moving to Los Angeles with her husband, comedian Glenn Hirsch, Susan was thrilled that Larry Moss relocated to Santa Monica around the same time. As she continued to study with her mentor her professional career began to "take off".

One month after moving to Los Angeles she was cast as Emilia the Maid in "Tamara" which became Los Angeles' longest running play, and Ms. Giosa won both the LA Drama Critic's Award and the Drama-Logue Award for her performance. This began her journey toward a diversified and rewarding career. Her first television credit was St. Elsewhere, and she has continued to work for the Steven Bochco Company on many of their other shows including Hill Street Blues, LA Law and NYPD Blue.

Susan's first love remains the stage and she particularly enjoys originating roles. She had the pleasure of working with the Tony Award winning director Jack O'Brien when she created the role of Angie in the comedy "Breaking Legs" by Tom Dulack at the Old Globe Theatre. She won the San Diego Theatre Critics Award and went on to play Angie at the Berkshire Theatre Festival and finally in New York City opposite Vincent Gardinia and Philip Bosco under the direction of the Tony Award winning director, John Tillinger. She was nominated for the Outer Circle Critics Award for Outstanding Debut of an Actress in a Comedy in 1993. Most recently Susan originated 4 different characters in the new comedy, Stated Income, at the Pan Andreas theater in LA, written by playwright, Hugh Gross.

Susan's other numerous stage credits include starring as "Bella" opposite Mercedes McCambridge in the First National Tour of Neil Simon's Pulitzer Prize winning play "Lost in Yonkers" and with Burt Young in "View from the Bridge" for which she won a Drama-Logue Award. Other credits include performing at the Ensemble Studio Theatre (member for three years), and for both the Italian-American and Spanish-American theatres in NYC where her leading roles ranged from Joan in "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" to original pieces, "the Mud Club", written by Jane Anderson to classical theatre, Cleopatra in "Anthony and Cleopatra" and the female lead in Pirandello's "Cece". She recently starred in the West Coast premiere of "The Sweepers" at the ICT, International City Theatre, at the Long Beach Performing Art Center. The production received rave reviews and the LA Times Critic's Choice. Ms. Giosa was awarded Best Actress in a Drama by stageLA.com for her role of Bella.

Other television and film credits include:
Beverly Hills 90210, Reasonable Doubts, Equal Justice, and recurring roles on the series Head of the Class, Paper Dolls and Baby Talk, and several appearances on NYPD Blue. Her most recent TV credit was a guest-star role on Cold Case. Pilots include "Married to the Mob" and "Kelley, Kelley" with Shelley Long. Susan also had the pleasure of working with Joanne Woodward in the Emmy Award winning TV movie "Do You Remember Love?". Film credits include "True Friends" which aired on HBO, "White Palace", "The First Power", "Once in a Blue Moon" (Showtime), and a starring role in the Sci-fi film "America 3000". Susan recently filmed the role of Ms. Thompson in the feature film, After the Wizard, which should be released by 2011.

The versatile actress is also a professional dancer and her first film credit was Saturday Night Fever. While still in school she auditioned for choreographer, Lester Wilson, and spent two months dancing to the Bee Gee's music alongside John Travolta. She recently danced a solo as the "Mother" in Ray Bradbury's "Frost and Fire", a short story adapted for the stage by choreographer Zina Bethune.

Susan writes with her husband, Glenn Hirsch, and they've had series in development at HBO and Showtime. They produced "Comedy Club Superstars", a special for CBS that starred Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Reizer and Tim Allen.

In 1995 Susan gave birth to her daughter Zoe. She chose to travel less in her career in order to spend time being an at home mother. In 1999 she began to teach acting and discovered a new passion in her life. Now she manages to balance a professional acting career, teaching career and family life. She believes living life fully makes one a better actor and tries to set an example for her students. A native New Yorker, Ms. Giosa remains bi-coastal. Susan Giosa's endless passion for all aspects of her life inspires her students to become not only working actors, but to have fulfilling lives as healthy artists.