Iris Bahr

Iris Bahr
Born New York City, New York
Residence Los Angeles, California
Nationality American, Israeli
Ethnicity Jewish[1]
Alma mater
Brown University, B.A. (magna cum laude)
  • Actors Center, New York, NY
Occupation actress, comedian, writer
Home town Riverdale, New York
Notes

Iris Bahr is an American actress, comedian, director, writer and producer. She has appeared on Friends (as Glenda in "The One with Ross' Tan"), Curb Your Enthusiasm as Rachel Heinemann (Season 5 episodes "The Ski Lift" and "The Korean Bookie"), and The King of Queens. Bahr also played a lead role in the 2006 film Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, and played the director of a documentary in the 2010 horror film The Last Exorcism. Her TV series Svetlana which she wrote, directed, starred and executive produced, ran on Mark Cuban's cable network HDnet for two seasons. She completed filming the Sony pilot Irreversible opposite David Schwimmer in April 2014. She is a recurring character on the new HBO series The Brink (2015) and recently completed a guest stint on Jonathan Ames's new series Blunt Talk starring Patrick Stewart. Bahr is an accomplished Solo Performer. Her first solo show Planet America, about the immigrant experience, was nominated for the LA Weekly Award. Her second solo show DAI (enough) had a successful run Off-Broadway, a world tour and a command performance at the United Nations. Bahr won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Performance as well as two Drama Desk Nominations for DAI. She is currently developing her third solo show, Death 2.0 which was just presented in NYC.

Early life

Bahr was raised in the Bronx, but moved to Israel with her mother at age 13, after her parents divorced.[4][5] During her two years in the Israeli Army military intelligence she attained the rank of sergeant.[3][6][7] As a young woman, she traveled throughout Southeast Asia and South America.[8] She is a magna cum laude graduate of Brown University, where she studied neuropsychology and religious studies.[6][8] Bahr did neuroscience and cancer research at Stanford University and Tel Aviv University.[2]

Career

Bahr did voice acting work for the Star Trek computer games Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force, Star Trek: Elite Force II and Star Trek: Away Team, released in 2000, 2003 and 2001 respectively. She followed this up with an appearance on the last episode of Star Trek: Voyager, "Endgame" in 2001. She also voiced the character of Madeline Taylor in Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (2002).

Bahr guest starred on a variety of television shows, including guest appearances on Strong Medicine, The Drew Carey Show, Friends, and The King of Queens, as well as recurring character Rachel Heinemann on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In 2006, Bahr appeared in her first movie lead role in playing Amy Butlin in Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector alongside Larry the Cable Guy. In May 2006 she had a supporting role as Leonard Hofstadter's girlfriend in the unaired pilot of The Big Bang Theory.

In November 2006, she opened her one woman show Dai (Enough) at the Culture Project in New York City.[7] In the show, she plays ten different characters in a Tel Aviv cafe moments before a suicide bomber enters.[5] Bahr received the 2008 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Performance for Dai, which also earned 2 Drama Desk Award nominations for Best Solo show and Best Sound Design. She also received a UK Stage Award Nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance. Bahr was invited to perform Dai at the United Nations for over 100 ambassadors and delegates.

In 2007, Bahr was a part of the controversial film Poughkeepsie Tapes. In this she plays an interviewed news broadcaster.[9]

She moved to Los Angeles after a city truck injured her when it collided with her bicycle on Great Jones Street in New York.[3]

Bahr's memoir entitled Dork Whore was published in 2007, and was translated into German, Italian and Portuguese. It became a bestseller in Germany. The sequel, "Macchu My Picchu" chronicled her travels through South America.

Bahr was a series regular on the Israeli TV series "Irreversible."

Bahr also does a weekly commentary on KCRW entitled "Social Studies",[10] featuring one of her characters - Svetlana, Russian lady of the night and proprietor of the "St. Petersburg House of Discreet Pleasure."[11][12] Svetlana was also a recurring guest on The Marc Maron Show, and has done regular pieces for Kurt Anderson's show on WNYC's Studio 360.[13] Bahr is currently executive producing, writing, directing and starring the series Svetlana The pilot can be seen on Funny or Die, and the series can be seen on HD Net.

Books

References

  1. ↑ Bahr, Iris (March 2, 2009). "A Jew Goes to England". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2012-05-12.
  2. 1 2 "Iris Bahr". Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale. May 29, 2008. GALE|H1000179084. Retrieved 2012-05-10 – via Fairfax County Public Library. Gale Biography In Context. (subscription required)
  3. 1 2 3 Robertson, Campbell (January 5, 2007). "So Many Different People to Be, Onstage and Off, if She Can Dodge the Trucks". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-05-12.
  4. ↑ Sebba, Anne (20 July 2007). "Interview with Iris Bahr". Archived from the original on January 6, 2009.
  5. 1 2 Genzlinger, Neil (2006-11-17). "Theater as Russian Roulette, With a Blast That's Soon to Sound". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-11-30.
  6. 1 2 "Iris Bahr - Biography". imdb.com. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
  7. 1 2 Hernandez, Ernio (2006-11-14). "Culture Project Opens Iris Bahr Solo Dai (enough) Nov. 14". Playbill. Retrieved 2006-11-30.
  8. 1 2 "Who's News by Lorrie Lynch". USA Today. 2006-05-21. Retrieved 2006-11-30.
  9. ↑ "Shaw Theatre". Shaw Theatre. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  10. ↑ "Social Studies". KCRW. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  11. ↑ Roderick, Kevin (June 18, 2007). "Morning Buzz: Monday 6.18.07". LA Observed. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  12. ↑ "Knocked Up on Darfur - Social Studies on KCRW". Kcrw.com. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  13. ↑ "Getty Fabulous: Live in L.A.". Studio 360. 2007-07-06. Retrieved 2012-05-10.

External links

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