Lisa Zane
PERFORMING ARTIST AND WRITER LISA ZANE was born, raised and educated in Chicago. She studied theatre, languages and art at Vassar College and at the University of Florence in Italy, then moved to New York, where she entered the experimental film milieu of The School of Visual Arts, when she was cast in Eric Marciano’s The Age of Insects, still being referenced today as a seminal example of the mid eighties New York cult-art film movement. The following year Lisa returned home to Chicago to begin her career as an actress in earnest. She got her Equity card at the Victory Gardens Theatre, followed by an invitation to join the short lived New Theatre Company at The Goodman, headed by Gregory Mosher and David Mamet, where she was cast as Varya in the World premier of Mamet’s adaptation of The Cherry Orchard, also starring Lindsay Crouse, Peter Riegert and W.H. Macy.
Lisa moved to Los Angeles that very year and began working in film and television, and joined The Actor’s Gang, the anarchic improvisational group lead by Tim Robbins. Lisa has starred in several world premiering plays, including Craig Lucas's Prelude to Kiss, for which she won a Dramalogue Award in Los Angeles, and Lyle Kestler’s Robbers at the Seattle Rep. In 1989 she was delighted to return to The Goodman Theatre to star in Aphra Behn’s The Rover, directed by Kyle Donnelly. That same year marked Lisa’s cinematic debut opposite James Spader and Rob Lowe in Academy Award winner Curtis Hansen’s noir thriller Bad Influence. Throughout the nineties, Lisa acted in over twenty feature films, including the perennial Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, and has starred in many popular series including L.A. LAW, for which she received a People’s Choice Award, the mega hit ER, the critically acclaimed Profit, and cult favorites Roar and Dinotopia; She has also guest starred on Law and Order, Judging Amy, The Outer Limits, Diagnosis Murder, and many others, and starred in T.V. movies for HBO, CBS, FOX, NBC and Hallmark, where in 2000, she starred opposite Academy Award winner James Coburn. Lisa has also enjoyed lending her voice to some popular animated series: Iron Man, She Hulk, and most recently, Biker Mice From Mars. (Full credits available at imdb.com; show reel on view at www.lisazane.com).
In 1998 Lisa embarked upon a path that has proven significant in her creative life, that of singer and songwriter. She began giving concerts at hot spot Les Deux Cafes in Los Angeles, making a reputation for herself in a style best described as Torch, which included a repertoire of songs in Spanish and French. Her deft proficiency at a wide variety of song styles made her popular with musicians and she has drawn such luminaries of the music world as Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell and Harry Belafonte to hear her. In New York, in 2000, she performed regularly at The Public Theatre’s cabaret room, Joe’s Pub as a soloist as well as with an act she and two friends created called Pass The Torch. Today, whenever in Manhattan, Lisa performs at the now legendary Cutting Room, where she first sang in 1999.
In 2001, Lisa was invited to sing at the Musica D’Elba Jazz Festival in Italy, where she was accompanied by the famous Russian Jazz ensemble, The Igor Butman Quartet, and along side jazz legends Stefano Bolani, Bruno de Filipi and Toots Thielemans. Lisa has performed in such venerable venues as The Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London, and the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, and at many exotic private events on the same bill with luminaries such as Placido Domingo and Grace Jones. |
IN 2005 Lisa released her debut CD of original material, produced with acclaimed Flamenco guitarist Romero; (available on itunes and at cdbaby.com), a cinematic piece of work, that laces American musical genres with Latin and European influences. From it, the song 'Day Bed' was chosen by the Songwriter's Hall of Fame for its 2006 New Writer's Compilation CD. As a BMI songwriter, Lisa created Bintar Publishing, through which she licenses her recordings, and compositions for film and television soundtracks. Co-writing with her long time collaborator and friend, composer Andrew Chukerman, Lisa has written lyrics for songs commissioned for the series Charmed, for the film I woke up Early the day I Died starring Billy Zane and Christina Ricci, and most recently, for the short film The Make-Over, for which their song ‘Flapunco’ made the first round selection for a Grammy nomination in 2006. Her rendition of the Mexican folk song La Llorona appeared in the Hallmark film Missing Pieces in which she starred. Lisa also appeared as The Medusa, performing a techno-trance version of the Roxy Music hit ‘Love is the Drug’ in the graphic novel-based feature film Monkeybone starring Brendan Frasier.
As a film maker, Lisa created Foo Productions, when she directed and starred in her own 35 mm short film adaptation of Jean Racine's Phaedra, which was accepted at the Napa Valley Film Festival in 1996, and played at the Hellenic Museum of Chicago. Lisa continues to make videos for her songs, often based upon her travels. A few selections from this growing collection of short music films is on view on her website www.lisazane.com and on youtube and myspace.
In 2007, Lisa pulled up stakes and moved to Paris, where she works on her original material in the rich atmosphere of European and world music traditions, and with musicians from across the globe. The Swan Bar, a jazz club in Montparnasse, has been featuring her twice monthly and she’s finding a growing and appreciative international audience.
While in Paris, Lisa was commissioned by the Oak Park Village Players of Oak Park Illinois, to create a one woman show based around her music. This offered her a chance to come home again, and to work with her favorite musical director and collaborator Andrew Chukerman. The theatre piece, entitled BARS; The Girl on the Piano…, is all about saloon singing, a subject dear to her heart.
 Listen to tracks from or purchase Lisa Zane's self-titled album at cdbaby.com/cd/lisazan.
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