Craig Ricci Shaynak

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Craig Ricci Shaynak (1969 in Northport, New York), sometimes credited as Craig Shaynak, is a character actor based in Los Angeles, CA. He has been active in Chicago theatre and more recently, national television and film.

Craig Ricci Shaynak
Born Northport, New York
Occupation Stage, television, film actor
[craigshaynak.com Official website]

Mr. Shaynak graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Medieval Drama in 1991 and is one of a few American students of Medieval Pageant Plays. Under the tutelage of David Bevington, renowned Shakespeare scholar, he produced Everyman, the 16th Century morality play, as well as The Second Shepherds' Play in the original Middle English. In fact, Mr. Shaynak's first professional theatre production after university was to be the dramaturg for a production of The Mystery Cycle, an American adaptation of a British modernization of the Wakefield Cycle, but instead became his first professional acting experience. The adaptation was done by Nicholas Rudall, at the time, Artistic Director of the Court Theatre, and Bernard Sahlins, one of the founders of The Second City and SCTV.

Mr. Shaynak's latest film is Harsh Times, written by David Ayer and starring Christian Bale, Freddy Rodriguez and Eva Longoria. His voice can be heard in the upcoming animated feature Happy Feet starring Robin Williams as well as the biblical epic, One Night With the King starring Peter O'Toole, John Rhys-Davies, and Omar Sharif.

His most recent live shows include Stealing Buffalo at the Gardner Stages in Hollywood, CA, Cowboys & Indians; Dot Not Feather at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Fat, Bald & Loud at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Craig also works often with Vern Urich in plays written by author David Mamet (American Buffalo, Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed-The-Plow).

Craig has started a production company called Kingswell Productions named for the street on which he lives, coincidentally, the same street upon which Walt Disney had his first studio.[citation needed]

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