Frankie Shaw

Rachel Frances "Frankie" Shaw is an American actress, writer, director and comedian. She is best known for her short film SMILF, which she wrote, directed and starred in. SMILF premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded The Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction.

Deadline.com announced that SMILF is now headed to television, attached to Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupinsky and Emily Brecht at Quantity Entertainment, along with Michael London and ABC Signature. Showtime is developing the half-hour comedy, and Shaw is set to write, direct, star and executive produce. As the Deadline article states, the semi-autobiographical SMILF "examines the travails of a young woman (Shaw) who comes to LA as both a struggling actress and a struggling single mom." ^[1]

Personal life

Shaw grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts. Her mother is from South Boston and raised her Jewish. Shaw graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University with a degree in literature, then moved to Los Angeles where she currently lives.

Career

Shaw first received recognition in the completely improvised Sundance film The Freebie and then as the oddball drunken cheerleader in the sitcom Blue Mountain State. Since then, she’s appeared in a variety of independent movies including The Pretty One and Someone Marry Barry.

Shaw’s short film SMILF, which she wrote, directed and starred in, gained attention after winning the Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction at Sundance. Shaw has used the film as a platform to develop a TV show and discuss the role of women on screen. She was quoted in The New York Times saying, “While men react with shock and awe when their screen shows a woman giving herself a quick intimate wipe down prior to a date or when a woman with cellulite bares all, we know it’s not raunch. It’s not groundbreaking. It’s just our life -- dirty, imperfect and real.”^[2]

Shaw served as a series regular on ABC's Mixology and in the ABC Family pilot Tough Cookie. Shaw also appeared on Fox’s Mulaney and HBO’s Hello Ladies. She can soon be seen in a reoccurring role on the USA series Mr. Robot, which is premiering in 2015, and in the movie Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland, reprising her role of Mary Jo from the 2010 series.

Filmography

TV shows

Film

External links

• Frankie Shaw at the Internet Movie Database

1. ↑ Deadline Article
2. ↑ New York Times Article - "Dirty Words from Pretty Mouths"