Lisa grew up in Connecticut singing, dancing and acting in regional musical theatre productions since the age of 15. She studied theatre performance and lighting design at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. After graduating, and a little traveling in Central America, she began her career as a full time actress, choreographer and stage director in the New England area. During this, she worked at the Westport Country Playhouse where she met the late, great Paul Newman and did a photoshoot with him in Food and Wine magazine. She also performed for Eartha Kitt, and shared the stage with Tony award winner Forrest McClendon. Eventually she moved to New York City, sold programs for The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and continued her pursuit of acting. She performed in two immersive shows Off-Broadway with the company Speakeasy Dollhouse; worked with Anne Bogart at Columbia University and collaborated with some incredible people at the infamous Actors Studio.
She returned to Boston seasonally and eventually interned at Boston Casting, beginning her career in film and TV. She began booking film and commercial projects in the greater Boston and New York areas. She moved to LA and while on the West Coast found representation across the board. While there she booked a costar role on TNT’s Murder in the First, two national commercials, and a supporting role in John Travolta’s film The Fanatic. She performed at Second City in multiple main-stage shows and was on the I.O. house sketch team Jeff!. She trained theatrically with Deborah Aquila, Anthony Meindl and Ivana Chubbuck. She also studied improv and sketch comedy with Alan Arkin, Second City and graduated The Upright Citizens Brigade improv program.
While in Los Angeles she wrote and produced four short films, making her directorial debut with her last, Spinning Worlds, Fading Stars. She also was a 1st AD on multiple projects including the short film, She Had It Coming (directed by Gedde Wantanabe) and the upcoming feature, The Blonde Experiment.
In the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, she co-created and became the executive director of the Cabin Fever Film Festival, the first Covid inspired film festival. CFFF hosted a weekly short film competition for indie filmmakers stuck in quarantine. The goal of the festival was to encourage and inspire filmmakers to stay creative and connected despite the trying and isolating times of the pandemic. The festival spanned 6 months and hosted a number of Emmy and Oscar award winning actors, casting directors, writers and directors who volunteered their time and expertise as judges.
She is now back in New England standing in for Annie Murphy on AMC’s new hit show, Kevin Can F*ck Himself. She is also co-creating and writing a comedic TV pilot and is in pre-production for a short film slated to shoot in the Boston area mid-April 2021.
