Samara was born in sunny
Santa Cruz, California – a
hippie, surfer, university town
with a bustling organic farmers’
market, cheesy boardwalk, and
spirited progressive
community. An only child, she
sat in on astrophysics
conferences all over Europe with
her brilliant parents as a young
'un and got involved with the
magical local theater festival,
Shakespeare Santa Cruz,
working there every summer
after age 10 when she saw a
sparklingly modern production
of The Winter’s Tale and began
to understand what theater
could really do. Amidst its
redwood amphitheater and
culture of Equity actors from
New York and elsewhere who
were irreverent but disciplined,
glamorous and glamorlessly
nomadic, she was hooked. She
attended Princeton, majoring in
English with an Emphasis in
Dramatic Literature, and acted
in student-run theater as well
as participated in college
politics and journalism, and
received the Program in
Theater and Dance's award for
best actress upon graduation.
During her college years she
also studied abroad in London
and interned for a summer in
New York Theater Workshop's
casting office, tried out
assistant directing at
Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and
was an actress in San
Francisco's American
Conservatory Theater Summer
Training Congress.
After college, she moved to New
York and was a member of The
Public Theater/NYSF
Shakespeare Lab through which
she trained with top acting
and voice teachers and also
taught kids around the five
boroughs. In addition while in
New York she assisted on a
production of Julius Caesar at
Theater for a New Audience,
worked at the artists’ haven New
Dramatists, and acted in
various fringe theater, before
beginning grad school the
following year when she joined
the second ever class of the
Brown University/Trinity Rep
Consortium, the brainchild of
Oskar Eustis and Paula Vogel.
On the side during grad school
she worked as editor and
consultant on The View From
the Center of the Universe – a
book written by her parents,
Nancy Abrams and Joel
Primack, and published by
Penguin in April 2006. It
suggests how we can achieve a
sense of belonging in this vast
universe of ours and how,
armed with this newfound
awareness of our significance,
we might work toward solving
today’s global problems. The
response has been inspiring and
the local Santa Cruz newspaper
announced “it seems saving the
world is a family business.”
After grad school, Samara
worked in New York as an
actress, dialect/vocal coach, and
producer with Studio 42, and in
2009 she moved to Los
Angeles, where she's acting in
TV and film, as well as
continuing to dialect coach.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Gratitude galore to the active
members of the Mutual
Appreciation Society (Nancy,
Joel, Rena, and Larry), as well
as mentors and great pals
along the way: Michael Newton,
Amanda Brandes, Thom Jones,
Michael Mote, Tim Ocel, Kerry
Huang, Tommy Gomez, Brian
McEleney and Stephen
Berenson, Michael Warren, Kim
Gray, Duncan Stewart, Remi
Sandri, Chris Bradley, Craig
Watson, the Axels, Stephen
Gabis, Eric Rosen, Boris
McGiver, Jessica Crandall, Maria
Oliveras, Chris Harcum, Jordan
Burg, Marco McClees, Alex
Torra, Kate Wilson, Alison
Blackwell, Michael Ritter,
Makaela Pollock, Stephen
Graybill, Eric Bland, Neil
Genzlinger, Brian Houtz, Joe
Kochan, Liva Coe, Matt Lembo,
Krista Braun, Ben Beckley, Jo
Heap, Adam Immerwahr, Joe
Cermatori, Terrace F. Club, the
Lynn Blumberg family, and Tara
Firenzi.
Santa Cruz, California – a
hippie, surfer, university town
with a bustling organic farmers’
market, cheesy boardwalk, and
spirited progressive
community. An only child, she
sat in on astrophysics
conferences all over Europe with
her brilliant parents as a young
'un and got involved with the
magical local theater festival,
Shakespeare Santa Cruz,
working there every summer
after age 10 when she saw a
sparklingly modern production
of The Winter’s Tale and began
to understand what theater
could really do. Amidst its
redwood amphitheater and
culture of Equity actors from
New York and elsewhere who
were irreverent but disciplined,
glamorous and glamorlessly
nomadic, she was hooked. She
attended Princeton, majoring in
English with an Emphasis in
Dramatic Literature, and acted
in student-run theater as well
as participated in college
politics and journalism, and
received the Program in
Theater and Dance's award for
best actress upon graduation.
During her college years she
also studied abroad in London
and interned for a summer in
New York Theater Workshop's
casting office, tried out
assistant directing at
Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and
was an actress in San
Francisco's American
Conservatory Theater Summer
Training Congress.
After college, she moved to New
York and was a member of The
Public Theater/NYSF
Shakespeare Lab through which
she trained with top acting
and voice teachers and also
taught kids around the five
boroughs. In addition while in
New York she assisted on a
production of Julius Caesar at
Theater for a New Audience,
worked at the artists’ haven New
Dramatists, and acted in
various fringe theater, before
beginning grad school the
following year when she joined
the second ever class of the
Brown University/Trinity Rep
Consortium, the brainchild of
Oskar Eustis and Paula Vogel.
On the side during grad school
she worked as editor and
consultant on The View From
the Center of the Universe – a
book written by her parents,
Nancy Abrams and Joel
Primack, and published by
Penguin in April 2006. It
suggests how we can achieve a
sense of belonging in this vast
universe of ours and how,
armed with this newfound
awareness of our significance,
we might work toward solving
today’s global problems. The
response has been inspiring and
the local Santa Cruz newspaper
announced “it seems saving the
world is a family business.”
After grad school, Samara
worked in New York as an
actress, dialect/vocal coach, and
producer with Studio 42, and in
2009 she moved to Los
Angeles, where she's acting in
TV and film, as well as
continuing to dialect coach.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Gratitude galore to the active
members of the Mutual
Appreciation Society (Nancy,
Joel, Rena, and Larry), as well
as mentors and great pals
along the way: Michael Newton,
Amanda Brandes, Thom Jones,
Michael Mote, Tim Ocel, Kerry
Huang, Tommy Gomez, Brian
McEleney and Stephen
Berenson, Michael Warren, Kim
Gray, Duncan Stewart, Remi
Sandri, Chris Bradley, Craig
Watson, the Axels, Stephen
Gabis, Eric Rosen, Boris
McGiver, Jessica Crandall, Maria
Oliveras, Chris Harcum, Jordan
Burg, Marco McClees, Alex
Torra, Kate Wilson, Alison
Blackwell, Michael Ritter,
Makaela Pollock, Stephen
Graybill, Eric Bland, Neil
Genzlinger, Brian Houtz, Joe
Kochan, Liva Coe, Matt Lembo,
Krista Braun, Ben Beckley, Jo
Heap, Adam Immerwahr, Joe
Cermatori, Terrace F. Club, the
Lynn Blumberg family, and Tara
Firenzi.
