Tovah Feldshuh: 'Aging is Optional'

The award winning actress Tovah Feldshuh will present her one woman show 'Aging is Optional.'  Performances at 3pm & 8pm, Emelin Theater, 153 Library lane, Mamaroneck, NY 10543.  Call for tickets @ $65 each (914)-698-0098

Actress Tovah Feldshuh's birth name is Terri Sue Feldshuh. She was born on  December 27, 1952  in New York City.   She was raised in Scarsdale, and graduated from Scarsdale High School.    She attended Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Michigan.

Tovah was a rock singer before she started acting. She made her debut on the stage under the name of "Terri Fairchild" and later changed her screen name to Tovah, which is her Hebrew name. Tovah was the winner of the McKnight Fellowship in Acting to the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota where she debuted her acting career starring as Christopher Plummer under direction of British director Michael Langham.

She made her Broadway debut in the 1973 musical 'Cyrano' and starred in the play 'Yentl,'  which won her Obie, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Theatre World awards, and her first Tony nomination for best actress. She received her second Tony nomination for 'Sarava' and her third for 'Lend Me a Tenor.'  Among her first Broadway roles, in 1974, was that of a Jewish woman in 'Dreyfuss in Rehearsal.' "Various Jewish roles have been handed to me. For 'Holocaust,' the miniseries, I just came in, shook hands and got the part."In 1973, Feldshuh acted in a TV movie, 'Scream, Pretty Peggy,' later she again returned to the stage and acted as a title role in  'Yentl,'  the Yeshiva Boy. This play was the catalyst in Feldshuh's career and advanced her career enormously; the play ran for  one year. Feldshuh was nominated for a Tony Award for this play.

She also acted in ABC daytime drama 'Ryan's Hope' in 1976 and 'Holocaust' in 1978. The same year she started her feature film and acted in 'Nunzio.'  In 1981,  Tovah staged her first ever one woman show 'A Touch of Tovah' at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.Feldshuh acted in films like 'Daniel,' 'Brewster's Millions,' 'She Stoops to Conquer,'  'A Walk on the Moon' and 'Kissing Jessica Stein.' She also staged one woman acts like 'Tovah: Out of Her Mind!' (1996), 'Tovah: Still Out of Her Mind!' (2002). 

Feldshuh came more or less full circle with her one-woman shows.   By turns dizzy and emotional, she mixed folk memories, social commentary and showbiz lore in a show which was, as she pointed out, "cheaper than therapy".

Tovah Feldshuh has been nominated for 4 Tony Awards ('Golda's Balcony,' 2004; 'Lend Me a Tenor,' 1989; 'Saravà,' 1979; 'Yentl,'  1976). She was also nominated for 2 Emmy Awards ('Law & Order,' 2003; 'Holocaust,' 1978). Tovah has won 4 Drama Desk Awards ('Golda's Balcony,' 2003; 'Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh,' 1993; 'Lend Me a Tenor,' 1989; 'Yentl,' 1975).

Tovah also won Obie, Theatre World Award and Lucille Lortel Awards.Feldshuh's most recent film is 'Goyband,' co-starring Adam Pascal, Amy Davidson, Cris Judd, Dean Edwards, Tibor Feldman and Natasha Lyonne. Feldshuh also recently starred in in 'Acts of Mercy,' a psychological thriller.

She returned to Broadway in the Dan Gordon play, 'Irena's Vow' in March 2009. She had appeared off-Broadway in this play in September 2008.  She is also a recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanities Award, Hadassah's Myrtle Wreath and Israel Peace Medal, National Foundation for Jewish Culture Award 2002, Jewish Image Award and the Performing Arts Award 2006.

Feldshuh, happily married for 22 years to New York lawyer Andrew Harris Levy, has two children: Garson Brandon, 14, and Amanda Claire, 10.   Tovah's brother David Feldshuh is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright

.  In 2005, she was inducted into the Scarsdale Distinguished Alumni Association. 

For more information, please visit www.tovahfeldshuh.com