Miriam Shor

Miriam Shor is an animated and brilliant film, stage and television actress. She received her big break playing the gender-bending Yitzhak in the cult classic film Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Since then, she has appeared in numerous films and multiple television series such as “GCB,” “The Good Wife,” “Damages,” “Bedazzled” and “Cake Eaters.” The uber talented actress will next be seen in TV Land’s “Younger”, the newest Darren Star (“Sex & the City”) created comedy premiering on Tuesday, March 31. “Younger” follows Sutton Foster as Liza, a 40-year-old woman who gets a youthful makeover to help her land a job for Diana, a temperamental over the top boss played by Miriam. The series also stars Hilary Duff and Debi Mazar.  

I was fortunate to have an engaging conversation with Miriam, who is living in and loving NYC. She was funny, effervescent, candid and just delightful to speak with. By the time we finished our interview, I felt as if we were friends.

I am so excited to speak with you, just for the fact that you got to play a drag queen.
I got to play a drag king, who played a drag queen.

“Younger”: What is the premise of the new sitcom?
It’s about a woman who is 40 and is trying to get back into the workforce and being discriminated against cause she’s too old to start at entry level, so she lies, says she’s in her 20s to get in there. I play her horrible boss who hires her, thinking she’s in her 20s.

I would never want a boss like you.
You know what’s funny, I’m curious, so I’m always asking people, “Have you had a boss like that? Would you work with someone like that?” A lot of people have! I work in the entertainment industry, and you’d think that with all the cuckoo jobs, you’d think that I would have worked with someone horrible like that, but I have not. I’ve worked with nut jobs, but no one who treated me like that, and it shocks me that people like that truly exist.

I’ve always been my own boss because of people like that.
I know. It’s shocking, but obviously so interesting though. People like that fascinate me. I’d wanna know why—how and why.

As an actress how do you get into a role like that? I’ve watched interviews with you, and you seem like fun.
I’m a nice person!

I can tell!
I think that it’s the way I would never behave in life, but you get a “get out of jail card” when you’re an actor. You do things and make choices that you would never make in your life for many reasons, but you get to make those choices because you’re in a fake zone of make believe land, and you can just go to town.

You’ve done a lot of fun projects such as “Swingtown,” “GCB,” “The Good Wife” and of course “Hedwig.” Do you have a particular one that you just loved to death that might have been a favorite or one that meant more to you?
Yeah, I mean for me, forever and for always, “Hedwig’s” gotta be it for me. It was the first show I ever did in New York. The filming, I did so many things with it. I had so many interesting adventures because of it, and it’s just a unique endeavor. I’ll just always carry that with me. I’m just so, so, so proud of it. I just think it’s gonna stand the test of time.

It’s also made you a big gay icon.
Well, listen, that’s the kind of icon you wanna be.

Exactly. That had to be such fun waking up every morning and becoming a drag queen. I wanna be a drag queen in my next life. 
Listen, you don’t have to wait for your next life. I think everyone should dabble in the fabulousness of being a drag queen, because, again, people are timid. A lot of people are judgmental of themselves. I feel like a drag queen, [she’s] never judgmental of herself. She puts her balls to the wall, sometimes literally, and on top of that I feel that any gender you are, why not give a try with the other one for a while, cause it’s fascinating. It should be an exercise for everyone. It’s really interesting what you find out about yourself and the world.

The best part of it is you didn’t have to learn how to tuck.
I know. I had to figure out what to put on myself, and physically do the part myself to become a man. It was so interesting, because we worked on it so long. I got to sort of experiment on certain things and find out just who this person was and create it from the ground up. It was a rare thing to do as an actor, but just a social experiment. So fascinating and interesting. And that character always lives with me. All the characters I’ve played are kind of in me all the time.

There isn’t one person who’s not familiar with “Hedwig.” And you can sing!
You know, I’ve done other musicals, and they’re fun, but there’s nothing like that score that’s so special. When I went to go see it on Broadway, it was nice to revisit. Now I have kids, and I play the score for my kids. It’s amazing.

Your children are young.
I have a five year old and a one and a half year old. Two girls.

How do you juggle your career and be a mommy with your schedule?
How do I schedule myself? I’m out of my mind. It’s like 50% of your brain is always traveling around with your kids, and you’re left with half a brain, literally. I’m wandering around aimlessly, like, what am I doing here? Just standing there; it will come to me. I’ve never been like a super organized person to begin with. I’m not a great organizer, which is like the #1 skill you need to be a parent. So I think I’m a really good mom. Organized mom? Maybe not so much. And I have a great husband. He’s the greatest dad in the universe. I’m in awe of single parents. They’re modern day superheroes. I don’t know how they do it. I bow down to them.

It’s gotta be difficult.
Yeah. It’s pretty amazing, though. With Hedwig coming back into my life now that I’m a mom, in terms of it coming onto Broadway, there’s openings. You see everybody again. It’s kind of interesting revisiting everything again, that part of my life, that music. Now that I’m older and a mom, it’s even more poignant, you know.

You had a very interesting childhood yourself, being raised in two countries. Do you think that inspired you to join the entertainment industry?
I thought you were gonna say “join the circus.” Kind of, a little bit. Yeah, for sure. I mean, that was part of it. My parents were incredible parents, just deciding to move to Italy. My dad was a professor, and we all just went together. They were like, “Sure, let’s go.” I mean, the chutzpah of these people to take these small children and move to Italy. But it was great, and I think having those kinds of experiences is really important for people—for all people, especially little people—to just show you that you can explore the world and not be afraid of that, not to fear something different. That’s part of the reason I was definitely attracted to theater, to the arts. It’s always a new experience, and the lack of fear, jumping in with both feet—like, “Sure, I’ll give it a try.” Trying to be an actor, which is kind of an insane endeavor, a little bit crazy, sure. My parents were always lovers of the arts as well, so beyond the challenge and being curious about the world, they loved the arts. I’m so grateful I had such an interesting childhood. I hope I can give that to my kids. I mean, I live in NYC. They’re native New Yorkers. That’s way cool to me.

I’m a native New Yorker myself.
Yeah. I love New York. It’s like, I’m having a love affair with New York. It’s like New York is like my lover. Every now and then we have a fight, but…

OK, now pick two celebrities to be your parents.
Holy shit. OK, that’s hard. There’s a lot of interesting people out there. There’s a lot of actresses that I am in awe of. I don’t really know that they’re old enough to be my parents, though.

You can be a little girl again.
Yeah. You know who would be great? Frances McDormand and Joel Coen, the director. Don’t they just seem like they’d be just the greatest parents?

That’s a creative choice. So you have one day on earth and you can do anything you want and as much as you want. What’s it going to be?
Definitely eating would be included. A lot of every kind you could have. I’d walk to every good restaurant in New York, and—you only have one day? I’d love to travel. How far can you travel in one day?

It’s your day.
I’d go to every country.

You’re a superhero. What are your powers?
Everyone wants to fly; that would be cool. I make stories up for my kids. A lot of them have to do with flying. That’s a latent desire  of mine, to fly.

The story of your life just hit the front cover of the news. What’s the headlines?
OMG, hilarious. I always have joking titles of my autobiography that are ridiculous and usually obscene. It would be like, Ehhhh?

I like that. You’re a new addition to a crayon box. What color are you?
We talk about colors a lot in my house. I’m my own color.

Your own color.
Yeah. I swear to God, when I was in “Hedwig,” I would pee glitter, and now that I have two small girls, glitter is now making its way to the toilet bowl somehow. I would be a crayon that when you draw, it would be multicolored glitter. Why isn’t there a crayon like that?

If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be?
That’s interesting. I’m always curious about Cleopatra, cause, you know, I’d wanna know about a lady like that in history, because the history books have tried to erase every woman in power. So someone who made it through. That would have to be a powerful woman.

What would you want me to know about you?
I guess it would have to be like I’m actually a nice person, not the asshole people that I enjoy playing. The truth is, it’s a dirty word, but I’m nice. I feel like it’s not cool to be nice. I want my kids to be nice too. I think everyone should work just a little bit harder. I think it’s pretty hard to be an ass.

So when is “Younger” going to air?
“Younger” is going to air Tuesday, March 31. I’m very excited. I’m having an amazing time with these people. I’m very blessed, cause it’s filmed in NYC too. Darren Star is very conscious of what it’s like to film in NYC. It’s one of the greatest cities on the planet.

Behind the Scenes

Photographer Ali Smith talks about her March 2015 Miriam Shor photo shoot.

Let’s start with this premise: Miriam Shor is a wildly fabulous woman! She’s funny, smart, beautiful, a force of nature. When you get to photograph a woman like this, you have to bring the energy, the humor and the sense that anything can happen.

Because Miriam is often recognized for her role as drag king Yitzhak of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” a role she created and made infamous, we went for the gender-bending glamour of the shaving shots. The urinal shot just felt right to us, not the guy outside crossing his legs waiting for us to finish. Miriam’s characters have been outrageous, bold and hilarious, always with a wink and a nod that shows her humanity. I just wanted to let her do what she does best.