Shelby Leverington

Biography

Shelby Leverington was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. After graduating from Southeast Missouri State University, she moved to New York City in 1968 to study acting. Shortly thereafter, she found Milton Katselas' scene study class and credits his insight and teaching skills as the major factor in her decision to become a professional actor. After meeting several New York University film students, she started acting in their films and this eventually culminated in her collaboration with Alec Hirschfeld and Mitch Block in creating the Emmy Award winning film, "No Lies". In 2008, "No Lies" was selected for the National Film Registry, an honor that has been bestowed on just 500 American films. When "No Lies" opened at the Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles as the short subject to Ingmar Bergman's "Cries and whispers", Shelby's reviews were good enough to help her acquire an agent. Since then, she has made Los Angeles her home. For over 36 years, she has performed in film, television and commercials. Some of the wonderful directors she has had the honor of working with are: Blake Edwards, Walter Hill, Martin Brest, Martha Coolidge, Michael Landon, Lesli Linka Glatter, John Pasquin, Diane Keaton, Robert Wuhl, Jonathan Kaplan, Chris Chulack, Joseph Sargent, Andrew Bernstein, Michael Bay, Matthew Penn, and Hugh Wilson. Commercially, she takes pride in the fact that she has worked with more great directors: Leslie Dektor, Craig Gillespie, Marcus Nispel, Bennett Miller, Carroll Ballard, Haskell Wexler, Ray Dillman, Robert Lieberman, Russ Lamoureux, Phil Joanou, David Bailey, and the late Tom Coyne. Because she has such great respect for cinematographers, she must also mention Alec Hirschfeld, Jacques Haitkin, Chivo Lubezki, and the late Conrad Hall.