Craig Ricci Shaynak

Who is Craig Ricci Shaynak?

Craig Ricci Shaynak, sometimes credited as Craig Shaynak, is a character actor based in Los Angeles, CA. He has been active in Chicago and Los Angeles theatre and more recently, national television and film.

Shaynak was born in Northport, New York. He graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Medieval Drama in 1991 and is one of a few American students of Medieval Pageant Plays. Under the tutelage of David Bevington, renowned Shakespeare scholar, he produced Everyman, the 16th-century morality play, as well as The Second Shepherds' Play in the original Middle English. In fact, Mr. Shaynak's first professional theatre production after university was to be the dramaturg for a production of The Mystery Cycle, an American adaptation of a British modernization of the Wakefield Cycle, but instead became his first professional acting experience. The adaptation was done by Nicholas Rudall, at the time, Artistic Director of the Court Theatre, and Bernard Sahlins, one of the founders of The Second City and SCTV. Shaynak also performed in Off-Off Campus started by Bernard Sahlins, Francis X. Kinahan, and Steven R. Schroer of University Theater.

Shaynak has a recurring role in the Showtime series Ray Donovan, starring Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, and James Woods. He also performs his one man show, 'I Am Google' at Theatre Asylum in Hollywood every weekend and as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June. He has appeared in numerous festivals around the world including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and Festival d'Avignon as well as the first New York International Fringe Festival in 1997. Previous roles include on camera appearances with Matt Damon in The Informant, directed by Steven Soderbergh and with Christian Bale in Harsh Times, directed by David Ayer, as well as voicework in Happy Feet, Night at the Museum, and One Night With the King.