# Vinessa Shaw

Vinessa Elizabeth Shaw (born July 19, 1976) is an American film actress and model. She began her career as a child actress, making her feature film debut in the slasher film Home Sweet Home (1981). She had her breakout role in Disney's Halloween comedy-fantasy film Hocus Pocus (1993). Shaw also appeared in Ladybugs (1992) and L.A. Without a Map (1998).
While attending Barnard College, Shaw was cast in a supporting role in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999), after which she decided to continue acting into her adulthood. Subsequent roles include in Kathryn Bigelow's period drama The Weight of Water (2000); the comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), the 2006 remake of Wes Craven's horror film The Hills Have Eyes, the western 3:10 to Yuma (2007), and the romantic drama Two Lovers (2008).
In 2014, Shaw was a supporting cast member in the Showtime drama Ray Donovan. During this period, she also appeared in several feature films, including Steven Soderbergh's psychological thriller Side Effects (2013), and the crime drama Cold in July (2014). Shaw later starred as Dr. Jane Mathis in the 2017 horror thriller Clinical. In 2021, Shaw starred in the horror film We Need to Do Something, as well as the biographical sports drama 12 Mighty Orphans.

## Life and career
### 1976–1997: Early life and career

Vinessa Elizabeth Shaw was born in Los Angeles, California, to Larry Shaw and actress Susan Damante. Shaw's father, a native of Los Angeles, is a psychologist and former adjunct professor of psychology at Antioch University. Her name, Vinessa, spelled with an "i" rather than the common "a", was a variation of her grandfather's name, Vincent. She is of mixed Russian-Jewish, Italian, Irish, German, English, Mexican, Swedish, and Dutch ancestry. Her family's original surname was "Schwartz", owing to her father's partial Jewish heritage. Shaw was raised in her parents' Nichiren Buddhist faith.
Shaw made her first formal performance in a UCLA acting camp short at age 10, and subsequently toured with children's folk singer Peter Alsop at age 11. She also signed on with the Elite Models agency in 1989 at the age of 13 before beginning her acting career.
Shaw had made her feature film debut in the independent 1981 slasher film Home Sweet Home, which dealt with a serial killer targeting a family at Thanksgiving. She then landed parts in a handful of television roles, including the 1991 NBC television film Long Road Home, which marked her television debut. The following year, she had a supporting role in the family sports comedy Ladybugs, opposite Jonathan Brandis. Though not a box-office success, Ladybugs gained an audience through regular subsequent television broadcast, and helped establish a fan following for Shaw.
Shaw played a considerably larger role in the Disney Halloween-themed family film Hocus Pocus (1993) alongside Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, and Thora Birch. In the film, Shaw portrays a local teenager in a Massachusetts town that is overtaken by a trio of witches on Halloween night. Though a box-office bomb at the time of its release, the film went on to garner a significant fanbase in the ensuing years.

### 1998–2005: Career expansion

In 1998, Shaw appeared in a lead role as an aspiring young actress in the comedy-drama film L.A. Without a Map, opposite David Tennant, Julie Delpy, and Vincent Gallo. The same year, Shaw enrolled at Barnard College in New York City, but ultimately dropped out to continue pursuing an acting career. Shaw was attending the college when she was approached by Stanley Kubrick for her role in Eyes Wide Shut (1999), playing a prostitute who is encountered by Tom Cruise's character and who discovers she has HIV. In a 2008 interview, Shaw stated that Kubrick was "very influential" to her and that he "was the first person who encouraged her to continue acting". At the time of being cast, she was in college and considering alternate career options. Following her role in Eyes Wide Shut, Shaw played parts in a handful of films including Kathryn Bigelow's mystery-drama The Weight of Water (2000) with Sarah Polley and Sean Penn, in which Shaw portrayed a Norwegian immigrant who is the victim of an axe murder; the film and its source novel are both partly based on a real double-murder that occurred on Smuttynose Island in 1873.
Shaw next starred opposite Chris Kattan in the slapstick mafia comedy Corky Romano (2001), portraying an FBI agent, followed by the romantic comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), in which she played the feisty ex-girlfriend of a young man (Josh Hartnett) who attempts to give up sex for lent. She also had a minor supporting role in Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda (2004).

### 2006–present: Further film and television roles

More low budget and independent films consumed Shaw's time until 2006, where she returned to the big screen in Alexandre Aja's remake of Wes Craven's exploitation-horror film The Hills Have Eyes, playing a young mother on a camping trip with her family who is attacked by bloodthirsty mutants in the New Mexico desert. Director Aja had wanted to cast her in the film after seeing her performance in Eyes Wide Shut. Asked why she wanted to act in a horror film, Shaw responded "Well, I guess I could be good in it since I'm so frightened of those kinds of concepts. But this one in particular really attracted me because of the filmmakers. I really thought that they had a great stance on it. Like it's very different, very heartfelt, and heartbreaking because of the characters involved. So that's kind of what made the difference. It was more of an actor's piece, if you can believe that, in a horror movie."
Shaw had a supporting role as a barmaid in James Mangold's remake of the classic Western film 3:10 to Yuma (2007), co-starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Next, she appeared in two independent films: The drama Garden Party, about a group of troubled Los Angeles teenagers, and the horror film Stag Night, portraying a stripper who becomes trapped with several others in an abandoned New York City Subway platform after witnessing a murder.
She subsequently had a lead role in the romantic drama Two Lovers (2008) opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow. Two Lovers premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 and was released theatrically in February 2009.
In 2013, she had a supporting role opposite Jude Law in Steven Soderbergh's psychological thriller Side Effects. She next appeared in the Eddie Dodson biopic Electric Slide (2014), followed by the crime thriller Cold in July (also 2014), a film adaption of the 1989 novel of the same name, opposite Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, and Don Johnson. Shaw also had a multi-episode arc on the Showtime drama series Ray Donovan in its second season (2014).
Shaw starred as a psychiatrist in the 2017 horror film Clinical, which was distributed via Netflix. She follow this with a lead in another Netflix-released horror film, Family Blood (2018) which was produced by Blumhouse Productions.
Shaw had a supporting role in the depression-era sports drama 12 Mighty Orphans (2021), based on American football coach Rusty Russell (portrayed by Luke Wilson). The same year, she starred in the independent psychological horror film We Need to Do Something, which was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic and co-starred Sierra McCormick, Pat Healy, and Ozzy Osbourne.
In 2023, Shaw returned to television, guest-starring in seven episodes of the Apple TV+ sports drama series Swagger. In November 2024, she guest-starred on the series Cruel Intentions, followed by a guest appearance as a medical examiner on the series Yellowstone.

## Personal life

Shaw became a member of the Soka Gakkai International, a Nichiren Buddhist organization, during her first year attending college in 1996: "I was lonely and depressed, and I had so many questions about life. I called my dad every night crying, saying that I wanted to go home." As a core practice of Nichiren Buddhism, Shaw chants daimoku daily, and is also a facilitator of the SGI-USA lay Buddhist Association for Peace, Culture, and Education.
In August 2017, Shaw announced that she was expecting her first child with her husband, Kristopher Gifford (whom she first dated in 2007, got engaged to in 2008 and married in 2017). Shaw gave birth to their son, Jack, in February 2018.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1981 | Home Sweet Home | Angel Bradley | Alternative title: Slasher in the House |
| 1992 | Ladybugs | Kimberly Mullen | |
| 1993 | Hocus Pocus | Allison Watts | |
| 1996 | Coyote Summer | Callie Carpenter | |
| 1998 | L.A. Without a Map | Barbara | |
| 1999 | Eyes Wide Shut | Domino | |
| 1999 | Wayward Son | Cordelia | |
| 2000 | The Weight of Water | Anethe Christenson | |
| 2001 | Corky Romano | Agent Kate Russo | |
| 2002 | 40 Days and 40 Nights | Nicole | |
| 2004 | Melinda and Melinda | Stacey | |
| 2004 | Bereft | Molly | |
| 2006 | The Hills Have Eyes | Lynn Carter | |
| 2007 | 3:10 to Yuma | Emmy | |
| 2007 | Badland | Nora Rice | |
| 2008 | Two Lovers | Sandra Cohen | |
| 2008 | Garden Party | St. Claire | |
| 2008 | Stag Night | Brita | |
| 2010 | Leave | Amy | |
| 2011 | Puncture | Vicky | |
| 2012 | Big Miracle | Kelly Meyers | |
| 2012 | Come Out and Play | Beth | |
| 2013 | Side Effects | Dierdre Banks | |
| 2013 | Siren | Leigh | |
| 2013 | Dark Around the Stars | Terry | |
| 2013 | Electric Slide | Mimi | |
| 2014 | Cold in July | Ann Dane | |
| 2014 | After the Fall | Susan Scanlon | |
| 2015 | Bereave | Penelope | |
| 2017 | Clinical | Dr. Jane Mathis | |
| 2018 | Family Blood | Ellie | |
| 2021 | The Blazing World | Alice Winter | |
| 2021 | 12 Mighty Orphans | Juanita Russell | |
| 2021 | We Need to Do Something | Diane | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1991 | Long Road Home | Clara Tarpin | Television film |
| 1992 | The Torkelsons | Meredith Reed | Episode: "Sweat Not by the Moon" |
| 1992 | Great Scott! | Carolyn Cole | |
| 1993 | Fallen Angels | Jeannie Streeter | Episode: "The Quiet Room" |
| 1993 | Country Estates | Heather Calhoun | Pilot |
| 1994 | McKenna | Cassidy McKenna | Episode: Pilot (only) |
| 1994 | Murder, She Wrote | Gloria Bryce | Episode: "Murder by Twos" |
| 1995 | New York Undercover | Teen Covergirl | Episode: "Young, Beautiful and Dead" |
| 2000 | The '70s | Eileen Wells | Miniseries |
| 2004 | Bereft | Molly | Television film |
| 2005 | Fathers and Sons | Nell | Pilot |
| 2005 | World of Trouble | Unknown | Pilot |
| 2010 | House | Dr. Kelly Benedict | Episode: "Massage Therapy" |
| 2012 | CSI: NY | Jennifer Walsh | Episode: "Clean Sweep" |
| 2014 | Ray Donovan | Kate McPherson | 10 episodes |
| 2023 | Swagger | Diane | 7 episodes |
| 2024 | Cruel Intentions | Dr. Deidre Dawson | Episode: "Delta" |
| 2024 | Yellowstone | Dr. Everly | Episode: "Three Fifty-Three" |

## Accolades

Screen Actors Guild Awards
* 2008: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture" – 3:10 to Yuma
Young Artist Award
* 1993: Nominated, "Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture" – Ladybugs
* 1993: Nominated, "Best Young Actress Recurring in a Television Series" – Great Scott!
* 1993: Nominated, "Best Young Actress Co-starring in a Motion Picture" – Ladybugs
* 1994: Nominated, "Best Youth Actress Leading Role in a Motion Picture Comedy" – Hocus Pocus
* 1995: Nominated, "Best Performance by a Youth Actress in a Drama Series" – McKenna
* 1995: Nominated, "Best Performance By a Youth Actress as a Guest Star" – Murder, She Wrote