Elana Safar

The grandchild of Holocaust survivors, and the daughter of an Israeli-born synagogue cantor, Elana was raised in a small Orthodox Jewish community in Livingston, NJ. She found her voice in community theater and choirs, eventually winning a national soloist award before being asked to lend her vocals to demo pop songs for local NYC-area music producers. She quickly learned to gracefully navigate between two strikingly different realms, the spiritual/religious world and the secular/entertainment space. As an artist, she found the perfect balance of both. Elana completed her BA at Brandeis University, where she performed with the Graduate Acting program. In New York City, she studied acting for two years with noted Meisner teacher, Terry Knickerbocker. Her screen credits include TV's "The Blacklist," "Quantico," and "Damages," as well as the award-winning "Small Miracles." Theatrically, she has performed in many plays and musicals, and has enjoyed developing new works: She appeared opposite Brooke Shields in a staged reading of "A Tomato Can't Grow in the Bronx" and played the daughter of Tovah Feldshuh in the staged musical, "Hanky Panky." Elana completed a Master's degree in Educational Theater with studies in Vocal Performance at New York University. In addition to bringing storytelling to Ireland and Puerto Rico, Elana was privileged to portray Elizaveta Grushinskaya in "Grand Hotel" and perform for the Broadway musical's legendary creators, Maury Yeston and Tommy Tune.