Shelly Mars

Since earning a B.F.A. in theater from the California Institute of the Arts, Shelly Mars has done everything from improvisational stagework to voiceovers to movies. She is best known for her monologues, performance art and, especially, her gender-bending portrayal of Martin, a character she created on stage in San Francisco in the 1980s and brought to the screen in _Jungfrauenmaschine, Die (1989)_ (a.k.a., Virgin Machine). She has studied yoga, massage and several forms of dance including modern, jazz, African and Balinese. She does accents including French, Brazilian, BBC and Cockney. She has taught others the how-tos of performance art and creating one's own monologue. Aside from film, Mars's television appearances have included "Kids in the Hall" and HBO's "Real Sex."