Claire Karpen is an actor, director, teacher, acting coach, and presentation coach based in NYC. She has worked on/Off Broadway, regionally, and internationally in theatre, TV, and film. She is currently on faculty at Juilliard and is also a proud Councilor of Actors’ Equity Association.
Actor
(AEA/SAG AFTRA) Select Credits
Film/TV: Love Life (HBOMax); New Amsterdam (NBC); Law & Order (NBC); FBI (CBS); Blue Bloods (CBS); Broadway: Grey House; Sylvia. Off-Broadway: Into the Woods (Roundabout); Heir Apparent by David Ives (CSC); Jack (59E59); At the Table (Fault Line). London: Into the Woods (Menier). Regional: August: Osage County (St. Louis Rep); Into the Woods (Old Globe, McCarter); God of Carnage, Betrayal (Katonah Classic Stage); Much Ado (St. Louis Shakes); Birthday Candles (Detroit Public Theatre); Dairyland (Playmakers); On the Exhale (Chautauqua); Bedroom Farce (Westport); Richard III, Much Ado, Tempest, Comedy of Errors (Trinity Rep).
Training: Juilliard Drama (Michel St. Denis Award); Brown University (Susan Ross Steinfeld Award).
Upcoming: LIVE LONG by Noelle P. Wilson, starring Claire Karpen and Reed Birney.
Proud elected Councilor of Actors' Equity Association.
Director
Upcoming: TRAUMA PLAY by Abigail Miller at The Tank. The Importance of Being Earnest, Rutgers Fall 2026. Thugs, Columbia MFA, Winter 2027.
In development: SHREW’D written/performed by Kate Abbruzzese; NEBULA by Chelsea Altman.
Select directing: Off-Broadway: The Woodsman (New World, BroadwayHD.) Bernie and Mikey… (59E59); Voices in My Head (Ars Nova). Regional: Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare on the Sound); Steel Magnolias (Virginia Theater); A Soldier's Tale (Chautauqua). Mobius by Kellie Overbey (Relentless); PANDAMONIUM! by Nancy Sun, Omo Mi by Sadia Alao, The Ella Elliot Fan Club of Southeast Wisconsin by Lauren Wimmer, The Feminine Urge by Anna Watts (A is For Play Festival, NYC). Educational: Henry IV, I, Frankie and Johnny…, A Little Night Music, Trelawny of the Wells (Juilliard); She Kills Monsters (Syracuse); Into the Woods (Brown); Moscow, Moscow…(Columbia MFA Acting).
Acting Teacher and Coach
As an acting teacher, Claire teaches in the Juilliard School Drama and Extension Division (current Chair of Extension Drama) and has worked at Columbia University’s MFA Grad Acting; Syracuse BFA and Tepper Center; Nord Anglia International School; Washington Montessori; the George School; MudBone Arts Center; Juilliard Kissimmee Arts Intensive; and masterclass workshops at Roundabout, the Public, the Old Globe, St. Louis Shakespeare, and Chautauqua Theater Company. She is also the master teacher on Juilliard’s collaboration with Yellowbrick for an online course entitled “Preparing for a Role.”
As a private coach, Claire regularly works with actors on material for film, television, theater, musical theater as well as MFA, BFA , and other acting program auditions. She is also available to work, not just on auditions, but to help actors develop and exercise an overall process to use throughout all stages of their careers.
Claire also runs a private scene study class for professional actors, by referral or invitation.
Speaking and Presentation Coach
As a Public Speaking and Presentation Coach, Claire works with professionals in a wide variety of industries including startup founders, engineers, scientists, lawyers, professors, consultants and marketing professionals on their public speaking and presentation skills - both for in person events as well as online virtual platforms such as Zoom, Skype, FB or Instagram Live, FaceTime and Google Meet.
Love Life
Season 2, HBO Max