Biography
Aug 31 2015 Ms Castro is an American born actress, trained in theatre arts at the University of California in Irvine. She earned a black belt in karate in 1983, and teaches tai chi at various venues. She also studied palmistry and has worked as a professional palm reader for corporate events and other entertainment events. She is the recipient of several Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Outstanding Theatrical Event and Top Ten Best Actress awards for her work as an actor and producer in San Diego, including three Craig Noel Awards, two Patte Awards, and one each from Drama-Logue and Backstage West. She's also won acclaim for her regional work: named Best Actress in a Comedy by the American Stage Theatre in Florida. In southern California she has appeared at the San Diego Repertory Theatre, the La Jolla Playhouse, the Cassius Carter, Sledgehammer Theatre, Diversionary Theatre, Theatre E!, Teatro Mascara Magica, North Coast Rep, South Coast Rep, Taper's Center Stage, and at regional theatres across the country. A sampling of her stage credits include Irene in La Gaviota, The Woman in The Unexpected Man, Seraphina delle Rosa in The Rose Tattoo, Kimberly in Kimberly Akimbo, The Old One in Earthquake Sun, Prospero in The Tempest, Abby in Desire Under the Elms, Charlotta in The Cherry Orchard, Eurydice in the Oedipus trilogy, The Whole World's Watching, The Mouth in Not I, Old Man Wilder in Cross-dressing in the Depression; and several appearances for the Playwrights Project and other local arts organizations.
Linda as also been involved with schools and community outreach programs: two seasons for the La Jolla Playhouse POP tour; which brings original works to schools to educate students about the arts by presenting plays about issues that concern kids their age; six seasons with The Ensemble Arts Theatre, touring schools with a water conservation show that included historical and scientific information in an artistic presentation; and one season with Literature Alive!, a school touring show that brings various children's books to the stage to encourage young students to read. Forums and discussions with students and teachers are an integral part of these outreach programs. Ms. Castro remains involved (for over ten years) with the Playwrights Project in various capacities (teacher, actor, supporter): Teaching middle-school students about writing, the arts, language, and communication skills. She also participates in Bookpals, a literacy program organized by the Screen Actors Guild for elementary schoolchildren.
Ms. Castro has taught beginning and intermediate acting and scene study classes to adults and young adults at several performing arts schools: The Beck Center for Performing Arts in Cleveland, OH; the Academy for Performing Arts in San Diego, CA; and The Junior Theatre of San Diego. She often leads impromptu tai-chi classes and has done movement workshops at the Lansing YWCA (Lansing, MI) and the Actors Alliance of San Diego. She has completed over 30 weeks of Viewpoints training over the years, and often leads such workshops for various theatre companies during production weeks. She's taught theatre intro classes at Cal State Univ. Long Beach for non-majors.
As co-founder and director of the award-winning Grass Roots Greeks, she has directed and co-produced over 50 staged readings of the Greek tragedies, covering the entire canon of the extant plays. She has served as Artistic Director of the Greek reading series at 6th @ Penn Theatre, and is currently producing the Greek reading series at the Centro de la Raza in Balboa Park. The Grass Roots Greeks offers these readings (followed by a forum) to the public as part of their community outreach mission. The group also presents readings and forums at local colleges and high schools, as well as for other organizations such as the Hellenic Society. Under her leadership, the Grass Roots Greeks also produced a staged reading of Lysistrata as part of the international Lysistrata Project, to make a peaceful protest against the Iraq War and raise funds for Doctors Without Borders.
Ms. Castro is the co-founder/producer of L² Productions which brought The Vagina Monologues to the Lyceum Theatre in San Diego, and raised $20,000 for rape crisis centers and shelters for abused women in the San Diego area. She was part of the Design and Performance Jury at San Diego State University's annual presentation by MFA students in the areas of Set Design, Directing and Acting in 2005.
TV and film credits include co-starring and recurring roles on ER, The Shield, Veronica Mars Cold Case, Philly, Top Dog, Bloodhounds, Silk Stalkings, The Gatekeeper, The OJ Simpson Story, Terriers, From the Chest and Ticker. Ms. Castro has served on the board of 6th @ Penn Theatre, and the Actors Alliance of San Diego, Chronos Theatre Company and Playwrights Project. She holds a bachelors degree in theatre arts from the University of California, Irvine is masters candidate for an MFA in teaching drama at Cal State Univ. Linda is a member of the SAG-AFTRA guild and Actors Equity Association
