Biography
Like many children, Elyse spent her childhood fighting crime as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and starring on a garage-stage on Thanksgiving with her five sisters. These performances planted the seed for her love of theater, film acting, and modeling. She was motivated along the way by her idols: Elyse is convinced that she reached her height by focusing daily on "being 5'8" like Cindy Crawford," and one of her goals is to someday portray Ava Gardner.
Thanks to her study of linguistics, Arabic, and Spanish, she easily picks up accurate accents. Her background in dance and athletics enables her to embody grace and femininity as easily as tough, edgy strength. Her emotional range spans from meek to dominant, comedy to poignant drama, and anything in between. Her Russian-Moroccan heritage affords her a range of ethnic flexibility in character portrayals, including Caucasian, Italian, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern.
Elyse starred in the independent films Dogf***ers, which won Best Comedy at the New Orleans Big Easy International Film Festival; Architect of Chaos directed by William X. Lee and starring Joe Estevez, Robert D'Zar, and Aija Tarauda; Lady in Red directed by James Helfrich; Dr. Love, directed by Victoria Smith and Jaime Myers; and several other films and short films. She also has a passion for live theater, and has performed in Unveiled by Thalia J Cunningham by the Pittsburgh New Works Festival, Don't Dress for Dinner by Stage Right; Love, Sex, and the IRS, directed by Cory Sigler, as well as many other plays. She regularly performs with McCaffery Mysteries Dinner Theater to raise money for non-profit organizations like the Animal Rescue League and the National MS Association. Elyse trained at Point Park College, under Randy Kovitz, Mark Cea Witherspoon, Mary Rawson, Joe McGoldrick, and Cynthia Schriener, and at Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Pittsburgh Public Theater, and elsewhere.
Elyse embraces the physicality of performance, and practices Jiu Jitsu, kickboxing, and aerial silk dancing.
