you’re obsessed with me.
Chrissy Shackelford was born in Dallas, Texas where she was raised by Blockbuster, television, and teen magazines. She spent her early twenties in Austin, TX after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre & Dance at The University of Texas.
Austin is a place you might be familiar with because of the following reasons: 1) You’ve been to SXSW or 2) You went for a bachelor or bachelorette party weekend. For Chrissy, Austin is where she once went on a first date with a guy who had a Batman tattoo on his inner lip. It’s also the town where she performed an original play that featured herself eating a banana. She choked on that banana during a performance and had to be given the Heimlich maneuver backstage. So, no one can say she’s never put her life on the line for her art.
She began her comedy career in 2012, studying at The Second City in Chicago and ColdTowne Theater in Austin, TX. After relocating to New York City in 2014, she quickly went through the improv and sketch program at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater. At UCBT, she has been a cast member of Characters Welcome, and spent three years writing and performing for house sketch teams such as The Classic, Fantasy, and Attention Shoppers. Her solo character show, Diane Shangri-La Presents: Not Dry Yet, ran at UCBT Chelsea from 2016-2017.
She currently writes for the Emmy award winning late night series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Before that she was an actor/writer/producer for 30 episodes of the Disney+ series, The Big Fib hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown. From 2017-2019, she spent two seasons as a staff writer on the HBO late night series, Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas. While writing for the show she also appeared on-camera and in multiple voiceover spots.
When she's not slowly blinding herself by staring a screen that will one day destroy all of humanity, she watches a lot of reality tv, loves home decor, and drinks fancy cocktails that only feature vodka and club soda.