Tara is a New York based actor, singer, & VO artist, a Chicago Native, and a dual-citizen of Ireland.
She earned a BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch in the inaugural class of the New Studio, and continues her acting studies at the Freeman Studio, on-camera work with Heidi Marshall, Shakespeare text with Rob Clare and Soho Shakes, and improv with UCB. Additionally, she is a member of the Story Pirates Acting Company, performing live and voicing characters on their award-winning podcast.
Most recently, Tara starred as ‘Emily’ in the ‘Emily in Korea’ campaign for snack brand Tastelli as well as the first staging of Enda Walsh’s solo play ‘A Girl’s Bedroom’ at the Drama League. Her work has been seen on stages all over NYC including: Radio City, The Duplex, Joe’s Pub, Cherry Lane, The Flea, and Town Hall.
Tara wrote, produced, and starred in the solo show The Boys I Loved in Catholic School. A serio-comedic cabaret reflecting on the 12 boys she crushed on through her adolescence and the lessons it brought along the way. The GM of New York’s historic Duplex called it “one of the greatest cabaret debuts [he] ever witnessed”.
In the next five years, Tara hopes to play roles on stage like Yelena in Uncle Vanya, Harper in Angels in America, Sally Bowles in Cabaret, and Dot in Sunday in the Park with George. On screen, she dreams of playing the daughter of Julianne Moore and originating a role on a beloved TV drama series that may or may not be loosely based on a Shakespearean play (coughcough- Successioncore- coughcough). She especially thrives in mediums with dramatic heightened language and hopes to bring those talents to Shakespearean stages and Marvel movie sets alike.
In her spare time, you can find Tara testing a new cookie recipe, learning the latest K-pop choreography, or collecting passport stamps in a new country (most recent explorations of Egypt and Jordan highlighted @tarahalpern!)