Len Shaffer has had a tremendously varied career as an actor, singer, piano/keyboard player and songwriter. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Len has played a wide variety of theatrical roles, has appeared in numerous independent films, and has been a member of several rock bands. Len won "many exciting prizes" on the nationally syndicated trivia show Sports Snapshot!, and for over two years Len was one of the stars of the smash hit music revue about traveling, Are We Almost There?.
Len's favorite theatrical roles have included Vernon in They're Playing Our Song; George in Same Time, Next Year; Curly in Oklahoma; Tony in West Side Story; Dad in Cheaper by the Dozen; Brady in Inherit the Wind; and the Prince in David Mamet's version of The Frog Prince. Some of the theaters Len has worked with include the Mountain Play; the Willows Theatre; Playhouse West; Calaveras Repertory Theatre; and Pacific Alliance Stage Co. He has also been a part of many world premieres, including the musical A Time for Courage, based on Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, which played to sold-out houses at the Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek.
Len's film work has included The Last Innocent Summer; The Clock Strikes Twice; Fred's Lot; The Diary; Cliff Takes a Picture; Gangster’s Guilt; and Cult (which played at the New York International Film Festival). He has appeared on keyboards and vocals with the rock bands Invazion; Thank You, Thank You (compared to the Fine Young Cannibals by BAM Magazine); Nine Lives; and OCD; and he was the assistant director and second tenor for the a cappella doo-wop group The Starry Knights. Len has also particularly enjoyed playing some extremely sick patients as part of the Stanford Medical School's Standardized Testing Program for its students.
Len has had the privilege of studying with some tremendous teachers over the years, including Bobby Weinapple; Richard Seyd; Josh Finkel; Karen Mason; Molli Benson; Bonnie Hayes; Ed Hooks; Dana Lewenthal; Essence; Richard Nickol at the San Francisco Academy for the Performing Arts; and the many fine teachers at American Conservatory Theatre's Summer Training Congress.
Len's current/ongoing projects include being a longtime cast member of the children's show Mr. Funnelhead; being a member of the nation’s largest professional caroling group, the Merrie Olde Christmas Carolers; writing songs for an original musical, The Ordinary Me; and working on his first CD, Extra-Ordinary.
Len has a degree in Radio, Television and Film from the University of Kansas, where he was a four-year member and served as the Executive and Musical Director of The Jayhawk Singers, the university's show choir.
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