Native New Yorker Vanessa Hidary, who is of Syrian Jewish heritage, grew up on Manhattan's culturally diverse Upper West Side, graduating from LaGuardia High School of the Arts and Hunter College. She is a poet, actor and playwright. Her experiences as a Sephardic Jew with close friends from different ethnic and religious backgrounds inspired her to write Culture Bandit, a solo show that chronicles Vanessa's coming of age during the golden age of Hip-Hop and her dedication to fostering understanding and friendship between all people.

Culture Bandit was originally produced by LAByrinth Theatre Company (artistic directors Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz). It has since played as part of The Roar Theatre Festival at Nuyorican Poets Café, as part of The Downtown Urban Theater Festival, The Los Angeles Women's Theater Festival, PSNBC @ H.E.R.E. Arts Center, the 3rd Annual Hip Hop Theatre Festival in Washington, D.C, The Revolutions Theatre Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and Makor Arts Center in the "Hip-hop without Borders", festival. She has aired twice on the Peabody Award-winning series "Russell Simmon's Presents Def Poetry"on HBO, and is featured in the film "The Tribe" which was selected for the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, and for the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival in NYC. www.tribethefilm.com.

Vanessa Hidary has been featured in The New York Post, Time Out New York, The Jewish Week, Spitkickers.com, The Forward, URB magazine, BUST Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Time Out NY, The Albuquerque Journal, and Lilith Magazine. She is a member of the troupe "Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad", which has been featured  at various NYC venues including Joe's Pub and Fez Café, and  is currently touring the U.S. and Canada. She frequently tours colleges and universities, including Syracuse University, Princeton University, Cornell University, Middlebury College, Colby State, University of Wisconsin, S.U.N.Y. New Paltz and University of Connecticut.

Vanessa received an M.F.A. in Acting from Trinity Rep Theatre Conservatory. Visit her website at www.hebrewmamita.com/.