- Nickname
- Sher Bear
- Height5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
- Sheri Schifter Banyar is an American singer, songwriter, actor and dancer. She grew up in Silver Spring Maryland, the older of two children, and her parents Carol, an attorney, and Ken, a computer expert at E.P.A. fostered her love of theater. Sheri began studying voice at the age of 14 after being hand-picked from a summer theater program by vocal teacher and artistic director, Richard Hartzell. A natural high soprano, she quickly learned how to use her chest voice and connect through the mix, and shortly thereafter performed in the Cohan Octet, a special ensemble at the National Theater in Washington D.C., which was later named The Young Americans of Washington. She spent the next 3 years performing with the ensemble all over the D.C. metropolitan area, and began her professional career as a singer-dancer and emcee at Six Flags and Petrucci's Dinner Theater at age 17.
Sheri got her degree in Musical Theater at Emerson College while performing in local professional theater and then began her foray into voice-over work as well. During her college years, she also had the privilege of studying abroad in Greece, and performing in 5 different shows in 6 weeks, including the worldwide debut of Simple Simon. Shortly before graduation, she landed a European tour of Golden Musicals of Broadway which featured an international cast, and she had some of her favorite leading roles to date, including Christine in Phantom of the Opera and Maria in West Side Story.
Four months after returning from Europe, Sheri moved to Tampa, Florida where she performed at Busch Gardens in a Latin show and a Country show. It was there that she met her first husband, Doug Cecil, a talented bassist and guitar player, who was tragically shot in an attempted robbery just 4 months before they had intended to get married. He survived, however pain and P.T.S.D. plagued him for many years and eventually the couple divorced. In Tampa, Sheri met Seth Riggs who had grown up with her then father-in-law, Doug Cecil Sr. Seth introduced her to local vocal coach Mary Walkley, and also invited Sheri to attend the first Speech Level Singing Institute summer workshop in 1998 in Los Angeles. She later signed with several agents and joined Screen Actors Guild in 2001, and began working steadily as an actor in independent films, commercials, stage, and cover bands.
Sheri studied acting for 5 years in Tampa, Florida with teacher and casting director Kathryn Laughlin at Performer's Studio Workshop, alongside Ariel Kebbel, Marissa Morgan, Lucius Baston, Bobby Campo, and other successful working actors. Sheri soon began writing lyrics and melodies, and collaborated with Joe Yazbeck and Tony Rockliff on her first 3 song recordings. She later made her first music video "I Won't Let You Break My Heart Again" in 2009 with friends Tony and Kristin Pavelski of Kreative Key Productions.
In 2008, Sheri relocated to the Los Angeles area and has worked as a background actor on set with dozens of A-list actors. She married Michael Paul Banyar, a drummer and fitness expert in 2010.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Sheri Schifter Banyar
- SpouseMichael Paul Banyar(November 3, 2010 - present)
- Gender / Gender identityFemale
- Sheri's musical influences along the way have been Broadway and popular artists such as Linda Eder, Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban, Kari Jobe, Laura Story, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Michael Buble, Michael Jackson and Sarah Brightman, to name a few. Although she doesn't fit the mold of a strictly classical singer, Sheri sings everything from opera to rock and roll, thanks to the impressive vocal coaching she has received along the way.
- While rehearsing for a Eurpoean Tour of Golden Musicals of Broadway, Sheri stayed with Cousin Paula Goldin, whose late husband Al Goldin had been the theater manager and producer of many Broadway shows. She also met Liza Minelli, one of her performing idols, and they discovered they had a mutual connection in Stevie Phillips, who is also a cousin to Sheri, and managed Liza and her mother Judy Garland's careers in the 1960s. Stevie recently wrote a tell-all book, Judy & Liza & Robert & Freddie & David & Sue & Me, which was published in 2015. Sheri has another eerie connection to Judy Garland, being born 8 ½ months after her untimely death, and now residing just a few miles from her childhood home in Lancaster, California. The timeless Garland song "Over the Rainbow" was also Sheri's audition piece for her first professional job at Six Flags.
- Sheri has also been a part of the recording of two debut singles with the group The Dream Team, L.A., with Nigerian producer, Alec Godwin. The foursome hopes to record upcoming singles and begin performing their inspirational material nationwide and possibly worldwide in the near future. Her mission is to inspire and empower others through music, and to work with producers and projects aligned with her own values.
- Sheri got married to drummer and fitness expert Michael Paul Banyar in 2010, and together they opened up Michael's Wellness Center of Lancaster, CA. She began singing with several worship bands and at special events, including an appearance with Grammy Winning Christian Artist Sarah Kelly at Gracefest A.V., who inspired Sheri to turn her attention back to songwriting. She has written and recorded 8 new songs in the last 3 years, and her music has reached ministries all over the world thanks to her recording engineer, Pastor Gordon Skinner. Other influences in her songwriting have been the testimony of Kate Weddell of Cherished High Desert Ministry, which led Sheri to write Cherished to inspire women who have suffered sexual abuse, and the testimony of Nick Vujicic, an international Christian speaker and author whom she quoted in the song "Broken Pieces" as saying, "God takes our broken pieces, and turns them into miracles for His Glory.".
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