Actress/Poet/Playwright/Native New Yorker Vanessa Hidary grew up on Manhattan's culturally diverse Upper West Side, graduating from LaGuardia High School of the Arts and Hunter College. 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 at theatre festivals throughout the US. She was broadcast 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 most recently for the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival in NYC (www.tribethefilm.com). She 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, The Albuquerque Journal, and Lilith Magazine.

Performances include: Central Park's Summerstage opening for "The Lyricist Lounge" with Def Poetry Jam, NBC's 9/11 tribute "Concert For America," B.A.M. Café, opened for the comedian Shang at "Carolines Comedy Club", "MCC Theater" (Solo Show Representative for "MCC Youth Program"), Princeton University - as part of their evening supporting Black Reparations and Civil Rights Issues, and was a Grand Slam Poetry Finalist at The Nuyorican Poets Café. She frequently tours colleges, universities, JCCs and cultural arts centers.