Biography

Clay Crosby was born in Del Rio, Texas and moved with his family at age 6 to Austin. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. After college he moved to Los Angeles and had a 15 year acting and singing career before returning to graduate school to earn a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles. He has been married to museum director and film programmer Ellen Harrington since 1998, and they have two adult children. He has a private psychotherapy practice in Los Angeles, and the majority of his clients are performers, artists, writers and other highly creative types.

Clay made his film debut in Jay Russell's End of the Line, playing opposite Wilfred Brimley and Levon Helm. He was featured in Casper Meets Wendy, The Chicago Story, and American Cuisine. He has also appeared in numerous commercials, acclaimed short films, industrial films, and an episode of Divorce Court that he hopes never resurfaces. Sadly, as things go in Hollywood, a couple of things ended up on the cutting room floor, including a scene as a priest in Reverge Anselmo's The Outfitters and a fun scene with a helicopter from the pilot of the ABC hit China Beach.

Clay's many theater credits include leading roles in the West Coast Premieres of Steve Tesich's Square One (LA Times Critic's Choice), Horton Foote's Lily Dale (Drama-Logue Performance Award), and Tennessee Williams' Vieux Carre. He also created the role of Puritas Maximus in Rue McClanahan's Grecian musical farce, Oedipus, Schmedipus, as Long as You Love Your Mother. Clay is known to San Francisco audiences for his leading roles in 42nd St. Moon's productions of Dearest Enemy, America's Sweetheart, and One Touch of Venus. He was a long-time student of Milton Katselas and acted in Katselas’ production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. He also studied acting with Larry Moss and musical performance with David Craig.

Clay Crosby began his cabaret career in 1991 and has received critical acclaim for his performances across the nation. He participated in the 1992 Cabaret Symposium at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and has appeared at New York's Town Hall and San Francisco's Herbst Theater as a part of the Mabel Mercer Foundation's East and West Coast Cabaret Conventions. His show Moonburn - Songs of the 1930s Movie Crooners played extensively at the Gardenia in Los Angeles, Eighty-Eight's in New York and San Francisco's Plush Room. Clay's debut CD, also titled Moonburn, celebrates his life-long love of the music of the thirties. The recording gives equal time to standards of the era and long-forgotten tunes that deserve a new hearing. Clay is accompanied on piano and cello by his long-time collaborators Lem Jay Ignacio and Ken Hashimoto. In addition to Moonburn, Clay's numerous other cabaret shows have included Testosterone Torch, The Paris Diaries, and Dick Powell, Black Coffee & Love Gone Wrong.
- IMDb mini biography by: Clay Crosby