Paula Shaw, a New York native born in 1941 who demonstrates that hard work and dedication pays off. A career can’t always be handed to you. Most times, you have to earn it.
Her first credited role can be found in To Hex with Sex (1969), which started the accumulation of many small credits in other films like The Roommates (1973), The Centerfold Girls (1974) and Chatterbox (1977). Midway through the 80’s, she started booking larger gigs in Savage Streets (1984), Witchfire (1986) and Communion (1989). After these box office failures, Paula gave television a shot and can be seen briefly in popular shows including “21 Jump Street,” “Little House on the Prairie,” “Santa Barbara,” “Shaft,” “Starsky & Hutch” and “Three’s Company.” On the more horror and science fiction side of the small screen, she also booked gigs on “The Outer Limits,” “The Twilight Zone” and “X-Files.”
The 2000’s can probably be considered her most successful decade to date. She kicked things off with a small part in action flick Reindeer Games before returning to our favorite genres with Insomnia (2002). In 2003, she became the third woman to portray Pamela Voorhees in Freddy vs. Jason, which was the #1 movie in theaters for two weeks and became the #35 highest grossing movie of that year. This interest caused her to land a slew of supporting roles in horror films like Night Creep (2003), Chupacabra Terror (2005), Killer Bash (2005) and Ties That Bind (2006). Following this success, Paula would take a much deserved break from acting.
So, where is Paula Shaw now?
I’m happy to say that she’s still kicking ass after almost 50 years in the entertainment industry. She’s still acting, but she’s doing much more television work than film projects. She can be seen in single episodes of “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour” and “Supernatural” in 2012 and 2013, as well as being being featured as a recurring character in “Cedar Cove” and “Mr. Young.” She was a special guest in a 2015 episode of “iZombie,” and her last film role to date is a romantic comedy titled Destination Wedding (2017).
