Shannon Whirry

A native from Green Lake, Wisconsin, where she was the salutatorian of her 1983 high school graduating class,[1] in 1985 Whirry was accepted to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, one of only 365 accepted out of 3,000 applicants and one of only 65 to graduate the 2-year program.[2] While attempting to establish her career in New York, Whirry worked as a bartender, took a number of small bit roles and appeared in a commercial for FedEx; the latter work finally allowed her to join the Screen Actors Guild.[3] Her first film role was in the action film Out for Justice starring Steven Seagal.[2]

She thereafter began to work in a number of direct-to-video erotic B-movies and unrated thrillers,[3] concurrent with Tanya Roberts, Maria Ford, and Shannon Tweed who appeared in the same kinds of films at the time. She starred in Gregory Hippolyte's productions of Animal Instincts I and II, Body of Influence, and Mirror Images II.[3] Entertainment Weekly referred to Whirry and Hippolyte as "the Dietrich and Von Sternberg of the soft-core set"[4] Other films at the time included Private Obsession and Playback, a Playboy production.

In the late-1990s, she transitioned from erotic thrillers into a series of roles on mainstream network television and films, including action, sci-fi and horror genres. She had a recurring role as Mike Hammer's secretary Velda in the television series Mike Hammer, Private Eye and made guest appearances on such shows as ER, Felicity, Seinfeld, V.I.P., Murphy Brown, Malcolm in the Middle and Nash Bridges. She also had a small role in the Jim Carrey film Me, Myself & Irene (2000).

In 2007, she appeared on a BBC TV miniseries, Nuclear Secrets, playing Kitty Oppenheimer, the wife of Robert Oppenheimer.

She occasionally performs with theater companies in Arizona, where she lives[5] and has continued appearing in small roles in films, including independent film Raising Buchanan in 2019.

• 1991 Out for Justice as Terry Malloy
• 1992 Animal Instincts as Joanna Cole
• 1993 Sliver as Woman Looking In Mirror (uncredited)
• 1993 Body of Influence as Laura / Lana
• 1994 Mirror Images 2 as Carrie / Terrie
• 1994 Animal Instincts 2 as Joanna Cole
• 1994 Lady in Waiting as Lori
• 1995 Private Obsession as Emmanuelle Griffith
• 1995 The Granny as Kelly Gargoli
• 1995 Dangerous Prey as Robin
• 1996 Ringer as Kristin / Tracy
• 1996 Playback as Karen Stone
• 1996 Exit as Diane
• 1997 Retroactive as Rayanne Lloyd
• 1997 Omega Doom as Zed, Droid Leader
• 1998 Fatal Pursuit as Jill
• 1999 The Prophet's Game as Barb
• 2000 Lying in Wait as Lois
• 2000 Me, Myself & Irene as Beautiful Mom
• 2000 Active Stealth as Gina Murphy
• 2001 Mach 2 as Shannon Carpenter
• 2003 Mike Hammer: Song Bird as Velda, Mike Hammer's Secretary
• 2008 Jolene as Teacher
• 2008 Longshot as Lydia
• 2009 Middle Men as Screaming Mother
• 2019 Raising Buchanan as Parnella Monroe

• Texas Justice (1995), Rebecca

• Eden (1993), Lauren's Friend
• Silk Stalkings, Karen Daniels - in the episode "Look the Other Way" (1993)
• Murder One, Deborah Cummings - in the episode "Chapter Ten, Year Two" (1997)
• Murphy Brown, Amber - in the episode "Blind Date" (1997)
• Nash Bridges, Suzanne - in the episode "Moving Target" (1997)
• Pacific Blue, Kay McNeil - in the episode "Ties That Bind" (1997)
• Seinfeld, Cute Girl - in the episode "The Butter Shave" (1997)
• Mike Hammer, Private Eye (1997-1998), Velda (Mike Hammer's secretary)
• Silk Stalkings, Victoria Tremain aka Jenny Kravits - in the episode "Passion and the Palm Beach Detectives" (1998)
• Air America, Dr Veronica Brady - in the episode "Fear of Flying" (1999)
• Sons of Thunder, Sabrina - in the episode "Daddy's Girl" (1999)
• V.I.P., Katherine Johnson - in the episode "Why 2 Kay" (1999)
• City of Angels, Gina - in various episodes (2000)
• Malcolm in the Middle, Beautiful woman - in the episode "Evacuation" (2000)
• Black Scorpion, Vox Populi - in the episode "Face the Music" (2001)
• Felicity, Barb Jones - in the episode "Boooz" (2001)
• ER, Doreen Brant - in the episode "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" (2003)
• Nuclear Secrets (2007) (TV mini-series), Kitty Oppenheimer - episodes "Superspy" and "Superbomb"

• Shannon Whirry at IMDb