Education and Early Life

Manheim was born in Caldwell, New Jersey on March 8, 1961. She grew up in Peoria, Illinois. Her mother is a teacher and her father was a mathematics professor. Her parents were Jewish. While she was working at a Renaissance fair in high school she developed interest in acting. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz and her Masters of Fine Arts degree at New York University. Camryn teaches and lectures all over the United States and abroad.

Career

 While studying at New York University, Camryn learned sign language and worked as an interpreter and job coach while pursuing her acting career. She used her knowledge of sign language in many of her films.While working in New York City she met and worked with Tony Kushner, Michael Mayer, and many other important members of the theater. Her first play in New York was Hydriotaphia, written and directed by Tony Kushner. She also worked in several well known theaters as The New York Shakespeare Festival, Lincoln Center, Yale Repertory, New York Theater Workshop, The Atlantic Theater, Classic Stage Company, & Second Stage.

She won an Emmy award in 1998 for her contribution in the TV series “The Practice”. Later, in 2005, Manheim earned the Golden Globe as well as the Emmy nominations for her performances in the miniseries Elvis. The actress is credited to have performed in a series of movies and television shows. According to Manheim’s biography, she studied acting at an Acting School located in Chelsea. She is at present a member of the company at the Atlantic Theatre.

Manheim's big break in acting came with  her one-woman show, "Wake Up, I'm Fat," which played off-Broadway at Classic Stage Company in 1994.She adapted the show into a book of the same name, which was published by Broadway Books in 1999. Manheim played the feisty attorney defense attorney "Ellenor Frutt" on the drama The Practice for eight years. She won an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for this role.