Originally from the East Coast, NJ and NYC, I started acting at a young age, theater lives deep in my roots. My father was a professor of both Shakespeare and Film, my mother was an actor in NYC for many years before becoming an English professor as well. Both are writers, my mother is also a poet.
Moving to the West Coast was a big shift and after some time off to have kids, my boys are 11 and 14, I returned to acting and have been performing all over the Bay on the stage and in film for the last 7 years.
I am Armenian from Turkey and Lebanon and Jewish from Galicia/Ukraine. I study Western Armenian (one of my native languages) in order to preserve our culture and heritage. They may have taken our land and our people but we live on in our language. ԲարԵւ
The wonderful, amazing, inspiring teachers and coaches I have worked with in the Bay Area include Patrick Russell, Mia Tagano, Kari Prindl, Lauren English, Laura Wayth, Richard Seyd, Frances Epsen-Devlin, Rebecca Castelli, and Meryl Shaw.
I have also worked with Faye Simpson at Lucid Body and Jim Calder, both from the NYU graduate program.
Currently in an ongoing professional workshop remotely through The BGB Studio in Los Angeles.
For more info, see resume below.
Contact: emily@devildoll.com @thedevildoll on Instagram
Represented by the NYLO agency.
More info/filmography/photos: https://www.backstage.com/u/emilykeyishian/
REVIEWS:
Emily, as the eccentric governess, caught the audience’s eye in every scene she was in. With a moving, gypsy flare, she captivated the on-stage characters with her displays of card tricks and ventriloquism. In a telling metaphor of Town Hall new and old, Emily’s hilarious scene at the end of Act 1 with Town Hall regular, Tom Reilly, was a perfect blending of casting. They proved that the Hegalian Dialectic Theory (Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis) can smooth out any transition, personal or societal. And we can use a card trick to demonstrate it.
Peter Petroski, critic at large (The Cherry Orchard)
A wonderful addition to the show was Emily Keyishian as the physically dexterous magician/entertainer Charlotta
Sally Hogarty, East Bay Times (The Cherry Orchard)
His fiancée Andie, on the other hand, is blithely unconcerned with “white guilt,” saying just whatever she thinks to anyone without considering her audience at all. Played with amusing equanimity by Emily M. Keyishian, she thinks nothing of saying to a guy at Peter’s office party, “Are you one of those angry black men?”
-Sam Hurwitt The Mercury News (Honky)
"One poignant moment happens between Brooke (Emily Keyishian) and Trip (Micah Watterson) as they discuss the likely outcome of publishing, their own personal setbacks, and the pain surrounding the death of their brother. It can be hard to capture sibling chemistry, but Keyishian and Watterson are quite good. Aided by Jon Robin Baitz’s script, the two actors bring an almost wholesome and childlike essence to the moment. It’s an exchange of two confidants that foreshadows the finale."
-Sahar Yousefi Spinning Platters (Other Desert Cities)
"I never understood Ophelia until I saw this production"
"I usually don't like Ophelia- but I loved yours!"
"You were my favorite Ophelia"
(Hamlet)
"We’re transplanted to a futuristic, hipster London. Here the cool kids are buying slaves from places like Bulgaria and Moldavia, using them for sexual gratification, and showing them off to friends at night clubs. When the women aren’t needed, they’re chained to fences. Remember that thing I mentioned about the unexpected, and it potentially stomping all over your comfort zone? Well, here you go. Provocative, indeed. 20 minutes of squirmish theater never felt so odd and well executed. Same too with the superb performances." Stark Insider (Turning Tricks, ReOrient festival)
“...Would the all-male team be able to cope with the exotic presence of Female Engineer (Emily Keyishian, in a quirky, understated performance that elevates her character from type to human being)?.." Lily Janiak, SF Chronicle (Adventures in Tech)
"Emily Keyishian, my favorite face to watch on stage, so funny and so tender" Stuart Bousel (Adventures in Tech)
"That’s for the audience to determine as the plot thickens, so to speak. And that’s when the only other person in this play shows up: the alluring, guarded Abby (beautifully understated performance by Emily Keyishian) who runs Drake Colony, a retreat where writers and would-be writers go to have the solitude and time to write." Mercury News (Fiction)
Moving to the West Coast was a big shift and after some time off to have kids, my boys are 11 and 14, I returned to acting and have been performing all over the Bay on the stage and in film for the last 7 years.
I am Armenian from Turkey and Lebanon and Jewish from Galicia/Ukraine. I study Western Armenian (one of my native languages) in order to preserve our culture and heritage. They may have taken our land and our people but we live on in our language. ԲարԵւ
The wonderful, amazing, inspiring teachers and coaches I have worked with in the Bay Area include Patrick Russell, Mia Tagano, Kari Prindl, Lauren English, Laura Wayth, Richard Seyd, Frances Epsen-Devlin, Rebecca Castelli, and Meryl Shaw.
I have also worked with Faye Simpson at Lucid Body and Jim Calder, both from the NYU graduate program.
Currently in an ongoing professional workshop remotely through The BGB Studio in Los Angeles.
For more info, see resume below.
Contact: emily@devildoll.com @thedevildoll on Instagram
Represented by the NYLO agency.
More info/filmography/photos: https://www.backstage.com/u/emilykeyishian/
REVIEWS:
Emily, as the eccentric governess, caught the audience’s eye in every scene she was in. With a moving, gypsy flare, she captivated the on-stage characters with her displays of card tricks and ventriloquism. In a telling metaphor of Town Hall new and old, Emily’s hilarious scene at the end of Act 1 with Town Hall regular, Tom Reilly, was a perfect blending of casting. They proved that the Hegalian Dialectic Theory (Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis) can smooth out any transition, personal or societal. And we can use a card trick to demonstrate it.
Peter Petroski, critic at large (The Cherry Orchard)
A wonderful addition to the show was Emily Keyishian as the physically dexterous magician/entertainer Charlotta
Sally Hogarty, East Bay Times (The Cherry Orchard)
His fiancée Andie, on the other hand, is blithely unconcerned with “white guilt,” saying just whatever she thinks to anyone without considering her audience at all. Played with amusing equanimity by Emily M. Keyishian, she thinks nothing of saying to a guy at Peter’s office party, “Are you one of those angry black men?”
-Sam Hurwitt The Mercury News (Honky)
"One poignant moment happens between Brooke (Emily Keyishian) and Trip (Micah Watterson) as they discuss the likely outcome of publishing, their own personal setbacks, and the pain surrounding the death of their brother. It can be hard to capture sibling chemistry, but Keyishian and Watterson are quite good. Aided by Jon Robin Baitz’s script, the two actors bring an almost wholesome and childlike essence to the moment. It’s an exchange of two confidants that foreshadows the finale."
-Sahar Yousefi Spinning Platters (Other Desert Cities)
"I never understood Ophelia until I saw this production"
"I usually don't like Ophelia- but I loved yours!"
"You were my favorite Ophelia"
(Hamlet)
"We’re transplanted to a futuristic, hipster London. Here the cool kids are buying slaves from places like Bulgaria and Moldavia, using them for sexual gratification, and showing them off to friends at night clubs. When the women aren’t needed, they’re chained to fences. Remember that thing I mentioned about the unexpected, and it potentially stomping all over your comfort zone? Well, here you go. Provocative, indeed. 20 minutes of squirmish theater never felt so odd and well executed. Same too with the superb performances." Stark Insider (Turning Tricks, ReOrient festival)
“...Would the all-male team be able to cope with the exotic presence of Female Engineer (Emily Keyishian, in a quirky, understated performance that elevates her character from type to human being)?.." Lily Janiak, SF Chronicle (Adventures in Tech)
"Emily Keyishian, my favorite face to watch on stage, so funny and so tender" Stuart Bousel (Adventures in Tech)
"That’s for the audience to determine as the plot thickens, so to speak. And that’s when the only other person in this play shows up: the alluring, guarded Abby (beautifully understated performance by Emily Keyishian) who runs Drake Colony, a retreat where writers and would-be writers go to have the solitude and time to write." Mercury News (Fiction)
