It should come to no surprise that character actress Sheila Shaw was born close to two of the top entertainment spots of the U.S. - Disney World and Cypress Gardens - for entertainment has been her sustenance for most her life via stage, commercials, film and TV. The only daughter of Allen B. and Frances Olive Shaw (she also has two brothers), the Haines City, Florida native worked, in fact, at Cypress Gardens as a teenager selling orange juice. As a starry-eyed youngster she would often write to her favorite TV shows and seek autographed pictures of the stars -- comediennes Lucille Ball, Marlo Thomas and Barbara Feldon remain among her most treasured. Sheila attended Haines City High School where her love for theater grew, appearing in such school plays as "The Trouble with Angels". On the sportier side, she became a teen golfing champion at a number of her local country club tournaments.With her mind firmly set on an acting career, Sheila moved to Atlanta at age 19 to study with the Academy Theater Company for two years. At that time she also studied voice, which helped to earn her roles in such Atlanta-based musicals as "The Music Man", "Carnival", and "Li'l Abner". In 1978 she moved to Los Angeles and began her studies at the Lee Strasberg Institute while scouting out acting roles. She was performing in the screwball comedy "The Women" in town when she met three other singer/actresses and formed a cabaret-styled quartet called the "Custom Cakes". Dressed in waitress uniforms, the girls performed at such popular venues as The Playboy Club in Century City (where rising comedian Sandra Bernhard served as their opening act), The (then-called) Backlot in West Hollywood, and the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. The group became a local cult item incorporating tight harmonies into their novelty songs while interjecting comedy material.In 1985 Sheila became a member of Theatre West, a Los Angeles area stage company, when the company cast a role outside its membership. For her efforts she won the LA Weekly and Drama-Logue Award in the role of the child-like May Bee Burley in "Verdigris". She has since been an active player in the company's Storybook Theater offshoot, which focuses on children's theatre. There she has done "Hansel and Gretel", "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Sleeping Beauty". Her award-winning role in "Verdigris" led to her being cast in Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" at the Los Angeles Theatre Center" starring Bill Pullman, Philip Baker Hall and Nan Martin in which she received her Equity card. Most recently she appeared in the intergalactic stage comedy "Space Therapy" with French Stewart and "Mad TV" alumni Mary Scheer at the Zephyr Theatre in Hollywood.During the 1980s Sheila broke into TV roles with a part on "Cheers". With a strong emphasis on comedy she appeared in various guises (moms, housewives, waitresses, secretaries, gossips, etc.) on such sitcoms as "Murphy Brown", "Empty Nest", "Becker" and "Malcolm in the Middle". In July, 2007, she scored a recurring guest star part as Jeannie Vogel, mother-in-law to troubled character Pete Campbell, on AMC's hit drama "Mad Men". Equally versatile whether representing the drab and downtrodden or the frivolous and flighty, she has demonstrated her dramatic mettle on such shows as "Without A Trace", "Six Feet Under", and "The X Files", while continuing to show off her comic lighter side ("The King of Queens", "What About Brian", "The Gilmore Girls"). Her favorite film role so far was as Ruth Linwood in the drama "Erin Brockovich". Although most of her footage was cut from the film, the experience of working with Steven Soderbergh was invaluable. Sheila is married to her second husband (of 12 years) and the couple live in the San Fernando Valley area with their cat "Elvis".