James "Jimmy" Carroll Shaw

American character actor Jimmy Shaw died on 11 October, after a brave and tremendous fight against pancreatic cancer. He was probably best known and most loved for his character on Spain´s beloved sit-com "La Que Se Avecina" (Loosely translated as "The Trouble Next Door") as the loveable and hyper-sensitive fish out of water in Spain, "Matthew".  Shaw rose to international fame with Spanish speaking audiences around the world with this character that he says he built with threads of "Bam Bam" from "The Flintstones" and a healthy dose of Marilyn Monroe.

 

Jimmy was born in Los Angeles, April 6, 1966) and grew up north of Boston, on the Massachusetts North Shore, in Rowley. Graduating from Triton Regional High School in 1984, he then moved to New York City to attend The School of Visual Arts, on a journalism scholarship - one in five that were awarded in the entire country at that time. However, he soon found himself following his call to become an actor after legendary acting teacher Uta Hagen accepted him to study at the prestigious HB Studios in Greenwich Village. He then went on to study with some of the 20th century´s true masters of interpretation: Warren Robertson, Wynn Handman, Marjorie Ballentine, and Larry Moss, among many others. 

 

Represented at a very young age by talent manager Bill Treusch in New York, Shaw found himself amongst a roster of inspiring talent like Eric Roberts, Sandy Dennis, Tom Hulce, Christopher Walken, Meg Foster, Viggo Mortensen, Julia Roberts and more. It was during this time that Jimmy was cast in the Off-Broadway comedy hit "The Lady in Question" alongside the great Charles Busch and Julie Halston. When the show closed Shaw´s team pushed for a move to Los Angeles and a shot at an early career in TV and film. Although his time in California changed his life in many positive ways that had nothing to do with the acting profession, like meeting treasured friends for life, it wasn´t the most fruitful time professionally. He did however begin his work in television working on series at his two favorite studios: Universal and Warner Brothers, learning the ropes. "What is that piece of black tape on the floor over there?” he asked a co-star one day on the series "Major Dad".  "That," his fellow actor playing his father on the show, Lane Davies, said, "...is your mark. It´s where you have to end up for the shot, but you can never look at it, you just have to kind of establish where it is and feel it."

 

Shaw went on to work in television during a decade but also felt a pull to Spain, and travelled there often. As a kid he felt a special affinity to The Iberian Peninsula, its colors, its life, its people and its cinema. As a teenager he would drive for miles to the closest town where an art house cinema would play Pedro Almodovar films wanting to find a way into that world color, melodrama, poetic realism and deeply human comedy and pathos. In 2000, Jimmy relocated to Madrid to study Spanish for three months. He stayed for 25 years!

 

He worked for years as an English teacher returning to the States to do theater whenever he could. Of the hundreds of types of jobs he had over a lifetime to support his dream and hang in there ("I´ve always said, if at least in this lifetime I get to do what I love and make others happy too, all the side hustle jobs are worth it!") he worked as a pool cleaner, waiter, electrician’s assistant, translator, freelance writer, acting teacher, film projectionist, personal assistant, grocery bagger, voice over dubber, caterer, laundromat attendant, travel guide and hotel bellhop.

 

He had acted in forty plays by the time he decided to dedicate himself only to film and television. His last big hurrah was the internationally lauded one-character play "Dream Man", written by the late James Carroll Pickett at the height of the AIDS epidemic and governmental abandonment of life saving research, and directed by the only other actor to have ever played the role, actor/director/writer Michael Kearns. "Dream Man" changed Shaw´s hands on the wheel of his craft and was the catalyst for monumental growth as an actor. The Los Angeles Times stated, "The prodigiously talented Jimmy Shaw gives a performance of shattering virtuosity and craft."

 

Represented by Elena Lázaro in Madrid Jimmy quickly became a recognizable and unique presence in the panorama of the Spanish and international film and TV community with always diverse and ever changing characters on series and films like "Aguila Roja", "Cuentame Como Pasó", "El Tiempo Entre Costuras", "El Ministerio del Tiempo", "Nacho", "Centro Médico", "Now and Then"  (Apple TV), "The English" (Amazon), "From Zero to I Love You", "Velvet", "Conducta Animal", "Any Given Night", "El Incidente", Shonda Rhime´s "Still Star Crossed", "The Night Watchman", "La Fortuna", El Hombre de las Mil Caras", "Refugees", "Classmate", "Victor Ros", "Will and Grace", "Beverly Hills, 90210", "Sisters", "Major Dad" and many more.

 

He is survived by his dear husband Francisco (Frisco) Sanz of Sitges, Spain, his adoring kitties, his found family spanning Spain, the UK, NY, and LA, and many cherished beloved friends  He is predeceased by his parents James and Maria Shaw.

 

A memorial service was held in Madrid on 18 October, and a celebration of life for Jimmy, where his many friends will be able to celebrate and remember his extraordinary life is being planned.

 

A Go Fund Me has been established to help defray the cost of his painfully expensive medical treatment throughout his almost 3-year fight against pancreatic cancer: https://gofund.me/0d6abe678