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Cynthia Kaplan is a New York City-based writer, musician and actress. She is the author of two acclaimed collections of comic essays, Why I’m Like This: True Stories, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers book and a Booksense bestseller, and Leave the Building Quickly.

 Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Magazine, The Week, Playboy, Huffington Post and Tin House, among many other publications and anthologies. She wrote and produced for Andrea Rosen's comedy Take Me to Your Mother on Nickelodeon (including writing and performing the theme song) and co-wrote the comic short This Won't Hurt a Bit with director Mary Harron for Morgan Spurlock's We the Economy, Madeleine Olnek’s award-winning short Hold Up and John Walsh’s feature comedy, Pipe Dream.

Kaplan has appeared in many plays and some films, including Hold Up and Pipe Dream, the indie features Work, Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same and Wild Nights With Emily. 

Kaplan’s songs have won national and international song contests, her music videos have appeared in comedy film festivals, and she plays regularly in clubs and music venues throughout the country with her band, The Cynthia Kaplan Ordeal. Time Out New York wrote of her, “If you’re lucky, Kaplan will sing and play guitar, and then you’ll laugh until you can’t breathe.” Her first album, Fangry, shot to #8 katrillion on the pop charts. 

Kaplan co-hosts the monthly comedy variety show, The Ruthless Comedy Hour with comedian Karen Bergreen, with whom she also co-authors the popular West Side Rag column Ruthless Advice: All of the Answers with None of the Expertise. 

Her acclaimed original comedy and rock music extravaganza, Cindy of Arc, was a finalist for the Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater. Cindy of Arc is about the problem men have with lying and where that's gotten the rest of us, particularly women. And Jews. Think American Utopia with expletives, politics, religion, Nazis, dogs, cannibals, cheerleading, no David Byrne and no Utopia. And it's a comedy. And we wear our shoes. COA was first produced as a (pandemic) concert film appearing at the Cinequest Film Festival and has since been presented live at clubs and theaters in Seattle, Baltimore and Philadelphia. It is currently playing dates in New York. 

Kaplan has never appeared on Law & Order.