Shamas was born in Sudbury, Ontario. She moved to Toronto in 1980, where she held a variety of jobs before a workshop at The Second City inspired her to pursue a career in performing arts.[citation needed] She acted with Second City and Theatresports, and worked as a puppeteer on the children's series Fraggle Rock before deciding to strike out on her own. In 1987, she premiered her first show, My Boyfriend's Back and There's Gonna Be Laundry at the Edmonton Fringe Festival. The show, a mixture ...