Cheryl Hines and Rebecca Hines

Cheryl Hines understands the importance of reaching an audience. The two-time Emmy nominee for her role as ‘Cheryl David’ on HBO’s Golden Globe Award-winning series ”Curb Your Enthusiasm“ praises her sister Rebecca’s ability to reach everyone in a classroom filled with students with different abilities and different learning styles. And she should know. A strong supporter of her sister, she has often joined her in the classroom, on the stage and before a camera.

Cheryl will next be seen starring opposite William H. Macy in the independent feature “Bart Got a Room,” which made its world premiere at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival in April. Cheryl will also be seen co-starring in the 2008 Sundance hit “Henry Pool Was Here” for writer Albert Torres and director Mark Pellington. She is currently in production on director Sam Mendes’ untitled relationship comedy for Focus Features. Cheryl co-stars opposite John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. Also in production this spring is “The Ugly Truth,” co-starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler.

Cheryl is in post-production on her feature film directorial debut with the indie “Serious Moonlight,” from a screenplay written by the late Adrienne Shelly. Her other film roles include “The Grand,” “Waitress,” “RV,” “Keeping up with the Steins,” and “Herbie: Fully Loaded.”

Cheryl has broadened her experience in television to include producing and voice over. She was the executive producer on the critically acclaimed improvised and award-winning comedy series “Campus Ladies” for the Oxygen Channel and the Starz Networks first original comedy series “Hollywood Residential,” which recently premiered in January.

Cheryl was also handpicked by Jeffrey Katzenberg as the lead voice in DreamWorks Television’s primetime animated series, “Father of the Pride,” an innovative comedy that aired on NBC. Cheryl also lends her voice to the upcoming animated feature “Space Chimps” coming out this summer.

As a member of the Groundlings Theater, Cheryl has spent a great deal of time writing and performing sketch and improvisational comedy. This experience made her feel very at home with the improvised dialogue format of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Cheryl resides in Los Angeles with her husband Paul and their daughter Catherine Rose.

Dr. Rebecca Hines says the best thing about teaching is “the energy you get from every single person in the room.” She explains that “when everyone is really engaged and you draw people into thinking about new things, there’s a rush of energy that’s indescribable -whether you’re teaching preschoolers or graduate students.” That’s a good thing because with everything that she does, she needs that energy! Professor, author, theater director, professional speaker, DVD star, Dr. Hines uses every means and every medium to convey her powerful lessons. She and her sister Cheryl have worked together throughout their careers, with each bringing their unique talents to provide powerful lessons to students and teachers by combining Cheryl’s acting, literary and drama talents with Rebecca’s expertise on student learning, co-teaching and improvisational comedy.

Rebecca began her teaching career while still in college, working as a paraprofessional at a school for kids with cognitive disabilities. Upon graduation from college she became an eighth grade English teacher. Her first professional collaboration with her sister occurred when Cheryl came and helped her teach for two solid weeks when she had surgery on her throat (Rebecca pantomimed while Cheryl delivered all the lessons as a “volunteer”!).

From there, Rebecca returned to special education and taught kids with emotional and behavioral issues, developing her skills and expertise on co-teaching and working inclusively with students of varying cognitive abilities. Currently she is an Associate Professor in the College of Education at the University of Central Florida.

Rebecca also travels across the country speaking on the topic of co-teaching and including kids with disabilities in the general education classroom. In addition to publishing numerous articles and book chapters in the area of co-teaching and inclusion, Rebecca is the author of Co-Teaching in the Inclusive Classroom: Powerful Strategies for Creating Success for All Your Students (Grades 6-12).

Rebecca and Cheryl’s collaboration continues with the summer drama institute (now partnering with the Orlando Shakespeare Festival and UCP of Central Florida) for kids with and without disabilities that takes place each summer. The institute, founded by Rebecca, was inspired by Cheryl.

Her latest project is a DVD and textbook on co-teaching, produced with her colleague Dr. Lisa Dieker. Cheryl and Rebecca are teaming up yet again to do a DVD called Improv for Educators: Tips for Helping Teachers Think of their Feet.

The impressive collaboration between the two sisters makes a lot of sense for a variety of reasons, but Rebecca puts it best: “Whether you are teaching or acting, you better know your audience. If you don’t, you’d better know how to handle the hecklers!”

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