Nicky Paraiso is an actor, dancer, musician, writer, performance artist, producer, and curator. Since 2001, he has been the Director of Programming for The Club, and Curator for the annual La Mama Moves! Dance Festival at La MaMa. His Off- and Off-Off-Broadway credits include: DARK TWIST (1979), THAT’S HOW THE RENT GETS PAID, PART III(1979), SPECIMEN DAYS (1981), A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (1982) with NYSF/The Public, FIVE POINTS(1982), THAT’S HOW THE RENT GETS PAID, PART IV (1984), and SAINT TOUS (1991). He has presented his solo shows ASIAN BOYS (1994), HOUSES AND JEWELS (1994), HOUSE/BOY (2004), NOW MY HAND IS READY FOR MY HEART (2019) at La MaMa ETC, Dixon Place, Performance Space 122, Dance Theater Workshop.  He has performed and collaborated with many notable downtown theatre and dance artists including Jeff Weiss and Carlos Ricardo Martinez, was a member of Meredith Monk/The House and Vocal Ensemble (1981-1990) touring throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.  In 2007, HOUSE/BOY was presented at the Dublin Theatre Festival, the Initiation International Festival in Singapore, and in Japan.  He is a member and performer with Yoshiko Chuma and the School of Hard Knocks since 1988. 

Nicky Paraiso was born in Queens, New York. He is a graduate of Oberlin College/Conservatory and holds an M.F.A. from New York University’s Graduate Acting Program. As a curator for the annual La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival, he is responsible for the three-week festival devoted to presenting a full range of contemporary dance forms and genres. He has received multiple awards and honors including a 1987 New York Dance & Performance BESSIE Award, a 2004 Spencer Cherashore Fund grant for mid-career actors, a 2005 New York Innovative Theater Award for his performance in Theodora Skipitares’ IPHIGENIA, and 2012 BAX (Brooklyn Arts Exchange) Arts & Artists in Progress Arts Management Award. In 2016, Movement Research created the Nicky Paraiso Diversity Initiative Fund in his honor, to support their Artists of Color Program. He has been on theater, dance, and music panels including the OBIE Judge Panel, and New York Dance and Performance Awards “Bessies” Selection Committee and Steering Committee, and Honorary Awards Committee of the New York Innovative Theater Awards.  His writing can be found in the anthology Love, Christopher Street: Reflections of New York City (Vantage Point).