ucy Blehar felt the calling to become an actor, even as far back as her childhood in Mt. Lebanon.

Blehar grew up on Roycroft Avenue and graduated from Mt. Lebanon High School in 2011. Performing arts were a formative part of her youth. She took tap classes at the Rec Center as a toddler and performed in countless musical theater productions at the Center for Theater Arts during her elementary and middle school years. In high school, Blehar was involved in various clubs and classes on music, performance arts and choir.

“Ever since I was very young, I’ve wanted to be an actor … But I didn’t plan to be a writer.” During an advanced theater class, she began writing plays and pop culture commentaries to perform with friends, foreshadowing a writing career to come.

Retired Mt. Lebanon High School teacher Cynthia Schreiner encouraged Blehar to turn her passion and talents into a career. Blehar says her former theater teacher was “very formative in my decision to pursue theater and acting fully. When I was deciding whether to go to college for theater, which is what I really wanted to do, or stick with English which is what I thought was a safer option, she told me ‘You shouldn’t have a Plan B because that’s what you’ll end up doing.’” It was the final push she needed to enroll at DePaul University in Chicago, where she earned her BFA in acting.

Soon after graduating, Blehar moved to L.A. to find work as an actor. She joined The Groundlings School and Upright Citizens Brigade, two staple organizations for aspiring writers and actors, where she developed her own characters and sketches. Like many aspiring actors, Blehar had difficulty getting auditions or an agent, let alone cast in roles, so she was looking for different ways to make her first break. It was around this time when she met her best friend, Mary Ryan, at a yoga studio. They quickly bonded over frustrations with L.A. Eventually, Ryan and Blehar decided to write a 30-minute show together. “We thought, why not, let’s go for it and write something,” said Blehar.

The duo wrote a show about terrible, messy boyfriends (based on some of their own unfortunate dating experiences) and “the misery of being a millennial woman in your 20s.” They debuted their one-act 30-minute show at UCB Theatre. During opening night, a prominent producer and rep happened to be in the audience. She approached the two women after the show, told them she loved it and would encourage other significant reps to see it as well.

“It felt like fate stepped in,” said Blehar, recounting the experience. The final show ran on the night before COVID-19 shut down the country in March, 2020. A female-driven production company showed up and was fully on board, ordering a four-part miniseries and asked the duo to develop a pilot for TV. Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 disrupted these plans, but the two are still reworking the show, OVERSHARING, for TV today.

Blehar keeps herself busy with multiple projects at once, something she says you must do in L.A. since work and project timelines are often so fluid. She’s participating in independent comedy shows, creating sketches and shopping around for a home for her newest comedy series, We Have To Save The Mall. This one tells the story of kids working to revive a struggling shopping mall in Altoona, which she says is loosely inspired by South Hills Village. Plus, you might’ve seen her on TikTok recently —she and her younger brother, Sam, are in a band, BIG SIS, that’s gone viral with a recent song “Yay Yomes” and is currently on a North American tour with pop musician Geordie Kieffer.

The siblings perform under stage names Baby and Babie, their British aliases. BIG SIS was born during the pandemic and Blehar describes the concept as a “Euro-pop sibling duo from Liverpool, who are extremely flippant, better than you, and rude to everyone including their fans.

This isn’t the first time the siblings have worked together. Blehar’s brother, Sam, moved to L.A. and the two have lived together since 2020. He is a musician, producer and songwriter, who like his sister was also involved in performing arts from a young age. At Mt. Lebanon High School, he was involved in drumline and percussion, then went on to study entrepreneurship, music recording and music industry at Northeastern University. Soon after they reunited in L.A., the duo started collaborating on YouTube videos, creating Blehar’s solo music project, learning to DJ and more. “We really dove into being creative together,” said Lucy. “We also uplift each other by our own individual successes.”

Musical ties run deep in this family. The Garment District, a local band we covered in April, is led by Blehar’s cousin, Jennifer Baron. Ever since high school, Lucy has been the off-and-on lead singer for the band. She describes Baron’s music as experimental, dreamy and nostalgic and says the two have always been very close and enjoy working together. Lucy sings lead vocals on Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World, the band’s latest release.

“The album happened very organically,” said Blehar. “We recorded it in small bursts over holidays, since I don’t live in Pittsburgh. We would sneak away from the rest of the family and go to the recording studio for a couple hours. I’m so happy I could bring her vision to life with vocals.”

One of the overarching threads of Blehar’s career and achievements is the strong connection to other people. From her high school teacher to her friends in the industry to her own family, much of Lucy’s work thus far has been supported by and uplifted by these strong relationships. “I’ve learned a lot about how important it is to have a community to support you.”

You can find her on TikTok @lucyblee and stay up to date with her projects at lucyblehar.com.