Vanessa Payer Kumar was born in Vienna, Austria and trained in acting at the Conservatory of Vienna as well as in Paris with J.P. Denizon, assistant to Peter Brook. She has appeared in a wide range of roles on numerous stages in Austria and Germany, such as the renowned Theater i.d. Josefstadt, Festspiele Reichenau, Stadttheater Aachen and Landesbühne Hannover, as well as with experimental groups such as the famous Aktionstheater Ensemble.  Vanessa was part of the u.r.theater in Vienna and performed improvisation shows with them for several years. In 2000 she was a guest performer in the Market Theatre, Seattle.

In 2013 she founded "Theater 7" in Austria and produced several plays with them, such as a two-actor adaptation of the famous Indian epic Mahabharata, written by Theatre of Eternal Values (TEV) members Tilmann Schillinger and Vanessa Payer.  It was co-produced with Theatre of Eternal Values and performed from 2013 -2017 in many theatres in Vienna and across Austria.  2018/19/20 Theater 7 showed Lebensstrassen (Streets of Life) a Station-Theatre in Vienna about the lives and works of remarkable women and produced several other productions. In 2022 Theater 7 will show Lebensbögen , the second part of Lebensstrassen, and will continue their cultural work in Vienna. www.theater7.at‍

In 2023, Vanessa was honored by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as "Calliope" (named after the wisest of the nine Muses) and will be portrayed on the eponymous international "Platform of Outstanding Austrian Women" in the category of "Society and Culture".Vanessa appears in "Dinner & Crime" shows and is also a trainer for business and social competence for "Business-Theatre".  Besides her work as an author, producer and director for Theater 7, she still appears as an actress in other theatres, and also works frequently for film and television in Austria.  

Vanessa has also enjoyed being part of the conception team in some of TEV’s plays and loves to teach theatre-sports and improvisation at TEV’s Nirmal Arts Academy. She considers the work with TEV as the very soul of her professional career.

Productions With Theatre of Eternal Values:
Hero und Zero (in German)/Theater Drachengasse, Vienna, 2008
William Blake´s Divine Humanity/ New players theatre, London, 2007
Andersen.Märchen.Erzählen (in German)/Off-Theater, Vienna, 2006
Friends /Chalfont St.Peter, U.K. and Off-Theater, Vienna, 2006
The Magic Flute/ The Theatre at the Riverside Church, New York, 2000

Please feel welcome to visit her homepage:  https://www.vanessapayerkumar.com/ or https://www.calliope.at/vanessa-payer-kumar