Our History
The Compassionate Clown Company was born in 2009 by Vanessa Hidalgo, whose love for performing began nearly 25 years ago. She received her Bachelor of Art's degree in Theater from Occidental College, and completed the 2 year professional acting program at The Sandford Meisner Center.
Vanessa’s passion in working with children began as a teenager when she began teaching drama and public speaking to elementary school youth. Since then her work with children has included teaching, mentoring and directing youth in theater.
While in acting school, she began her life as a clown in 2007 and discovered a passion for entertaining at children's parties. In 2009, Vanessa saw how entertaining children was a vehicle for inspiration and spreading the message of love & compassion to all. Her passion for children, animals and the environment were fused together to create The Compassionate Clown Company.
All of our shows thrive on the talents of our entertainers, and we do not exploit or use animals in any of our shows.