Class Actress is the stage name of American synthpop solo artist Elizabeth Harper from Brooklyn, New York City. Initially, Harper pursued a career as an actress in Los Angeles, but moved to Brooklyn in the early aughts to pursue a career in music. Under her own name as well as Elizabeth Harper & the Matinee, she performed and recorded indie rock in Brooklyn for a number of years until in 2008 she heard a remix of one of her songs by a local producer/musician Mark Richardson. She favored the electronic production over the acoustic original and decided to pursue the collaboration with Richardson. The two helped transformed Harper's previous guitar-based sound into more synth-driven one which consequently became Class Actress. Soon after formation, local producer/musician Scott Rosenthal joined the group. The name, Harper took from a joke about her former choice to pursue drama major in college.
Class Actress' debut EP,
Journal of Ardency, was released on February 9, 2010 on Terrible Records, which is run by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor. Also on the label, the group released the single "Journal of Ardency" as well as a promotional video for the track "Adolescent Heart".
Rapprocher, Class Actress' debut studio album, was released on October 18, 2011 by Carpark Records. It includes the early singles "Keep You" and "Weekend". The album received moderate critical acclaim, obtaining a rating of 69 out of 100 based on 16 critics on review aggregate site Metacritic.