Esther Shapiro is a teacher in the Culinary Arts Department. She is a brilliant cook and a patient teacher who comes to The Academy to earn money to pay off astronomical medical bills after tragedy befalls her family.
Because of the loss of her infant twin sons (the aforementioned tragedy), she is initially uneasy around staff members with children, but interaction becomes easier when a healthy son, Ethan, arrives.
She is married to Rabbi Steve Shapiro, and the two only break Shabbat if the shadowcast of Rocky Horror falls on a Friday night. She is the daughter of therapist Laurel Weinberg and dentist Henry Weinberg, and has two younger sisters, Aviva and Hannah.