Originally from Gainesville, FL, I now consider Santa Monica to be my home, having lived in the Los Angeles area for over 20 years. I've actually lived all over the world, in such places as Greenville, SC, Versailles, France and Orlando, FL. Well, OK. So these are the only places I've lived, but that path led me to where I am now, so I have no complaints.
My earliest, albeit sketchy, memories of my acting career originate from Terwilliger Elementary. My peers, fellow Kindergarten thespians and I, created short plays which our teachers, Mrs. Dukes and...Mrs. Other Teacher, allowed us to perform after lunch. I have to admit though: these are not the fondest of memories. I am immediately filled with the sense of panic I had while performing: feeling like I never quite knew what I was doing. But the harsh critics, drunk on apple juice and bologna sandwiches, laughed, and a 4 year-old neurotic actress was born.
By 4th grade I knew I wanted to be either An Actress or The First Woman President of the United States. I eventually threw my hat into the presidential race. As leader of the 7th grade, I guided my classmates in an effort to raise funds for an end-of-the-year class trip. We made enough money for a walk to the end of the street. Fortunately, a generous donor funded our trip back to campus, but my political career had come to an end.
After many spins around the sun, I drove across the country to experience life as an actor in Los Angeles, and the next month realized I would need a day job to keep myself busy and fed between auditions. Luckily for our future children, a few weeks after I began working at Williams-Sonoma, Gary decided to shop for new plates and silverware for his house in the canyon.
Having moved my acting career to the back burner to raise our two kids, I eventually decided it was time to return, and I made one of the best career choices of my life: I sent an email request for an interview to study at The Beverly Hills Playhouse. I have been enrolled in the Advanced Scene Study class ever since. At BHP, our instructors encourage us to create our own projects, rather than sit around waiting for the phone to ring. This led to an assignment a few years ago: get together with classmates and create short films. We did, and a 40-something year-old neurotic producer was born.
I've always sensed I wouldn't have much of a career until later in life. I'm not sure if I am psychic or if it was merely a self-fulfilling prophecy, but here I am, beginning to carve out an acting career for myself, and creating material to produce with Gary. While this path has not been as straightforward as I thought it would be, I know I'm moving in the right direction, and I look forward to guiding Canyon House Productions much further than the end of the street.
IMDB
My writing career began a little unexpectedly. When I was eighteen my older brother started a band, named Butch Whacks and the Glasspacks that performed covers of early rock and roll songs. Early on we played in clubs in San Francisco and we decided that, funny guys that we were, we would do comedy sketches setting up the songs. We had no idea what we were doing or how hard it is to write comedy. People would often yell, “Just play the songs!” We insisted they watch our sketches if they wanted to hear the music. After four years of trial and error, our show got to be pretty funny and almost without realizing it, I’d begun to write comedy.
When the band broke up I was lost, but had been bitten by the writing bug. Our piano player moved to Burbank so I knew someone in Southern California, worked up my courage and moved to L.A. myself to pursue my career. I truly had no idea how to get a job or, for that matter, how to write. The one major skill I had that separated me from the competition was the ability to sit at a desk for a really long time. That has served me very well in my career.
After a few years of writing spec scripts, sketches, and jokes for comedians that I occasionally sold for twenty-five dollars, I got my first real break and my first real writing job when I was hired to work on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. I think of it as my grad school for joke writing. Probably my most successful moment was when I was assigned on short notice to come up with a President Reagan sketch. After my initial panic, I came up with the idea for using the classic Abbot and Costello, “Who’s On First” sketch to show how Mr. Reagan prepared for a press conference. In a TV Guide article years later it was listed as one of Johnny’s top ten favorite performance pieces on The Tonight Show.
After I left The Tonight Show I struggled to make the transition to scripted comedy. I had already been working hard to learn about story structure and co-wrote a couple of freelance scripts including an episode of Happy Days. I finally broke through, found a good agent and have worked for many years on the staffs of many different shows including, Night Court, Caroline In The City, Malcolm In The Middle and The Exes.
I’ve also written screenplays and had the good fortune of having one produced. It’s a Sherlock Holmes comedy called, Without A Clue, starring Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley.
Now Diana and I have formed Canyon House and I am excited to work with her to produce new projects together.