Maryedith Burrell

Early life

She was born as Maryedith Ann Smith and raised in Gilroy, California. After attending a Catholic girls high school on scholarship, she headed to the UC Santa Cruz, working and studying simultaneously with American Conservatory Theater and The San Francisco Mime Troupe. After two terms at UCSC, She transferred to UC Los Angeles and as a student in its Theatre Arts Program, won the Hugh O'Brian acting award. One of the judges happened to be Jack Lemmon, who was impressed by her acting talents.

He gave her his phone number and offered to help with her career. Lemmon helped her to appear on the TV shows Days of Our Lives and M*A*S*H. While still a college student she traveled to London and worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and director Peter Brook.

Early acting and writing

While working in the publicity department of Westwood Playhouse, she met Jason Robards, Gena Rowlands, Shelley Winters, and a number of writers and producers who taught her lessons about forming a career that would include writing as well as acting. She joined The Groundlings and it led to her first TV writing assignment. The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts was a new show by the creator of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Ann Marcus. She has also performed with other improv groups, including The War Babies, The Second City, The Comedy Store Players, Sills And Company and The Spolin Players where she learned her skills as an ensemble player.

Fridays

She was selected for Fridays by the producers because of her experience in many improvisational roles. She became an important part of the Friday Edition news team as roving correspondent and special reporter with the recurring segment Friday Focus. She also added her comedic talent to a wide range of sketches on the show. She always appeared in the popular Battle Boy sketches as Battle Boy's mother, a chain-smoking, often abusive parent who yelled at Battle Boy whenever he set his sister's dolls on fire, harassed the neighbor kids, or made a mess in the yard. The show ended its run in 1982.

Post Fridays

She was approached by Shelley Duvall whom she had met on Fridays, to write five programs for the successful Faerie Tale Theatre. Unusual names in the film world, who would not normally work in TV, signed on for this venture. As the decades passed, she starred in more TV series and took some recurring and guest roles in many genres of acting. She acted in films, did voice-overs for cartoons, and wrote more movies. One of her movie assignments came from a former Groundlings colleague who had become head of TV movies for NBC. Impressed with the work she had done for Duvall’s series, he asked her to write the teleplay for her first TV movie, Little Match Girl.

Her successful career in film and television spans across writing, production, and acting. Notably, she signed a deal with Walt Disney Studios to create original TV programming. She has worked as a ghost writer for films that include The Little Mermaid and Casper. Since 2000, she has written a screenplay for Universal Studios and signed with Sony Pictures Entertainment to write the biography of Emily Post.

Continuing education

She moved to Asheville, North Carolina and is a Master of Liberal Arts student at the University of North Carolina Asheville. She is currently writing fiction, producing a documentary, and creating a one-woman play, all while attending her MLA classes.