The Early Years

I was born and raised in Washington, D.C..  No, I didn't live overlooking the White House...they have regular neighborhoods within the city limits.  When I was young I was very involved in ballet.  I followed in my mom's footsteps studying at the Washington School of the Ballet.  I got my first taste of the stage appearing in their production of "The Nutcracker Suite."  My interests later turned to gymnastics, and I competed on two teams winning state trophies for floor exercise and trampoline.  After retiring from that (you get too old when you're about twelve), I got involved in musical theater in school, which was a lot of fun.  But mostly I enjoyed just hanging out with my friends.  I think I spent the entire year of 1980 in video arcades (school was easy then)...

The Cool Years

In 1982, probably the best year of my life, my mother and I moved to a very nice apartment in Rockville, Maryland (just a few miles north of our last place).  I hardly had any classes left to take in my senior year of high school, so I started college early, studying television production and programming.  I also had plenty of time left over to play Atari, listen to 80's music, and watch all my fave TV shows (Magnum, Simon and Simon, Today's F.B.I., Code Red, Tales of the Gold Monkey).  Life was good.  I also decided I wanted to go to film school, because I was going to be the next Steven Spielberg...or at least the next Stephen J. Cannel.  I visited U.C.L.A twice, and it looked great, but affording it was another thing.  However, we knew the film and television business was moving to Florida, so we compromised and moved to Tampa where I entered USF as a cinematography major.  I also got serious about my number one love:  writing.  Having no friends and no social life in my new town, I had plenty of time to write.  I was first published at the age of nineteen with an article about a day I spent in L.A. on the set of the series Knight Rider with David Hasselhoff.  Other magazine sales soon followed; meanwhile I worked on just-for-fun projects, like my novel and scriptwriting.  The cinematography program disappeared before I got to take any classes, so after experimenting with many majors and taking many more classes than needed, I ended up with a B.A. in Psychology...

The Last Few Years

I ended up getting a job working in TV Programming, and back around '89 I decided to attempt to find additional work in the film industry.  By that time, there was almost always some movie or TV show around town.  I also got back into acting, taking classes at the Tampa Academy of Performing Arts, which was a lot of fun and helped me get my first agent.  At the same time, I joined the FMPTA where I got the inside scoop on all the local production activity.  I was hoping to get a grunt P.A. job on the set of "Edward Scissorhands" when my agent called to say I had an audition with Tim Burton.  I got the part and spent the next three months running around in a wacky wig and polyester.  For a while, I got all kinds of calls for auditions and bookings (most of which I had to pass up because I was working on ES), but I was also trying to start a family and keep my full-time job (I like a regular paycheck).  So when I became pregnant with my son, I decided to take a break from acting.

I switched back to writing in the mid-nineties.  I co-wrote and co-produced a TV pilot called Camp Guide, which allowed me to be creative and travel for free.  But the producer I was working for decided to move on to another project, so it is now just a one-time-only special.  In 1997 I sold a book proposal to a fairly large (now defunct) publishing house.  It was an episode guide to the television series Highlander.  They sent me an advance and I got paid to watch TV.  That was great...until they decided to drop the project after I wrote the whole manuscript.  Twice.  Very long story I'll skip.  Now you'll know why I cry when I hear the word "Highlander".  That experience soured me on writing for a while, so I went back to school to get my Master's, where I spent every second of my life writing anyway.

These Days

Lately, I've gotten back into acting and writing.  I have a new agent and a regular gig doing industrials.  In February '01 I appeared in "Ocean's Eleven," which was a lot of fun.  I enjoy working with the computer (obviously), reading, playing basketball, studying martial arts (2nd degree brown belt in TKD) and swinging in my hammock doing absolutely nothing (a rare activity).