Meredith Patterson

Patterson was born in Concord, California and raised in Pleasant Hill in California's Bay Area. She is the youngest of four children. Meredith 'Merie' Patterson has been dancing since the age of 2, and excelled at classical ballet, tap, and jazz. She competed in famous dance competitions around the country such as Tremaine & Show Stoppers. She began singing at age 8, and taking acting class at age 9. She made her stage debut at Concord Citi Arts production of "Cinderella" at the age of 13. Patterson toured the country at age 17 as a teacher for The Universal Dance Association. Patterson left home at age 18 and headed to New York City intent upon becoming a dancer on Broadway. She was nominated for a Barrymore Award at 19, starring in two national tours at 20, and signing her first Equity production contract with Madison Square Garden's show, "A Christmas Carol", with choreographer Susan Stroman, at 21. She made her Broadway debut in 2000 in "The Green Bird", a play directed by Julie Taymor. The following year, she made her musical debut in the original chorus of the Tony Award-winning revival of "42nd Street". Three months after opening, she was given the starring role of "Peggy Sawyer", which she performed from August 2001 to August 2002 and her performance was taped for The Lincoln Center Archives. Later, Patterson was asked to star in a production of "42nd Street" in Moscow, Russia, making her the first American actress to star in an English-speaking musical in Russia and the first "Peggy Sawyer" to ever be billed above the title. In 2003, actress Julie Andrews made her directorial debut with the musical, "The Boy Friend". Ms. Andrews met Patterson and cast her in the starring role of "Miss Polly Browne", coincidentally the same role that Ms. Andrews made her Broadway debut with some 50 years earlier. For this role, Patterson received critical acclaim. Ms. Andrews took a liking to Ms. Patterson and set up a meeting with film director Garry Marshall for the movie, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. Mr. Marshall decided to put Meredith in the movie as Lord Nicholas Chris Pine's girlfriend, "Lady Alyssa Wells". Named after Garry Marshall's daughter-in-law, and Julie Andrews' real last name. Patterson made her Los Angeles theater debut starring as "Louise Maske" in Steve Martin's adaptation of the play, "The Underpants" at the Geffen Playhouse, for which she received more rave reviews. In addition, she originated the role of "Judy Haynes" in the highly-anticipated world premiere of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", which she originated on Broadway at The Marquis Theater, November 14 through January 4, 2009. In addition to stage work, Patterson has made several television and film appearances, including guest starring roles on The Good Wife, Person Of Interest, Made in Jersey, Boston Legal and in the films, Every Little Step, A Secret Promise, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Broken Flowers, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and Company Man. She is making her soap opera debut on Guiding Light and played the recurring role of "Francesca" on ABC's All My Children. Patterson is a self-taught singer/songwriter. She has been writing music and lyrics since she was 18-years-old. She composed, performed, produced and recorded her own CD of music entitled "MerieNYC", available on ITunes. Autographed hard copies are rare. Meredith is certified in Holistic Health from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition in NYC and owns her own company, Merie, where she counsels and coaches entertainment professionals how to balance themselves in the entertainment industry; body, mind and spirit. Meredith resides in Hollywood, CA with her husband, Dustin Brayley and their children Maxwell & William.