Mary Anne McGarry

Mary Anne McGarry holds both US and EU passports: she was born to Irish-American parents in Cincinnati, Ohio. She began acting when she was 14 years old; and her first professional role was Irena in Chekhov's "Three Sisters" at St. Louis' Gaslight Theater. She describes theater as her drug of choice: in order to assure a steady supply, she acted, directed, wrote, and produced theater across the US. For years, she had parallel careers in theater and academia: she studied at Quebec's Universite Laval, Cambridge University in Great Britain, St. Louis University (US), and has a theater/film Ph.D from Northwestern University. She is the former head of the MFA acting program at UC Irvine. Theater credits include 6 seasons with the Tony award-winning South Coast Repertory; the Mark Taper Forum of Los Angeles, the Pasadena Playhouse, Steppenwolf, Northlight Rep, and Court Theaters of Chicago; DC's Folger Theater, NYC's Public Theater, People's Light & Theater Co (PA), Sacramento Theater Company, and her own summer Shakespeare Festival in Geneva, IL. In 1988, she began working in TV and film. She has the distinction of being fired, along with George Clooney, from the first season of "Roseanne", for reasons known only to Roseanne Barr. After that temporary setback, she worked with many wonderful people, including Ryan Murphy, Emily Mortimer, John C Reilly, Joan Allen, Anthony Hopkins, Paris Barclay, Aza Jacobs, Will Ferrell, Amy Brenneman, Alexis Bledel, Sacha Gervasi, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn Jr., Ted Griffin, Glenne Headley, Vicky Jensen, Matthew McConaughey, Mary Louise Parker, Estelle Parsons, Brett Ratner, Gary Sinise, Christian Slater, John Slattery, John Spencer, David McWhirter, John Stamos, Alan Taylor, Matt Weiner, and her pal, Jonelle Allen. Mary Anne's one-woman show "Honeymoon in Galway" was named "Best of the Year" by the Los Angeles Times, and is in development for film, with Arthur Lappin as Exec Producer. Her screenplay, "Craving for That Kind of Love," set in Harlem and London in the 20's, is in development for UK television. Her first mystery novel, "Homicide Nun", features an Irish nun as a reluctant homicide detective, transplanted to Riverside, CA. She has three siblings, a daughter and 3 grandchildren, living in New Orleans.