Lady, M’s alter-ego, Mariann Aalda, grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and – after graduating from Southern Illinois University with a concentration in Theater and Journalism – emigrated to the more suitable sophistication of New York City, where she continued her theater training at the renowned Negro Ensemble Company with classmates Robert Townsend and Laurence Fishburne. Upon graduation, she debuted in The New Federal Theater production of Take It From the Top, starring (and written and directed by) the legendary – and recent Kennedy Center honorees – Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.

A yen to do comedy came calling, and Mariann answered it by joining the New York sketch comedy troupe, Off-Centre Theater as a writer and performer; and touring with the improv group, The Proposition. She came in off the road after being tapped for a contract role on the ABC soap opera, Edge of Night, as feisty criminal defense attorney, “DiDi Bannister,” for which she won an AFTERNOON TV award as “Most Promising Newcomer.”

Edge head writer, Henry Slesar, once said to her of her portrayal: “I love making you suffer, because you suffer so well.” And suffer she did, as “DiDi” endured the tribulations of being involved in a torrid love triangle; being brainwashed and carted of to an insane asylum in a straight-jacket; being held hostage at knife-point by a crazed, irate client; reuniting with her estranged brother, only to then have to help him beat a murder rap…and on and on…and on…earning her accolades from the African-American community as one of the few black heroines – and positive role models – of that time (1981-85) on daytime television. “I’m amazed at how much that character still means to so many people,” says Aalda. “I’ve actually had young women come up to me and say that ‘DiDi’ inspired them – and made them believe that it was possible – to go to law school!”

When Edge went off the air, Aalda moved to Los Angeles and began a quest of guest-starring in television shows too numerous to mention. Most notably, she starred opposite O.J. Simpson for three seasons, as his wife on the HBO football saga, First & 10; and with Redd Foxx and Della Reese, as their daughter, on the CBS sitcom, The Royal Family. Having just finished rehearsing a scene with Foxx minutes before his fatal heart attack, and watching him take a tumble that had everyone on set believing he was just doing a pratfall, Aalda finds solace in the fact that the phenomenal entertainer got his final send-off to the sound off laughter ringing in his ears. “Just like an old gunslinger,” says Aalda, “Redd died with his boots on. He was surrounded by people who loved him…doing what he did best…and owing the IRS money. What a way to go!

“I learned a lot from him about comedy timing, reacting and “naughty” innuendo. I think he’d get a kick out of the girl who played his ‘goody-goody’ daughter, now doing such an outrageously bawdy show!”

Another career highlight was Aalda’s recurring role on Designing Women. as Meshach Taylor’s notorious, yuppie-from-hell girlfriend, (“I’ll be waiting in the Beamer”) “Lita Ford.” Co-starring, again, with Taylor in the teen cult film Class Act, as the clueless housewife, “Julie Pinderhughes,” New York Times film critic, Janet Maslin wrote that the duo “…provided the film’s funnier episodes.”

“I love working with Meshach,” says Aalda, “we riff well off each other. Working with him is just like playing in a sandbox…pure fun.”

A return to soaps in NBC’s Sunset Beach had Aalda “suffering” – and off to the mental hospital – again; this time earning her the dubious distinction of being named as one of the perpetrators in Soap Opera Weekly’s “Best Bad Storyline” of 1998, (Martin’s Syndrome) as the tragically disfigured and tormented “Lena Hart.”

Never content to be “just an actress,” Aalda formed PeopleLikeUs Productions with fellow Chicagoan, writer-producer, Karen Greyson, to write and produce multi-cultural and multigenerational film, theater and television projects. Cited by the California State Assembly for her volunteer work with Friends of the Family’s Teen Parents Program, Aalda was also named “Volunteer of the Year” by the Los Angeles Dept. of Children’s Services for her work at MacLaren Children’s Center. As a motivational speaker and seminar leader, she has given presentations for organizations as diverse as the Screen Actors Guild, Adelphia, and the Chicago Dept. of Human Services – with Executive Women International and her Alma Mater, Southern Illinois University, booked for later this year.  My Kid Is My Guru: Christopher’s Wisdom, a CD containing tracks of two of the powerful motivational tools she uses in her presentations – progressive relaxation and guided imagery –  is available on her website. (Click here to listen to an excerpt.)

Mariann’s life continued to merrily roll along – as a working actress, writer, wife and mother – till the wheels came off in 2001, when, in rapid succession: her father died; her mother was diagnosed with cancer; her last child left for college; her husband decided he didn’t want to be married anymore; she lost her SAG (Screen Actors Guild) health insurance, and she had her first hot flash.

After a year in Chicago, (spent getting her mother through chemotherapy…to date, her mom is cancer free!) Mariann returned to Los Angeles – and after spending a year at The Hypnosis Motivation Institute training to become a hypnotherapist, she became her own best client.