Mariann Aalda's stand-up comedy -- as a divorced, middle-aged, happy-but-horny ex-homemaker attempting to map out a new path to love, sex and romance began in 2003 with her one-woman show and comedy CD, Black Don't Crack...But Don't Try and Spread It Too Thin!

Click on photos above
for clips from
Herotique-Aahh..
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     She continued developing the character as a founding member of 3 Blacque Chix in the comedy cabaret, Herotique-Aahh... and perfected it in the “sexistential” musical- comedy, "MOIST!" with Iona Morris.
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Click on photo
below to see festival
clip of M.O.I.S.T.!


(Click above for Credits @ IMDB)
    Although a veteran stage actress, Mariann is recognized by fans  primarily for her work in television, starring as...
  • “DiDi Bannister” on the ABC soap opera, *Edge of Night
                                            
  • three seasons as “Ellen Parker,” opposite O.J. Simp- son, on HBO's *First & 10, 

  • and as "Elizabeth Winston-Royal on the CBS sitcom, *The Royal Family, with Redd Foxx & Della Reese...

(Click below for episodes on IMDB)
   
    Additionally, she co-hosted Designs for Living on USA, was a reporter on NOW! for NBC-NY. 


“Meshach Taylor and Mariann Aalda...
the film’s funnier episode.”
- Janet Maslin, NY Times.








With Iona & Ananda Lewis


...and with Stevie Wonder



Recognized primarily from more than 30 years of working in network television, Mariann Aalda is also an accomplished stage actress with a penchant for creating quirkily comedic and
dramatically complex characters.

         Her latest production is  M.O.I.S.T.!  (acronym for the Multiple Orgasm Initiative for Sexual Transformation) -- a musical comedy celebration of the "Seasoned Woman"and those planning on living to be. Co-written by and co-starring Iona Morris, the show is hailed by reviewers on both coasts as "the next  Vagina Monologues/Menopause the Musical." After running in Los Angeles from September 2009 thru April 2010 to packed houses, stellar reviews and standing ovations, plans are currently in the works to take the show on tour and to Off-Broadway. Click below to see clips and hear audience testimonials and/or visit the website at www.moistonstage.com for reviews, photos and to find out more.... 

"...sexy, intelligent and fun, fun, fun...all us ladies of a certain age exit the building with smiles on our faces and in our hearts, knowing that our sexy selves are not gone, not by a long shot!"
-Judith Drake, In the Trenches Productions (pictured below)

        A native of Chicago,  Mariann honed her comedy skills as a writer-performer with the NYC sketch troupe, Off Centre Theatre -- which also launched the comedy career of John Leguizamo -- and touring with the improv group, The Proposition, where Jane Curtin got her pre-SNL start. A graduate of Southern lllinois University, she also trained with New York’s prestigious Negro Ensemble Company; Joe Papp's Public Theatre, and Woody King’s New Federal Theatre, where she made her stage debut with the legendary Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee as an ingenue  in Take It from the Top. 
        When faced with the  "Mid-Life Trifecta" of divorce and an empty nest;  the failing health and death of both parents, and the glass ceiling of age that confounds many working in film & TV on the need for reinvention,  Aalda drew on her live-performance roots on the stage and in comedy and jumped right in to stand-up. Here she is at the Hollywood Improv...

            As a pioneer in daytime television  (as one of the few African-American contract  players and, even more rare, with a front-burner storyline) Mariann portrayed "DiDi Bannister," on EDGE OF NIGHT, the Procter & Gamble soap opera which first aired on CBS and later on  ABC. From 1981-1985, she was partnered in the poignant love story of "Calvin & DiDi," the hotshot police detective and the feisty, young defense attorney.  Still beloved by soap fans, Aalda likes to think that one of them was a young Michelle Robinson (now, Obama:-) who got inspired to go to law school watching "DiDi!"

          While she also played Dr. Grace Battles on GUIDING LIGHT; took over the high-profile role of "the tragically disfigured" Lena Hart on SUNSET BEACH, and played opposite O.J. Simpson for three seasons as his "long suffering" wife, Ellen Parker, on the HBO series FIRST & 10, in recent yearsAalda has primarily been known for her sitcom turns as series regular Elizabeth Royal-Winston on THE ROYAL FAMILY, recurring as Anthony's uppity girlfriend, Lita Ford on DESIGNING WOMEN, and as Oscar-winner Mo'Nique's  nemesis, Hannah Foster on THE PARKERS along with a multitude of guest-star roles.

Click on Images for Clips & Reviews.
Class Act
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Click on photos below for...
 More"M.O.I.S.T.! " clips        &     Stand-up @ Caroline's, NYC

Also a TV commercial veteran with more than 50 national spots
to her credit...the gray wig works.
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THEN:   Click on "Calvin & Didi" photo (Irving Lee) for Ebony Magazine article
NOW:   Click on EON reunion photo with Terry Davis, David Allen Brooks,   
            and Kerrie Emerson for Aalda's column in PGP Classic Soaps
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            An activist as well as an actress -- cited by the California State Assembly and named “Volunteer of the Year” by the Los Angeles County Dept. of Children’s Services for work with at-risk youth -- Mariann has served as a  keynote speaker for the Chicago Dept. of Human Services, Executive Women International National Leadership Conference and The Screen Actors Guild, among others.  Along with writer-producer, fellow Chicagoan and her best friend, Karen Greyson, she formed PeopleLikeUs Productions to develop multi-cultural and  multi-generational family fare for the web, broadcast TV, film and stage.

Click on photo above for Mariann & Karen's Humor Advice Column on
"Ethnic Etiquette" which ran for three years at BlackberrySpeak.com &
which is now being made into the book --
When NOT to call a Spade a Spade.