Mary Neely

Last updated
Mary Connor Neely
Born (1991-04-10) April 10, 1991 (age 33) [1]
Los Angeles, California, U.S. [2]
Alma materUCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television
Occupations
  • Actress
  • Writer
  • Director
  • Editor
Years active2010–present

Mary Connor Neely (born April 10, 1991) is an American actress, writer, director, and editor. [3] She rose to prominence [4] [5] during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic with a series of self-filmed lip-sync videos reenacting scenes from well-known musicals. She published her videos on Twitter (see below) to broad acclaim. Neely also appeared in the 2020 remake of Valley Girl and directed the 2017 short film Pink Trailer, which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival. [6] [7]

Contents

Early life

Mary Connor Neely was born on April 10, 1991, in Los Angeles, California, to Mark Neely, an actor, and Mary Neely (née Johnson), a commercial producer. [8] Her parents divorced when she was young and she was raised equally between them. [9] Neely is an only child. [9] Her paternal grandmother is a survivor of the Holocaust. [10]

Growing up in Los Angeles, Neely has described it as both “really interesting” [8] and “odd”. [11]

“My dad was a taxi driver in LA in the 70s, so growing up he would drive me around, he knew the city like the back of his hand. He would tell me stories from when he was a cab driver and it colored the city for me.”

— Mary Neely, "I-D" (August 2018) [8]

Though both of her parents exited entertainment when Neely was in elementary school, a lot of their friends were “crew people” which led Neely to grow up in the industry but as she described, “it wasn’t glamorous.” [8]

Neely lived in 13 different houses by the time she was 18 years old [8] in the Glendale, Altadena, Pasadena, South Pasadena, Santa Monica, and West LA neighborhoods of Los Angeles. [12] She cites the exposure to so many different kinds of people and places as a catalyst for her interest in performing. [9]

Neely started acting in community theater productions at age eight, [13] saying her love for musicals was akin to a religion. [14]

During summers in high school, Neely attended drama programs at UCLA and Carnegie Mellon. [15] Neely graduated from The Archer School for Girls in 2009 before studying acting at UCLA's School of Theater Film and Television on scholarship. [16]

Career

During her junior year at UCLA, Neely was scouted by a commercial casting director at a barbecue and began auditioning while still enrolled in school. [15] In 2012 Neely was cast as "Kitty" in Eli Russell Linnetz' Afterglow, a short film also starring Sawyer Spielberg and Paul Sand. [17] She graduated from UCLA in 2013 with a major in Theater and a minor in Scandinavian culture. [18] Upon completing her degree, the faculty of the theater school awarded her the Judith and Milton R. Stark scholarship, given based on artistic merit. [19]

Neely has been cast in over twenty national commercials, [15] most notably as goth daughter Debbie in Pepcid's The Burns Family campaign alongside Richard Riehle [20] and as the bubbly Tide Pods Waitress, which ran in the U.S. and Canada from 2015 to 2019. [21]

Frustrated by the lack of nuance written into female TV and film roles, Neely began creating her own projects, learning how to edit using YouTube tutorials. [9] Neely's first short film, The Dresser, was nominated for the Golden Egg award at the Reykjavík International Film Festival. [22] A comedy about Sofia, a young actress grappling with her control issues by trying and failing to hook up with a co-star, Neely wrote, directed, edited, produced, and starred. [22]

She then made Wacko Smacko, an eight-episode web series based on The Dresser that follows Sofia as she fumbles through ordeals with dating, friendships, and family while trying to develop an acting career in Los Angeles. [22] Neely again wrote, directed, produced, and starred. [22] The series was licensed to the YouTube channel Snarled [23] and was well-received, with over 500,000 views. [22] One critic said of Wacko Smacko, “Neely’s storytelling is raw and real, and her character Sofia is, thankfully, imperfect and nuanced, a person with aspirations who also occasionally shoots herself in the foot, and is by no means a one-dimensional female stereotype.” [22]

In 2017 Neely was hired to direct and edit Pink Trailer, [24] a short film that follows two young women, Julie and Lucy, as they housesit for Lucy's grandmother but keep getting visited by a foreboding neighbor. [9] Neely blended comedy with hints of horror to accentuate serious discussions about mental health and growing up. [25] The film premiered at the South by Southwest [7] film festival and opened Palm Springs ShortFest [26] to positive reviews, Refinery29 comparing it to Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird. [27] In 2019 Pink Trailer played as a pre-feature short before Olivia Wilde's Booksmart at the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee. [28]

In 2018 Neely directed and edited her first music video, Margaret, [29] for LA band Pinky Pinky. [30] Deemed a “masterpiece” by Paper Magazine, [29] the video [31] stars Teresa Ganzel as a lonely, pill-popping, Chardonnay-drinking mother of a teenage girl. [29] Neely described it as a “dark version” of the 2003 Fountains of Wayne music video for Stacy's Mom . [29]

In 2020 Neely appeared in MGM's remake of Valley Girl, was chosen as one of Adweek's Creative 100 [32] and named a New Face at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. [33]

Neely had supporting roles in Sony's live-action/animated musical fantasy comedy film Lyle Lyle Crocodile [34] and Netflix's romantic comedy film Happiness for Beginners , [35] in 2022 and 2023 respectively. In 2024 Neely was cast in The Room Returns! starring Bob Odenkirk [36] as well as the 20th Century Studios feature Swiped starring Lily James, the latter of which is set to premiere in 2025. [37]

Coronavirus Lockdown Project

During the initial lockdown of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, Neely, isolated and living alone, decided to record herself on an iPhone, reenacting love duets from classic musicals like Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Grease, Hamilton, among others. Doing so involved her lip-syncing both male and female parts on-camera, wearing a variety of wigs and costumes as well as editing each video. [15]

“All those years of singing every role in every musical alone in my childhood bedroom suddenly felt like training for this moment, because I wasn’t just alone in my bedroom—everyone was.”

— Mary Neely, Backstage (August 2020) [11]

Her efforts resulted in media attention, performance offers, and widespread praise, including compliments from broadcast TV showrunners Krista Vernoff, Warren Leight and Mike Schur plus Broadway luminaries Lin-Manuel Miranda [15] and Andrew Lloyd Webber. [38]

The last in Neely's video series was Belle, the opening number from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Neely plays over 40 characters [11] and choreographed the number in and around her apartment building . The finale gained one million views on Twitter in six days, [11] Nerdist writing, “The song begins, and so does the beautiful chaos that is her-self proclaimed 'magnum opus.' It’s magic”. [39]

After wrapping up the initial thread of love song covers in April, Neely came back in May with a full song-by-song reenactment of The Sound of Music to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. After meeting her $7,000 fundraising goal in one hour, Neely managed to raise $25,000 [40] for theater performers seeking COVID relief. [41]

The New York Times and The Washington Post [4] included Neely's quarantine created videos in their Best Theater of 2020 roundups, the former claiming, “For a few heroic weeks, she was a one-woman incarnation of musical theater itself”. [5]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleCredited as
Actor Writer Director Editor
2010 Queen of the Lot YesNoNoNo
2012AfterglowYesNoNoNo
2014The DresserYesYesYesYes
2014 Two Bit Waltz YesNoNoNo
2017Pink TrailerNoNoYesYes
2020ASMRYesNoNoNo
2020 Valley Girl YesNoNoNo
2022 Lyle Lyle Crocodile YesNoNoNo
2023 Happiness for Beginners YesNoNoNo
2024 The Room Returns! YesNoNoNo
2025 Swiped YesNoNoNo

Television

YearTitleCredited asNotes
Actor Writer Director Editor
2015Good at LifeYesNoNoNoPilot
2018 The Good Cop YesNoNoNoEpisode: "Did the TV Star Do it?"
2022 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit YesNoNoNoEpisode: "Did You Believe in Miracles?"

Web

YearTitleCredited asNotes
Actor Writer Director Editor
2012Westwood GirlYesNoNoNo10 episodes
2015Wacko SmackoYesYesYesYes8 episodes
2016Welcome to the Shadow ZoneYesNoNoNo5 episodes
2017Ya Killin' MeYesNoNoNoEpisode: "All Movies are Threeboots Now"

Music Videos

YearTitleCredited as
Actor Writer Director Editor
2018"Margaret" by Pinky PinkyNoNoYesYes

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominated WorkResult
2014 Reykjavik International Film Festival Golden Egg AwardBest ShortThe DresserNominated
2018 South by Southwest Film Festival Grand Jury AwardNarrative ShortPink TrailerNominated

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References

  1. ↑ "Mary Neely - IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "About - Mary Neely". maryneely.com. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  3. ↑ Chieffi, Tarah. "An actress is filming incredible one-woman performances of Broadway shows from her apartment, and even Lin-Manuel Miranda is a fan". Insider. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  4. 1 2 Peter Marks (December 9, 2020). "Best theater of 2020: Sondheim's birthday, 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' Mary Neely, 'The Amen Corner' and more". The Washington Post.
  5. 1 2 Elisabeth Vincentelli (December 1, 2020). "Best Theater of 2020". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  6. ↑ "Mary Neely IMDb". IMDb .
  7. 1 2 "2018 SXSW Film Festival Selections: Narrative Shorts [Video]". SXSW. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "'pink trailer' is a nostalgia-soaked short film about being in your 20s - i-D". i-d. Retrieved 7 December 2020. 'pink trailer' is a nostalgia-soaked short film about being in your 20s
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "SXSW Selected Filmmaker, Actress, and Writer: Mary Neely — Pink Things". Pink Things. 22 March 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  10. ↑ "Mary Neely Twitter".
  11. 1 2 3 4 "How Mary Neely + Her Musical Theater Videos Became a (Beloved) Viral Hit". backstage.com. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  12. ↑ "Getting To Know Mary Neely". Something You Said. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  13. ↑ "MARY NEELY: INTERVIEW — Unclear Magazine". Unclear Magazine. 27 March 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  14. ↑ America, Good Morning. "Woman reenacts Broadway love songs to feel less alone in quarantine". Good Morning America. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 "How Mary Neely Became a Viral Quarantine Star With Musical Theater Videos | Hollywood Reporter". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  16. ↑ "Archer School for Girls Facebook". The Hollywood Reporter .
  17. ↑ Linnetz, Eli Russell (2012-05-04), Afterglow (Short, Comedy, Drama), Sawyer Spielberg, Mary Neely, Tracy Dillon, retrieved 2024-08-08
  18. ↑ "EP (60) Mary Neely: Exploring strong female storylines through film and creative projects as an actress, writer and director — Andrea Lynett". Andrea Lynett. 3 July 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  19. ↑ "Scholarships and Fellowships - UCLA School of TFT". UCLA School of TFT. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  20. ↑ "Pepcid Complete TV Commercial, 'The Burns Family BBQ' Featuring Richard Riehle". iSpot.tv | Realtime TV Advertising Performance Measurement. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  21. ↑ "Tide Pods TV Commercial, 'Waitress'". iSpot.tv | Realtime TV Advertising Performance Measurement. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Mary Neely Finds Beauty in the Details From Music Videos". COOLS. 8 May 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  23. ↑ Clancy, Michelle. "Snarled network develops full channel bouquet | Deals | News | Rapid TV News". rapidtvnews.com. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  24. ↑ "SXSW 2018: Mary Neely talks Pink Trailer - Solzy at the Movies". Solzy at the Movies. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  25. ↑ "Pink Trailer by Mary Neely | Dark Comedy Short Film". Short of the Week. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  26. ↑ "Opening Night | Good Vibrations | Palm Springs International Film Festival". psfilmfest.org. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  27. ↑ "Binge-Watch The Most Exciting Woman-Directed Films At 2018's Palm Springs Shortfest". refinery29.com. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  28. ↑ "Booksmart | The Oriental Theatre, Milwaukee's Historic Movie Palace". MKEFilm. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  29. 1 2 3 4 "Pinky Pinky Won't Be Pigeonholed". PAPER. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  30. ↑ "pinky pinky are the rising queens of l.a. garage rock - i-D". i-d. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  31. ↑ "Pinky Pinky - "Margaret" (Official Video)". YouTube. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  32. ↑ "10 Creators Shaping Culture in Quarantine and Beyond". adweek.com. 7 June 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  33. ↑ Wright, Megh. "Just for Laughs Announces Its 2020 New Faces". Vulture. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  34. ↑ Gordon, Josh; Speck, Will (2022-10-07), Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (Adventure, Comedy, Family), Javier Bardem, Winslow Fegley, Shawn Mendes, Eagle Pictures, Hutch Parker Entertainment, Lightnin' Production Rentals, retrieved 2024-02-26
  35. ↑ Happiness for Beginners (2023) ⭐ 6.1 | Comedy, Drama, Romance , retrieved 2024-02-26
  36. ↑ Crawford, Brando, The Room Returns! (Drama), Bob Odenkirk, Mike Flanagan, Kate Siegel, Acting for a Cause, retrieved 2024-08-08
  37. ↑ Grobar, Matt (2024-06-11). "Lily James' Bumble Movie Confirmed For Hulu Launch As 20th Unveils First Look Photo". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-08-08.
  38. ↑ "Andrew Lloyd Webber Twitter".
  39. ↑ "This One Woman BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Performance Is Incredible". Nerdist. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  40. ↑ "Mary Neely, Your Favorite Broadway Lip Sync Artist, Is Just Getting Started". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  41. ↑ "Fundraising for Broadway Cares and programs and affiliates of Broadway Cares". Classy. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
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