Lona Williams (born September 26, 1966) is an American television producer, writer, and actress.

Early life and education

Williams was raised in

Rosemount, Minnesota Rosemount is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, Dakota County, Minnesota, United States, on the southern edge of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. The population was 25,650 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Rosemount was establi ...

, where her father, Les, was a middle school math teacher. Williams participated in a number of beauty pageants as a child and was crowned Minnesota's Junior Miss in 1985, before becoming the runner up in the year's

America's Junior Miss Distinguished Young Women, formerly known as America's Junior Miss, is a national non-profit organization that provides scholarship opportunities to high school senior girls. Depending on the schedule of the various state and local programs, you ...

, winning a $10,000 scholarship. She graduated from

Rosemount High School Rosemount High School is a public four-year high school in Rosemount, Minnesota, United States, founded in 1918. The school is one of four four-year high schools in Independent School District 196 (Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District). T ...

shortly thereafter. Williams attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

and after she took a screen-writing course there, her teacher encouraged her to move to California to find work.

Career

After working as an assistant on one show,

Jerry Belson Jerry Belson (July 8, 1938 – October 10, 2006) was a writer, director, and producer of Hollywood films for over 40 years. Career Belson's writing credits include the Steven Spielberg films '' Always'' and ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', ...

at ''

The Tracey Ullman Show ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' is an American television variety show starring Tracey Ullman. It debuted on Fox on April 5, 1987, the network's second original primetime series to air following '' Married... with Children'', and ran until May 26, ...

'', helped her get a job as a writing assistant on ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

''. She occasionally provided voices for the show, including that of Amber Dempsey, a single-episode character from "

Lisa the Beauty Queen "Lisa the Beauty Queen" is the fourth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 15, 1992. In the episode, Homer enters Lisa into a be ...

".. p. 95. She noted: "I really was only a typist for the show. But by working on the script, I learned how the scripts were put together. I would go to work and type all day, and come home and work on my

spec script A spec script, also known as a speculative screenplay, is a non-commissioned and unsolicited screenplay. It is usually written by a screenwriter who hopes to have the script optioned and eventually purchased by a producer, production company, or ...

s for ''The Simpsons'' and '' Roseanne''."

Bruce Helford Bruce Lewis Helford (born January 28, 1952) is an American television writer and producer. Career Helford was the co-creator of '' The Drew Carey Show''. He served as executive producer of the series for its entire run, from 1995 to 2004. Hel ...

hired Williams as a writer on the short-lived ''Someone Like Me'' before in 1995 signing her up as a writer and producer on ''

The Drew Carey Show ''The Drew Carey Show'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995 to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalize ...

''. She stayed for three seasons and wrote the screenplay ''Dairy Queens'' which was retitled and released in 1999 as '' Drop Dead Gorgeous''. She also wrote the original script for the 2001 film '' Sugar & Spice'' (on which she is credited under the pseudonym Mandy Nelson). She co-wrote the script of ''

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse ''Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse'' is a 2015 American zombie comedy film directed by Christopher Landon and written by Landon, Carrie Evans, Emi Mochizuki and Lona Williams. The film stars Tye Sheridan, Logan Miller, Joey Morgan, Sar ...

''.

Filmography

Writing

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Lona American voice actresses American television writers University of Minnesota alumni 1966 births Living people People from Rosemount, Minnesota American women screenwriters American women television writers Actresses from Minnesota Screenwriters from Minnesota 21st-century American women