Mara was born in Los Angeles, Calif., and raised in Kansas
City, Mo. Following her passion to write, she attended Northwestern University
and received a bachelor's degree from The Medill School of Journalism. She then
began her career as a writer on Fox's critically acclaimed program South Central, after which she worked as
a staff writer on UPN's series, Moesha,
where she earned a Producer title after four successful seasons. In 1999, she
was awarded the SHINE (Sexual Health in Entertainment) Award by The Media Project
for her impactful episode "Birth Control."
She later served as a supervising producer on the Warner
Brother's comedy series, The Jamie Foxx
Show and shortly after was actively pursued by UPN to bring her brand of
comedy to their network. As a result, she created her first series Girlfriends. Ensuring success, Brock-Akil
partnered her company, Happy Camper Productions, with both Kelsey Grammer's Gramnet
Productions and CBS Paramount. The groundbreaking show garnered numerous awards
and ran for 172 episodes over eight seasons.
During the sixth season of Girlfriends, Akil Productions created the fan favorite spin-off The Game. After airing three seasons on
the CW Network as well as a successful syndication on BET, the series was
brought back to life for a fourth season on BET. Mara is currently wrapping up
the fifth season of The Game,
preparing for the late-summer release of her screenplay Sparkle, starring the late Whitney Houston and Jordin Sparks as
well as hard at work prepping her new pilot Single
Black Female, starring Gabrielle Union.
Mara Brock-Akil never ceases to amaze. Not only is she
working as an acclaimed businesswoman, skilled writer, and proficient producer,
but also is an adored wife, mother, and friend. Using her career to advance and
challenge the entertainment business, Mara strives with every project to
affect, encourage, and entertain all who watch and work with her. In light of
her accomplishments, Brock-Akil was listed on Vibe magazine's "Top 100 hottest People List" as well as featured
in Essence magazine's "Outstanding
Women under 40." She was also presented in Newsweek's
"Women & Power" Issue, which showcased a variety of influential women and
currently sits as a board member of the Samburu Project. Mara was also featured
with her husband on The Hollywood Reporter's "Top 50 Power Showrunners" and
jointly won a 2012 NAACP Image Award for "Best Writing in a Comedy Series".
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