A graduate of Southern Illinois University and New York’s Negro Ensemble Company theater training program where Robert Townsend and Laurence Fishburne were classmates, Mariann made her stage debut with the legendary Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee in TAKE IT FROM THE TOP while honing her comedic skills with the NYC sketch troupe OFF-CENTRE THEATRE, which spawned John Leguizamo, and touring with the improv group THE PROPOSITION, which spawned Jane Curtin. However, it is Mariann's work in television for which she is most noted: an AFTERNOON TV Award-winning role as "DiDi Bannister" on the soap opera, EDGE OF NIGHT; series regular roles on THE ROYAL FAMILY as the daughter of Redd Foxx and Della Reese; three seasons on HBO's FIRST & 10 opposite O.J. Simpson as his beleaguered wife; Mo'Nique's arch-nemesis, "Hannah Foster" on THE PARKERS; host of DESIGNS FOR LIVING on USA, and recurring on DESIGNING WOMEN as "Lita Ford," the high-maintenance girlfriend of Meshach Taylor, with whom she re-teamed in the Kidd ‘n Play cult-comedy CLASS ACT as Kidd’s clueless mom...and of whom NY TIMES reviewer Janet Maslin said "...provided the film's funnier episodes."

Developing her empty-nesting, "Little-Woman-Gone-Wild" stage character in the one-woman show, BLACK DON'T CRACK...BUT DON'T TRY AND SPREAD IT TOO THIN, she expanded on it with the sketch troupe 3 BLACQUE CHIX. THE LOS ANGELES TIMES hailed her performance as "...galvanic! ...a perkily libidinous Mary Tyler Moore," while LA WEEKLY proclaimed her "a hammily hilarious Donna Reed." As the relentlessly upbeat "Ginger Peechee-Keane," Mariann continues her intrepid navigation thru the minefields of mid-life in M.O.I.S.T.! -- the sex-istential musical-comedy celebrating the vibrancy, vitality and viability of the mature woman, which she co-wrote with Iona Morris and which she is looking to bring to Chicago after its successful nine-month run in LA -- all in the pursuit of putting a positive and humorous spin on aging...which she feels as a "calling."

Cited by the California State Assembly and named "Volunteer of the Year" by the Los Angeles Dept. of Children's Services, Mariann has appeared on ABC's NIGHTLINE and written articles for THE LA TIMES and SOAP OPERA DIGEST on the impact media can have on at-risk youth. Also an activist in the prevention of HIV/AIDS, she was a contributor to Gil Robertson's anthology NOT IN MY FAMILY about the toll AIDS has had on the African-American community and is developing a "Be Sexy...Be SAFE" initiative around M.O.I.S.T.!