Maurissa Tancharoen

Maurissa Tancharoen
Tancharoen at PaleyFest 2014
Born	Maurissa Tancharoen (1975-11-28) November 28, 1975 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names	Maurissa Tancharoen Whedon
Occupation	Actress, singer, television producer, television writer
Years active	Since 1988
Spouse(s)	Jed Whedon (m. 2009)
Relatives	Kevin Tancharoen (brother)

Maurissa Tancharoen Whedon born November 28, 1975, in Los Angeles, California is an American television producer/writer, actress, singer, dancer, and lyricist.

Career

Tancharoen's first paid script came in 2001 when she sold Revolution Studios an untitled pitch in which two Asian American FBI agents investigate a gang in South Central Los Angeles by working undercover as Korean grocery store clerks. Her production credits include working as assistant to producer Mark Tinker on NYPD Blue and to William M. Finkelstein on Brooklyn South, as well as being co-executive producer of the series DanceLife.

She co-wrote Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and appeared onscreen as Groupie #1, as well as on the DVD audio track "Commentary! The Musical", in which she sings about the scarcity of non-stereotyped roles in television and film for actors of Asian origin.

As a writer and story editor Tancharoen has worked on Drop Dead Diva, the program Dollhouse and the short-lived sitcom Oliver Beene. Tancharoen also played a brief acting role in Dollhouse as the active Kilo (like the other Los Angeles actives named from the NATO phonetic alphabet), and co-wrote and performed lyrics for "Remains" with Jed Whedon for the Dollhouse episode "Epitaph One".

She provided Zelda's singing voice in the season 2 episode "The Musical" of The Legend of Neil, a spoof based on the video game The Legend of Zelda, and performed backing vocals and danced in the video for the The Guild parody song "(Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar" released August 17, 2009. She was also a writer and producer on the Starz series Spartacus: Gods of the Arena and is credited as co-writer of the first two episodes together with Jed Whedon. She also worked on Spartacus: Vengeance.

Tancharoen worked with Jed Whedon and Joss Whedon on The Avengers, and co-wrote the Marvel TV Pilot for ABC titled Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with Jed Whedon and Joss Whedon, and continues to work as an executive producer and showrunner.

Personal life

Tancharoen is Asian-American and has said that her surname is of Thai origin. She attended Occidental College, where she wrote two plays that won the Argonaut & Moore literary award. Her father, Tommy Tancharoen, is a transportation coordinator for Hollywood movies. Her brother Kevin Tancharoen is a director, whose feature film debut is 2009's Fame. On April 19, 2009, she married fellow writer Jed Whedon, brother of Joss Whedon. Their first child, daughter Bennie Sue Whedon, was born in June 2015.

In her younger years, Tancharoen was a member of the girl band Pretty in Pink. The band broke up before seeing major success and shortly after Tancharoen was diagnosed with lupus that required chemotherapy.

Awards

In 2009, Tancharoen won a Streamy Award for Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

External links

• Maurissa Tancharoen at the Internet Movie Database