Mary Birdsong: Now and Then
Written by Sheraden Kimball, Former Student on Friday, November 22, 2013
Most know Mary Birdsong from the well-loved, if outrageous, television show Reno 911! as Deputy Cherisha Kimball. But prior to her acting career, she was very timid. “When I was about five or six, I was crippling shy. So I started imitating people, doing characters, as a way to kind of ‘not be there’,” Birdsong said. “It was, in a sense, a form of controlling a scary situation–interacting with people–though I didn’t realize that at the time of course.”
According to Birdsong, she never thought of pursuing acting. “It was more of a private thing,” she said. When no one was home, she’d dance and sing her heart out in the living room, but performing publicly was a foreign concept. She was “too shy to interact normally with human beings”.
“My best friend in high school was the one who convinced me to try doing the variety shows at school,” she said. “I had some great teachers, God bless them, who took me aside and encouraged me to take it seriously.”
Birdsong graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, which as far as she is concerned, has benefited her career “tremendously”.
Only 31 percent of SHS's class of 2013 planned to attend a four-year college after graduating.
“It’s not for everyone, especially when pursuing the arts, because it seems insane to spend all of that money on a degree that theaters, films, and TV kind of don’t give a crap about,” she said.
However, for her, it was favorable. “I grew up in a very small, rural beach community in New Jersey and so I had no culture at all beyond what came on the TV. College opened me up to meeting tons of people I would never encounter otherwise.”
Perhaps most important of all, attending college gave her four years to get adjusted to New York City, “which is a totally separate skill set than acting.”
Her big break began when she joined the cast of Reno 911 in 2004. She wasn’t immune to her co-stars’ hilarity when on set. “Our cameraman Joe Kessler got to be a real expert at cutting away real fast to focus on another actor when one of us would start breaking,” she said. “It’s a great problem to have on set.”
After the Reno era she was cast in a TV pilot for NBC, starring Roseanne Barr and John Goodman. Unfortunately for her and her costars, the pilot failed to get picked up. That’s when the web series Bitter Party of Five was born.
“We told each other ‘Look, if this show doesn’t go, we have to figure out a way to do something else together’. It just felt like we each were pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, because once we were combined in one room, the picture was perfectly clear for all of us,” she said.
Birdsong has worked with many A-list actors, including George Clooney and Kristen Stewart.
“When I first got the news that I’d been cast and that I’d be acting with him, that moment was thrilling. But the days leading up to and including the shoot, those were terrifying. He could not have been sweeter, more generous, or more disciplined. It was like getting to act with a Kennedy," she said on working with Clooney.
Birdsong finds it funny that Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg were “star struck and geeking out” about working with a former Reno 911! deputy on the set of Adventureland. “Because look what they’ve both become!” she exclaimed.
“It’s a lot of pressure and long hours and I can’t imagine trying to do that when I was that young,” she said, referring to Stewart.
Birdsong will be back on the small screen later this month when she will reprise her role as Marlene on “The Middle”. In December, she’ll return to “Raising Hope” as Mayor Suzy Hellman.
Despite her long history with sitcoms, she doesn’t like watching them. “It feels too much like I’m working if I watch stuff that I could potentially be cast in,” she said.
She does enjoy watching Ancient Aliens on History Channel 2, Nova, and Anderson Cooper. “I watch him every night, without fail,” she said.
In certain instances, being a comedian can get you into trouble. But for Birdsong, her sense of humor comes in handy when placed in an awkward situation.
While her nights are spent watching Anderson Cooper, her mornings are spent drawing. She draws her dreams everyday so she can remember them. “It’s like someone snuck into your room at night and gave you three to five amazing movies that no one else has seen. If I can’t watch them, I get cranky,” she said.
The majority of her comedic and acting inspirations are women, which is apt, given her involvement in advocating for women’s rights. Actress Martha Plimpton got Birdsong involved A is For, a non-profit organization that promotes women's reproductive rights.
“My beliefs are that a woman’s body belongs to her. No one else,” she said. She will be performing at a benefit organized by Martha Plimpton, a co-founder of A is For.
She seems to do it all which at times makes it hard to find balance. “I am eternally frustrated with the concept of limiting each day to twenty-four hours,” she said.
Birdsong's web series "Bitter Party of Five" can be viewed here: http://blip.tv/bitterpartyof5
