Michelle Paradise is an American writer, producer and actress. She created, wrote and starred in the short film ''The Ten Rules'' and the television series ''

Exes and Ohs ''Exes & Ohs'' is an American and Canadian cable TV series that was launched on Logo on October 8, 2007, and Showcase in Canada. The show centres on the dating life of Jennifer (Michelle Paradise), a lesbian documentary filmmaker with a vivid fa ...

'', and subsequently became a writer and producer for the television series '' The Originals'' and '' Star Trek: Discovery''.

Early work

Paradise wrote, produced and starred in the short film ''The Ten Rules: The Lesbian Survival Guide'', which debuted in 2002 and subsequently played at gay and lesbian film festivals, both in the United States and in Europe (specifically

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

). The film, which focused on a group of lesbian friends in Los Angeles, won awards at the Boulder Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, the Verzaubert International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, the Austin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and the

Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Philadelphia QFest was founded in Philadelphia as the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival by TLA Entertainment Group in 1995. It was given its current name, QFest, in 2009. One of the festival's founders and current Artistic Director, Raymon ...

. After the success of ''The Ten Rules'', Paradise developed the themes of the film into a television series for

Logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

, ''

''. Paradise wrote, produced and starred in the series, which debuted on October 8, 2007. Unusually, she developed, produced and sold ''Exes and Ohs'' without an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

. ''Exes and Ohs'' ran for two seasons. Paradise also appeared in the short film "Black Road" (2002), the film ''

Heart of the Beholder ''Heart of the Beholder'' is a 2005 drama film that was written and directed by Ken Tipton. It is based on Tipton's own experience as the owner of a chain of videocassette rental stores in the 1980s. Tipton and his family had opened the first v ...

'' (2005) and the television series ''

George Lopez George Edward Lopez (born April 23, 1961) is an American comedian and actor. He is known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including Mexican American culture. Lopez has rec ...

'' (2005) and '' Rodney'' (2006). On stage, she performed

improv comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, a ...

with

the Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques ...

, Second City and the

Gay Mafia Anti-LGBT rhetoric comprises themes, catchphrases, and slogans that have been used against homosexuality or other non-heterosexual sexual orientations in order to demean lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. They range from t ...

, and played lead roles at the Bitter Truth Theater,

Theatre Rhinoceros Theatre Rhinoceros or Theatre Rhino is a gay and lesbian theatre based in San Francisco. It was founded in the spring of 1977 by Lanny Baugniet (who became the theater's General Manager) and his partner Allan B. Estes, Jr. (who became the theater' ...

, the Berkman Theater and the Little Theater Group.

TV staff writer

In April 2011, Paradise completed the Warner Bros. Writers' Workshop. She was one of nine finalists for the workshop, out of over 1,300 applicants. In 2013, she became a staff writer on the CW series '' The Originals'', a spin-off of ''

The Vampire Diaries ''The Vampire Diaries'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural teen drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson (screenwriter), Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the The Vampire Diaries (novel series), book series ...

''. She was credited as an executive story editor in the series' first season, as a co-producer in its

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

, a producer in its

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

, supervising producer in its fourth, and co-executive producer in its fifth and final season. Paradise wrote or co-wrote 15 episodes of ''The Originals'', over its 5-year run. After the completion of ''The Originals'', Paradise joined the writing staff of the

CBS All Access Paramount+ is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Me ...

series '' Star Trek: Discovery'' as a co-executive producer in its second season, which started airing in January 2019. She wrote the episode "Project Daedalus", and co-wrote the two-part season finale "Such Sweet Sorrow" with

Jenny Lumet Jenny Lumet (born February 2, 1967) is an American actress and screenwriter. She is the daughter of director Sidney Lumet and granddaughter of Lena Horne. Lumet is perhaps most known for writing the original screenplay of the 2008 Jonathan Demme ...

and series executive producer

Alex Kurtzman Alexander Hilary Kurtzman (born September 7, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his work on the ''Star Trek'' franchise since 2009, co-writing the scripts to ''Transformers (film), Transformers'' (2007), ''Transformers: Revenge ...

, who was also showrunner in ''Discovery''s second season. In February 2019, Paradise was promoted to executive producer of the series for its third season, which premiered in 2020.

Personal life

Paradise was born in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. She has two

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

s (in English and French) from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

. While Paradise was at BYU she was a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

; she told an interviewer, "I was Mormon for about seven years and pretty much left the church after graduation ... all for reasons that are pretty personal." In 2007,

POWER UP POWER UP (the "Professional Organization of Women in Entertainment Reaching Up") is an American non-profit organization and film production company with the stated mission "to promote the visibility and integration of gay women in entertainment ...

named Paradise one of its "10 Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz".

References

Velvetpark ''Velvetpark: Dyke Culture in Bloom'' is a lesbian and feminist arts and culture American website that regularly features music, literature, theater, fine arts, film, television, and social activism as it impacts queer culture. ''Velvetpark'' a ...

magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Paradise, Michelle American film actresses American film producers Screenwriters from California American television actresses Television producers from California American women television producers American television writers Brigham Young University alumni American lesbian actresses American lesbian writers LGBT screenwriters Living people Actresses from San Diego San Francisco State University alumni American women television writers American women screenwriters Writers from San Diego American women film producers 1972 births

Early work

TV staff writer

Personal life

References

External links