Born and raised in Lubbock, TX, Tawny Mertes was a natural in the spotlight from an early age.  After developing the skills to walk and talk, singing and dancing quickly followed, her first stage the family driveway.  Much to her sisters’ embarrassment, every Saturday morning found Tawny out front, performing tunes to their Debbie Gibson cassette tapes and showcasing her talents in every form, from dance to rollerskates and of course belting it out with the jump-rope as her handy microphone.  The quality of neighborhood entertainment was never the same. 

Tawny quickly moved on to solo performances at church and found herself a home onstage with her first major role, Mrs. Claus in the Murfee Elementary school 1st grade Christmas Pageant.  From that point, there was no looking back.  Tawny spent her impressionable adolescent years training vocally and in tap, jazz and ballet.  While she learned much from her coaching, Tawny’s best teacher was experience, and her gracious parents escorted her from stage to stage, shoot to shoot, whenever the opportunity arose. 

By the time college came around, Tawny proved her ambition once again at Texas Tech University.  On top of her studies towards a BA degree in Public Relations and a double minor in Marketing and Italian, Tawny took every acting course offered in the TTU Theatre Department.  As a non-theatre major, Tawny had to work extra hard to involve herself in that tight-knit community and was very much blessed through it with many life-long friendships and opportunities in the theatrical productions.  By her senior year, Tawny found herself cast in principal roles in two of the four Mainstage Theatre shows that season including the fabulous Erma in “Anything Goes” and the unforgettable Anne Frank in “The Diary of Anne Frank”, traveling around the state performing for university donors with the Texas Tech Troubadours, and completing her well-rounded education with a 4.0 GPA.

Following graduation, Tawny wasted no time moving west to Los Angeles where she quickly found a home within the theatre scene at the Glendale Centre Theatre.  Tawny has since performed in numerous theatrical venues within the Los Angeles area along with building her film and television credits.  Some of her favorite roles include The Glass Menagerie (Laura), The Shape of Things (Jenny), 1940’s Radio Hour (Connie Miller) and The Pajama Game (Poopsie).  Tawny also keeps herself busy working commercially for products such as Delsym Cough Syrup, Ubisoft Nintendo and A&E.  In 2007, Tawny became a member of the critically acclaimed Actors Co-op Theatre Company in Hollywood.  She remains extremely active with the group and studies with Joe Palese at the Actor Space in Sherman Oaks.

Check Tawny out on IMDB.com – the official Internet Movie Database.

Download Tawny’s Resume here.

Clicking on the icon below will download Demo Reel - for more video clips, please click here.

         
Demo Reel (4 min)                         Speed Reel (1 min)