As the screenwriter/producer (along with frequent collaborator and then-spouse Charles Shyer) of some of the best-known comedies of the 1980s and '90s, Nancy Meyers could, at least in part, be credited with providing screen starlet Goldie Hawn with a couple of the bubbly actress's late-career signature roles. Later moving into directing with the popular Disney remake The Parent Trap (1998), Meyers entered into a successful new phase in her career that would yield such hit romantic comedies as What Women Want and Something's Gotta Give.
The Pennsylvania, PA native received her higher education at Washington, D.C.'s American University before relocating to Los Angeles as a story editor for Rastar Productions in 1972. Subsequent studies at UCLA eventually led Meyers to enter show business as an assistant director and production manager. Her keen observation of the human condition prompted Meyers to try her hand at screenwriting, resulting in scripts for such popular sitcoms as The Odd Couple and All in the Family. Meyers soon moved into feature territory with screenplays for Private Benjamin (which, co-written with Harvey Miller, netted a Writers' Guild Award and an Oscar nomination) and Irreconcilable Differences. With a warm, undeniably contemporary approach to modern relationships and gender roles, Meyers' writing for Private Benjamin broke new ground in Hollywood by proving that female actresses could be as bankable as their male showbiz counterparts, while Irreconcilable Differences helped to launch the career of a precocious young star named Drew Barrymore. The good-natured Diane Keaton comedy Baby Boom followed in 1987, and few could deny the charm of the touching tale of a shrewd New York businesswoman whose life changes upon inheriting a baby girl.
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