Mara Brock Akil is a native of Los Angeles, but was raised primarily in Kansas City. She began her writing career on Fox's critically acclaimed South Central, and later moved on to writing for Moesha, where she earned her Producer title after four seasons. She received the 1999 SHINE (Sexual Health in Entertainment) Award presented by The Media Project for her episode "Birth Control."
Akil later served as Supervising Producer on the Warner Bros. series The Jamie Foxx Show, during which time she was pursued by UPN to bring her brand of comedy to the network. The result was her first show, Girlfriends. The ground-breaking series garnered many awards and nominations and produced 172 episodes over eight seasons. In the sixth season of Girlfriends, Akil created the spin-off The Game for The CW. After three seasons on The CW and a successful syndication run on BET, BET announced it will begin producing new episodes of The Game on its network January 2011.
For the 2009-2010 season, ABC tapped Akil as a consulting producer for their new show, Cougar Town. In its first season the show became an instant hit for the network, even garnering an early pick-up.
Vibe magazine listed Akil on its "Top 100 Hottest People” list, and Essence featured her as one of the “Outstanding Women under 40.” Akil was also featured in Newsweek’s “Women & Power” issue, which highlighted influential women from all walks of life.
