Dawn Brodey was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin - the youngest of three girls - and grew up on an old farm outside of Wisconsin Rapids. After high-school, she moved to Minneapolis to attend college at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. She graduated 4 years later with a BA in Theater and History. It was in theater that she made her mark - working steadily within the professional theater community of the Twin Cities for over 15 years. She has over 40 professional theater credits (including a 2-year run in the hit interactive comedy 'Tony n Tina's Wedding'), wrote 4 commissioned and produced plays, and hosted a long-running live variety show.She also worked regularly with film, television and voice-over in the Twin Cities - most notably, being the voice of a regional grocery chain (Cub Foods) for over three years.It was during this time - in her mid 20's - that Dawn bought and moved aboard a houseboat on the Mississippi River in St. Paul. She lived aboard boats - throughout the hard Minnesota winters - for about 10 years. She met director, Andrew Melby - in 2009 when she auditioned for his student film at MCTC, a local film school. They moved together to Los Angeles in 2014 - living full time in a vintage, silver trailer in the Valley. They married in 2015.