Mallory Culbert grew up in Dallas and graduated from the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas in Austin where she wrote her first feature screenplay for her senior thesis, a culmination she presented after having been up all night on the set of Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse running through smoky hallways covered in fake blood. Culbert studied acting in New York City with Meisner maestro Bill Esper and comedy improvisation at The Groundlings in Los Angeles before returning to Austin in 2011 at which point she began developing the narrative feature "Andie MacDowell," later renamed "The Big Spoon." Performance highlights thus far have included playing a dismissive snob opposite an Oscar-winner (Anna Paquin) in Straight A's (2013), making people laugh as neurotic know-it-all "Trish" in festival favorite Arlo & Julie (2014), and having done no nude scenes.