After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Dramatic Art, Mary Rae Thewlis served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Afghanistan and taught English and drama in Indonesia. Once back stateside, she freelanced in theater, working as a director, production supervisor, actor and stage manager in Los Angeles. When she moved to New York, she worked as a production office coordinator in low budget productions before beginning the DGA Assistant Directors Training Program.

As a DGA Trainee, Thewlis worked with directors Geoff Murphy (Freejack, 1992), Irwin Winkler (Night and the City, 1992), and Martin Scorsese (The Age of Innocence, 1993). In 1994, she graduated to Key Second Assistant Director on director Jeff Pollack’s Above the Rim in 1994. She then began a 16-year tenure with the Law & Order franchise, starting as a Second Assistant Director, was promoted to First Assistant Director and then to a Unit Production Manager on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. After Law & Order, she began a six-year stint as unit production manager on The Americans.

Mary Rae Thewlis has served 9 terms on the National Board, including as the Guild’s national vice president as of June 2019. She has also served 12 terms on the Eastern AD/UPM Council. In addition to her council and board service, she has also served on four negotiating committees, the Diversity Task Force and the Directors Guild Foundation. Thewlis has also been a member of PAC Leadership, trustee of the DGA Pension & Health Plan, as well as a DGA Training Plan trustee. For her career achievements and extensive Guild involvement, Thewlis was awarded the Frank Capra Achievement Award in 2015. She has been a member of the Guild since 1993.