Ali MacLean is an actor and writer in Los Angeles and a graduate of the Miami University actor’s program and the LaJolla Playhouse acting conservatory. She is the winner of the 2018 John Gassner Playwriting Award, a 2019 O'Neill Finalist, the 2019 She NYC Arts Best Production, the 2020 David Sedaris Writing Prize, and the 2020 Julie Harris Playwriting Award.

Her plays and writing have been workshopped at the Melrose Theater, (via the HBO Workspace), the Hudson Theatre (via Comedy Central Stages), the Lyric Hyperion, Largo at the Coronet Theatre, the Naked Angels Theatre Group, the White Bear Theatre (UK), The Arcola Theatre (UK), Rogue Machine Theatre, A Noise Within Theatre, Antaeus Theatre, Zephyr Theatre, and Ensemble Studio Theatre, ANDTheatre Company, The TANK NYC, The Playwrights Realm, and Dramatist Guild Footlights, and Summer Salt. In 2020, Ali participated in the 24-Hour Plays Viral Monologues alongside Kenneth Lonergan and Matthew Broderick.

Ali’s play She’s Not There received the 2018 John Gassner Playwriting Award was a finalist for the Scribe Marsha A. Croyle Award, Kitchen Dog Theatre, and Pegasus Playlabs, was named Best Production by She NYC Arts, and garnered her a Broadway World Best Directing nomination.
Her play Wolves At The Door won the Julie Harris Award and was a finalist in the 2019 O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference, Creed Repertory Festival, and New American Voices.
Ali recently workshopped the play This Will Be Our Year, the second in her trilogy based on Zombies songs, at EST, and at the Zephyr as part of SHE LA Arts. She is now collaborating with Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn on the musical version.
Her third of the Zombies trilogy, I’ll Call You Mine, was developed at the Summer Salt Playwrights Workshop in Chatham, MA, and The Cloud Factory. She also workshopped her play The Point at her second residency at Summer Salt and developed Sullen Girl with Antaeus Playwrights Lab and the Playwrights Realm. Her monologue Frozen Oranges was chosen from 6,500 entries to be a part of the MIND mental health charity fundraiser SLAMx show at the Arcola Theatre in London.

Ali is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Playwrights Unit, Antaeus Theatre’s Playwrights Lab, The Cloud Factory, Citadel of Playwrights, The Honor Roll - an advocacy group of women+ playwrights over 40, Imagine Impact Creators Network, The Sundance Collective, and the Dramatists Guild.

Ali’s award-winning short films have screened at Atlanta, Toronto, Gen Art, and Palm Springs to name a few. She was selected for the Stowe Story Labs and is a Women in Film Mentor recipient, Writers For Writers Fellowship recipient, and a participant in the 2020 Respectability Entertainment Lab. Her scripts have been a WeScreenplay Diverse Voices finalist, Orchard Project Finalist, Chesterfield Writer’s Project semi-finalist, Los Angeles International Film Festival semi-finalist, a Scriptapalooza semi-finalist, a Screencraft semi-finalist, and a Script Lab semi-finalist. Ali was named the winner of the 2020 David Sedaris Humor Writing Prize. Her work is published by Nation Books, Applause Books, and Smith & Kraus.


Ali has written for networks such as MTV, VH-1, POP, and FOX. Ali worked on comedies including THE JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW, HBO’s MR. SHOW, and Showtime's THE GREEN ROOM. She recently was a writer for the television series, HOLLYWOOD DARLINGS, and HOT DATE on the Pop Network.

A Mental Health advocate, MacLean was named a Talent Ambassador for this year's MTV Mental Health Action Day. She is an alumnus of the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab and speaks on panels (National Endowment For The Arts, Roundabout Theatre, Hollywood Fringe Fest, Women In Film, RespectAbility, Kings Head Theater, etc.) about topics such as mental health in the arts, depression, inclusion, and disability.