Early life

Thomas was born Betty Lucille Nienhauser in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1948 to Nancy (née Brown) and William H. Nienhauser, Sr. She graduated from South High School, Willoughby, Ohio, in 1965. After high school Thomas attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Upon graduating Thomas worked as an artist and taught high school before becoming a part of The Second City Chicago premiere source for improvisational theater. She took her professional surname from her marriage to Douglas Thomas.

Second City

Thomas came to her entertainment career by a circuitous route. While working as an artist and school teacher she became a waitress at The Second City to earn extra cash for a trip abroad. While waiting tables Thomas was encouraged to try out for the troupe, and subsequently joined the company. She was praised for her brassy and outspoken performances; she also worked with several up and coming Second City alumni, most notably Bill Murray. When The Second City opened a Los Angeles branch, Thomas moved west.

Career

Acting career

Upon her arrival in Los Angeles Thomas received many bit parts in low-budget films like Chesty Anderson, USN (1976), the Robert Zemeckis film Used Cars (1980) as well as sketch comedy films like Tunnel Vision (1975), and Loose Shoes (1980) the latter of which featuring Second City classmate Bill Murray. She has also appeared in the 1989 film Troop Beverly Hills, starring Shelley Long.

While Thomas had been building her career in comedy, her breakthrough role as an actress came when she was cast in the dramatic role of police officer (later Sergeant) Lucille Bates on the TV series Hill Street Blues (1981-87). Over the course of the series her character goes from inexperienced rookie to confident sergeant. She received seven Emmy nominations for best supporting actress, and took home the award for the 1984-1985 season.

Directing career

After making several other acting appearances Thomas was given the chance to direct episodes of Hooperman and the premiere episodes of Doogie Howser, M.D. in 1989. She went on to direct episodes of Arresting Behavior and several episodes of the HBO series Dream On, the latter of which earned her an Emmy for best director.

In 1992 Thomas took the next step in her directing career with her feature debut Only You. A slight, playful romantic comedy; Only You was a departure from Thomas's experience on Hill Street Blues or her subsequent television directing. Some said that Thomas was chosen to direct due in part to the film's plot in which a man is on a hapless quest to find the perfect woman would be considered inherently sexist without a female director.

Three years following the release of Only You Thomas followed her feature debut with The Brady Bunch Movie (1995). A more humorous, satirical, and witty vision of the 1970s television series The Brady Bunch. The Brady Bunch Movie was a box office hit with $46,576,136 nearly quadrupling its $12,000,000 budget. The Brady Bunch Movie remains one of the highest grossing films directed by a woman.

She followed the The Brady Bunch Movie with other successes, including Private Parts (1997), Dr. Dolittle (1998), 28 Days (2000), and John Tucker Must Die (2006). 2009's Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel became the first female-directed picture to gross more than $200 million and made her the most successful woman director ever at the box office. In 2012, Thomas began directing a low-budget online series, called Audrey, for the WIGS YouTube channel.

Filmography

Actress

Year	Film	Role	Director / creator	Notes
1976	Tunnel Vision	Bridgit Bert Richards	Neal Israel, Bradley R. Swirnoff
1976	Jackson County Jail	Waitress	Michael Miller
1976	The Last Affair		Henri Charr
1976	Chest Anderson U.S. Navy	Party Guest #1	Ed Forsyth
1977	Dog and Cat	Waitress	Bob Kelljan
1978	C.P.O. Sharkey	Seaman Daley	Aaron Ruben
1978	Outside Chance	Katherine	Michael Miller
1980	Used Cars	Bunny	Robert Zemeckis
1980	Loose Shoes	Biker Chic #1	Ira Miller
1981	The Nashville Grab	Maxine Pearce	James L. Conway
1982	Twilight Theater		Perry Rosemond
1982	Homework	Reddogs Secretary	James Beshears
1983	When Your Lover Leaves	Maude	Jeff Bleckner
1985	ABC Afterschool Specials	Dr. Mary Lewis	Guy Fraumeni
1987	Prison for Children	Angela Brannon	Larry Peerce
1981-87	Hill Street Blues	Sgt. Lucy Bates	Steven Bochco, Michael Kozoll	Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, 1985
1989	The Tracey Ullman Show	Miss Belts, Gym Teacher	Ted Bessell, Art Wolff
1989	Troop Beverly Hills	Velda Plendor	Jeff Kanew

Directing for television

Year	Series	Role	Notes
1989	Hooperman	Director	Episodes: "Goodnight, Sweet Hooperman", "Dog Day Afternoon", "Morning and Night", "In the Still of My Pants"
1989	Doogie Howser, M.D.	Director	Episodes: "Doogie The Red-Nosed Reindeer", "The Ice Queen Cometh"
1990	Mancuso, FBI	Director	Episodes: "Night of the Living Shred", "Shiva Me Timbers", "Murder of Pearl"
1990	Parenthood	Director	Episodes: "Thanksgiving with a T that Rhymes with B that Stands for Basketball", "I Never Invested for My Father"
1991	Sons and Daughters	Director	TV series
1991	Midnight Caller	Director	Episode: "Her Dirty Little Secret"
1991	Shannon's Deal	Director	Episode: "Matrimony"
1992	On the Air	Director	TV Mini-series: Episode #1.6
1994	My Breast	Director	TV film
1994	Couples	Director	TV film
1996	The Late Shift	Director	TV film
1990-96	Dream On	Director	Directed 18 episodes, Won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, 1993
2001	Silicon Follies	Director	TV film
2003	Senor White	Director	TV film
2006	That Guy	Director	TV film
2006	The Loop	Director	Pilot episode
2007	Dash 4 Cash	Director	TV film

Directing feature films

Year	Series	Role	Notes
1992	Only You	Director	Feature film debut
1995	The Brady Bunch Movie	Director	One of the highest grossing films directed by a woman
1997	Private Parts	Director	adaptation of Howard Stern's autobiography
1998	Dr. Dolittle	Director	$294 million in box office gross
2000	28 Days	Director
2002	I Spy	Director
2006	John Tucker Must Die	Director
2009	Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel	Director	$443 million in box office gross

[ Source: Wikipedia ]