Sally Mayes

Sally Mayes is an American actress, cabaret singer, and concert performer originally from Livingston, Texas. Before pursuing a stage career, she began performing as a rock and jazz singer in Houston and studied at the University of Houston.

Mayes made her Broadway debut in April 1989, taking on the role of Winona Shook in Cy Coleman's Welcome to the Club. The performance earned her a Theatre World Award for outstanding debut performance on- or off-Broadway. Shortly after, she joined the original Off-Broadway cast of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire's Closer Than Ever at the Cherry Lane Theatre, a production that ran for 312 performances and yielded a cast recording on the RCA Victor label.

In 1993, Mayes was cast as Ilona Ritter in a revival of Jerry Bock's She Loves Me at the Roundabout Theatre. The production transferred to the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway in 1994, and her performance brought her nominations for both the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award. Following the show's closing in June 1994, she appeared as Brunnhilde in Jim Luigs's Das Barbecu at the Minetta Lane Theatre that fall.

Her work continued across stage, television, and film throughout the mid-to-late 1990s. In 1995, she played Mrs. MacAfee in the television film adaptation of Bye Bye Birdie, alongside Jason Alexander, Vanessa L. Williams, Marc Kudisch, and Chynna Phillips. The following year she appeared in a small role in Harold Becker's film City Hall. In 1997, she performed in a production of Stephen Sondheim's Marry Me A Little at the Queens Theatre in the Park.

In 2000, Mayes originated the role of Keely in James Hindman's musical Pete 'n' Keely Off-Broadway, earning a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. That same year she had a small role in the film Double Parked. In 2001, she returned to the Queens Theatre in the Park for the play Decade and also appeared in the musical revue The Broadway Musicals of 1943 at Town Hall. She subsequently toured the United States in Claudia Shear's and James Lapine's Dirty Blonde and made a guest appearance on Sex and the City in the episode Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda. In 2002, she guest starred as Brenda on Law & Order: Criminal Intent in the episode Crazy.

Mayes returned to Broadway in 2003, playing Aunt Corene in the musical Urban Cowboy, a role that brought her a third Drama Desk Award nomination. In 2005, she appeared in the ensemble of the film The Producers. Alongside her acting career, Mayes has maintained an active presence as a concert and cabaret performer in New York City.