A multi-talented home economist, teacher and actor, Mairlyn Smith loves to add a dash of comedy to her cooking.

Born in Vancouver, Mairlyn always loved the view of the mountains from her parent’s kitchen window. In 1976 she graduated with a degree in Home Economics from the University of British Columbia. She then returned to UBC and completed her Teaching Certificate before going on to teach Home Economics and head the Department of Fine Arts at Balmoral Junior High.

Unable to shake the acting bug, Mairlyn enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in California. Then, like most Canadian actors in the 1980s, she moved to Toronto to find work. Mairlyn has amassed an impressive resume of credits: she is the author of Lick the Spoon, an Alumnus of Second City, and has been seen on television morning and lunchtime news shows, cooking up a storm from Vancouver to Halifax, as well as the Vicki Gabereau Show, The Good Food Festival in Toronto, CBC's Midday and Newsworld, Breakfast Television at City TV, Canada AM, and Balance Television. She is also a food/health and lifestyle writer with articles appearing in Chatelaine, Today’s Parent, Canadian Living, Homemakers, and the Toronto Star. Her versatility in acting and cooking with a comedic flair also landed her the job as a host of Harrowsmith Country Life and a subsequent Gemini Nomination.

Mairlyn lives in Toronto with her fifteen-year-old son who loves kidney beans, broccoli and the Maple Leafs, and her partner Scott who is the only person aside from herself who has eaten everything in the book seven times. She testifies that The Ultimate Healthy Eating Plan must work because while consuming 6,000 calories a day testing recipes she gained 38 pounds, which she has since lost following Liz Pearson’s Weight Loss Plan, and managed to significantly lower her cholesterol at the same time. Mairlyn currently acts in commercials and film, drives her son to hockey, and is currently working on her next book.