Valarie was born in Camden, South Carolina. After college, she moved to New York, then Los Angeles, supporting herself with acting roles, national and international commercials and exercising horses, while pursuing her writing career. Her first original screenplay, Have Mercy (2006), led to working opportunities with Rob Reiner, Shirley MacLaine and Peter Bogdanovich when it was optioned by Barry Spikings at Castle Rock Entertainment. Her second original screenplay, Virginia's Run (2002), is a story based on her own horse-obsessed youth and titled in honor of her maternal grandmother. The film was shot in Nova Scotia, starring Gabriel Byrne and Joanne Whalley. Virginia's Run is a recipient of the 2002 Crystal Heart Award for Best Dramatic Feature Film. Disney and Shoelace Productions hired Valarie to adapt two novels by autistic author Donna Williams into a screenplay titled Nobody Nowhere for Julia Roberts. Author Donna Williams participated as a producer through Shoelace during Valarie's employment on the project. Valarie adapted the Joyce Carol Oates play, The Eclipse, into a television screenplay for producers Bela Bejaria at CBS, and Shanna Tyndall Nussbaum with Cosmic Entertainment. She was hired by Catch 23 Entertainment to write an original screenplay for Salma Hayek titled Murphy's Law, and worked with Thomas Carter on their original screenplay, Rough Riders. Valarie lives in California and South Carolina. Show less «