Notable as a television writer and producer, Wallem penned numerous episodes of the CBS sitcom Cybill and the Fox comedy That '70s Show and went on to serve as an executive producer of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie. Also an actress, she appeared in an episode of Seinfeld and in a small part in the movie Sleepless in Seattle.
At the start of her entertainment career, she performed with a Minneapolis-based improv group called The Brave New Workshop Comedy Theatre.
From 1993 until 1996, she voiced the character of Doctor Paula Hutchinson on Nickelodeon's Rocko's Modern Life.
She and her younger brother -- actor Stephen Wallem -- grew up primarily in Rockford, Illinois. Before marrying rock singer
In the late 1980s, she and Peter Tolan co-wrote and co-starred in a New York cabaret act-turned-Off-Broadway production titled Laughing Matters.