Madill native and high school graduate Madi Cook has always known she wanted to write since a young age. Even in middle school, she was filling notebooks with short stories and poetry, often encouraged by her mother, who happened to be her seventh-grade English teacher.
“We had to make a poetry book, and I thought it was the coolest assignment ever,” she recalled. That early spark of creativity eventually grew into a passion that carried herfarbeyondherhometown.
After graduating from Madill High School, Cook attended the University of Oklahoma, where she studied journalism. While she enjoyed reporting, she soon realized her heart was in fiction and storytelling. “Real life is harder to write about than things you can make up,” she laughed. That realization led her toward radio dramas, then television writing, and eventually, Los Angeles. Her path to the entertainment industry wasn’t glamorous at first. In early 2020, Cook began working in the kitchens at Disney World as part of a college program.
“We were literally in the tunnels under the Magic Kingdom,” she said.
However, that job unexpectedly opened a door when she gained access to an internal company directory and used it to contact TV professionals, introducing herself and asking for advice.
“A few even responded,” she said. “That’s when I realized Icouldmakeconnections if I just reached out.”
Soon after, she attended graduate school at Boston University, where she met an alum who helped her secure an internship with ABC and later the Disney Channel. What began as a behind-the-scenes assistant role eventually evolved into her first major opportunity, writing for “Vamprina: Teenage Vampire”,aDisneyseries thatblendshumor,heart,and a touch of the supernatural. Cook’s first episode turned out to be a crossover with Wizards of Waverly Place, an opportunity she describes as “a dream come true.”
“It was my very first episode of television,” she said. “Ourshowrunnerannounced it at a Christmas party, and everyonecheered.Itwassuch a special moment.”
Her success has been especially meaningful to her family, many of whom are longtime educators in the Madill school district. Cook’s mother taught in Madill for morethan25years,andother relatives have also spent decades in local classrooms.
“Every day I went to school, my family was there,” she said. “That sense of community and togetherness shaped who I am. In a small town, when one person succeeds, everyone celebrates with you.”
Cook now lives in Los Angeles, where she continues to pursue new writing projects, including a middle-grade novel, while waiting to hear if Vamprina will return for another season. Still, she carries her hometown with her.
“Madill taught me what community really means,” she said. “It’s something I try to build wherever I go.”
When she returns home, there’s one tradition she never skips: dinner at El Tequila across from McDonald’s — and, of course, a stop at Braum’s. “
They don’t have Braum’s in California,” she joked. “That’s always my first stop when I get back.”