Baxter relishes the challenge of characters in stories that evoke thought, even antagonism, and is often courageous in her choice of roles. In 1991, she earned an Emmy nomination for her performance as the lead character in A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story. She reprised her acclaimed role in Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, The Last Chapter. In 1993, Baxter earned another Emmy nomination for her performance in the CBS School Break Special, Other Mothers, portraying the lesbian mother of a teenager who encounters prejudice.

A force behind the camera as well, Meredith formed her own production company to develop and produce her own material, and currently has several television projects in various stages of development. Under her own banner, Baxter executive-produced her most recent TV series, The Faculty for ABC. She has served in the same capacity on a number of her movies for television, including My Breast, Betrayed: The Story of Three Women, Darkness Before Dawn, and The Long Journey Home.

Most recently, Meredith completed the independent feature film, Elevator Seeking and movies for CBS, Holy Joe, and Down Will Come Baby, Miracle on the 17th Green, and The Wednesday Woman.

Meredith has devoted much of her time to speaking out on issues about which she is passionate. A champion of women’s rights, she is an active supporter of NARAL and Planned Parenthood. For her work on My Breast, she received a special award for public awareness from the National Breast Cancer Coalition. Meredith is a member of the board of The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence and has lobbied extensively on behalf of the Brady Bill, the National Crime Bill and gun control measures. Meredith has also been working with members of the California Senate and Assembly on state legislative matters.

Over the last few years, Meredith developed a line of skin care products. The initial intention had been to correct her own dry skin problem; the product was so good, however, that she decided to bring it to the public. The original line was test-marketed with great success on the Home Shopping Network for one year. After much urging, Meredith developed a full gift line of skin care products, as well. These products are available in fine gift stores around the country.

Because life has been kind to Meredith, she was looking for a way to share the good fortune. She decided to take her concern about breast cancer prevention into the business area. She created a foundation and arranged that a portion of the profits from the sales of all her skin care products goes to the Meredith Baxter Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. The intent is that funding will go toward prevention and research, including the funding of free mammograms for low-income women.