Maria was born and raised in the greatest city in the world: New York City. Born into a big, fat Greek family in Brooklyn, she knew how to make spanakopita before she could tie her shoes and was quoting Goodfellas by the age of 2.

After spending most of her childhood pretending to be Celine Dion for an audience of her stuffed animals, Maria went on to attend the School of American Ballet for 6 years and perform with the New York City Ballet from the ages of 9 to 12. She later studied classical voice at LaGuardia High School- yes, it was exactly like the movie Fame- before earning her BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Maria often gets cast as characters that are emotionally mature with a grounded and determined energy. These characters might also belt really well or dance around for long periods of time in choreographed dance numbers. Her favorite roles to date are Louise in Gypsy and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing.

While she loves to sing and dance (you can check out some clips of her doing that here), Maria is most proud of the actor that she has become. Through training at the Lee Strasberg Institute, Atlantic Acting School and RADA, she has learned how gratifying it is to reflect humanity back to an audience and how much craft it takes to do it well. She is inspired by the work of Patricia Clarkson, Cate Blanchett, Bob Fosse, Donna Murphy, John Cassavetes, Barbra Streisand, Tennessee Williams and Gena Rowlands. One of her artistic goals is to perform in Greek at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus in honor of her Greek roots.

A habitual before bed reader, Maria loves memoirs & biographies, one of her favorites being Wild by Cheryl Strayed. She also enjoys watching basketball (Knicks in 5!) and trying new recipes she finds in the New York Times cooking section.