Maria Work

Maria was born in Montana and raised in Ontario, Canada by an Air Force father and Homemaker mother. She has nine brothers and sisters. She was influenced by her uncle, actor Gordon Pinsent, to become an actress herself, starting at the age of 8. She has been doing live theatre ever since, having appeared in over 50 shows, as well as having directed and choreographed high school and community theatre plays. Her versatility has earned her a wide variety of roles, ranging from ingenue to villainous. She has even had the opportunity to play Shelby, Truvy, and M'Lynn in different productions of Steel Magnolias--winning performance awards for each. Maria has studied theatre in North Bay, Ontario; Missouri Valley College; and in workshops in Akron and Canton, Ohio. Currently she is an advanced student at Playhouse West in Los Angeles. In 2019, Maria moved to the L.A. to pursue film work. Almost immediately she was being cast in student films, shorts, commercials and features. In 2023 she earned her first industry award when she won Best Actress in both the Audience and Grand Jury categories at the Playhouse West Film Festival for her performance as Helen in Dying to Sleep, her first feature film role.

While acting is her passion, she also enjoys clerical work, and is employed as an Administrative Coordinator for Tetra Tech, Inc. Her greatest love, however, is for her daughter and son, who give her life more meaning than anything else could.

Special Related Skills: Yoga and Pilates; Dance/Movement; Various Dialects/Accents; Makeup; Juggling; Directing; Casting

Reviews:

• “Maria [is] electrifying as [one of] the slow-minded and bizarre carnival “pinheads”... [her] portrayal of Mrs. Kendal ... is riveting in its struggle between her own superficiality, insecurity, and emerging compassion.” (Tom Wachunas, Artwach Blog, on The Elephant Man)

• “The storyline thickens when Treves secures the services of a stage actress named Mrs. Kendal (a tender Maria Work) .... When she takes his hand, it is momentous.” (Dan Kane, Canton Repository, on The Elephant Man)

• “...it’s fascinating to watch how Maria Work, playing Thee, [is] transformed from [her] convincing portrayal of concerned wife and loyal friend, respectively, into equally convincing guilty lover on-the-attack in the second act.” (Tom Wachunas, Artwach Blog, on Then Waves)