Maria is a writer, director and actor. Her first short film, Car Lady and Bike Girl, won Best Short film at FEFF in Toronto, CA and played at many international festivals. Maria’s most recent project is the online hit series, Little Acorns, which she co-created, wrote and directed. Little Acorns has had over half a million YouTube and Facebook views and continues to find new audiences. It has played in many international festivals and has been nominated and won many awards including Best Writing, Best Directing, Best Comedy, Best Ensemble and Best Web Series. Little Acorns is currently in development for the half hour form with Stan and Film Victoria.
Maria received development funding to co-produce and direct the dark comedy Caravan of Love through the Gender Matters initiative. She also has a drama series, BlackEyes, in development with Matchbox and a comedy/drama series, The Spikes, in development with Good Thing Productions. Maria wrote and performed in the Melbourne Comedy Festival show Two Tickets to Heaven, co-wrote and co-directed the play Conductors for St.Martins, and wrote and directed Seven Year Sleep for Rites of Passage (Chameleon Theatre). She received Malcolm Robertson Foundation writer’s development funding for co-writing the 45 Downstairs site-specific play The House of King.
As an actor, Maria has starred in feature films including the award-winning Walking on Water where she received many acting nominations and winning AFI(AACTA) & FCC Best Actress Awards. A multiple Green Room nominee, she has performed in theatre for companies including MTC, Malthouse, Belvoir St and MWT, and for many independents. Her most recent television work includes Seven Types of Ambiguity, Ex-PM and Newton’s Law and the latest villain on Neighbours.
