Background:

American actress Maiara Walsh is popular to TV viewers for her roles on the hit ABC comedy/drama series “Desperate Housewives,” playing Ana Solis from 2009 to 2010, and the Disney Channel sitcom “Cory in the House” (2007-2008), as Meena Paroom. In 2012, she took on the recurring role of Simone in the first season of the ABC Family series “Switched at Birth.” Her film credits include “The Prankster” (2010), “Mean Girls 2” (2011, TV), “General Education” (2012) and “Last Hours in Suburbia” (2012).    

Currently, Walsh resides in  San Fernando Valley, California. She can speak English,  Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish proficiently. A great philanthropist, Walsh spends much of her time  volunteering and organizing community projects. She enjoys traveling, reading, spending time outdoors, and learning Psychology, Biology, and Neuroscience on her own time.


My Twigga

Childhood and Family:

Maiara Walsh was born on February 18, 1988, in Seattle, Washington. Her mother is a Brazilian, while her father is of Irish, German, and Swedish extraction. At age 2, she moved with her family to São Paulo, Brazil. Nine years later, she returned to the US and settled in Simi Valley, California in order to pursue her acting career.

Different from her character in “Mean Girls 2,” Maiara suffered bullying while in school. She earned the nickname “My Twigga,” a take on her name Maiara (pronounced “MY-Ah-Da”), from the Bullies as she was teased for being small and skinny.  

“My parents always said that education come first, education's important because you'll always have something to fall back on. I totally agree with this especially in an industry that can throw you away whenever it's done with you.” Maiara Walsh

Maiara was accepted to the University of California, Irvine. She is taking college classes online.
    

Cory in the House

Career:

Maiara Walsh launched her professional acting career in 2005 with an appearance in the Nickelodeon teen sitcom “Unfabulous” season 1 episode “The Bar Mitzvah.” She landed her first regular role on the television sitcom “Cory in the House,” which ran on the Disney Channel for two seasons from January 12, 2007 to September 12, 2008. There she played the main role of Meena Paroom, the daughter of the Bahavian ambassador, a fictional country containing cultural elements of India, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and very similar to Bolivia. Talking about her character on the show, she stated, “Meena has to find a way to make her parents happy and to fit into the American society, which is kind of a cool thing because there are many multicultural teenagers out there and people who do have difficulties trying to make their parents happy, but at the same time, be true to themselves and be able to accustom to daily American life.”

In 2008, Walsh made her feature film debut as Megan in “Lullabye Before I Wake,” opposite Jibby Saetang and Dean Shelton. The romance film was written and directed by Nate Pantumsinchai.

Walsh's television career gained significant boost when she jointed the cast of the popular ABC show “Desperate Housewives” in season 5 final in the role of Ana Solis, the granddaughter of Carlos's Aunt Connie. She remained with the show to the following season. Around this period, Walsh also starred as Emily in the made for television movie “Revolution” (2009), opposite Daniel Cudmore and Billy Campbell, and had a supporting role on the comedy film “The Prankster” (2010), which was directed and written by Tony Vidal. She went on to make guest appearances in the television shows ABC Family's “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and CW's “The Vampire Diaries” (as Sarah).       

In 2011, Walsh was cast as Mandi Weatherly in “Mean Girls 2,” a TV movie spin off/sequel to the 2004 film “Mean Girl.” Aired on ABC Family on January 23, the teen comedy earned generally negative reviews from critics and fans from the original movie. The same year, she starred as Samantha McDonnell in the short film “Empty Sky,” helmed by J. Michael Vargas.  

In January 2012, Walsh began her recurring role as the  manipulative and selfish Simone Sinclair, a former friend of Bay's and Wilke's former girlfriend, on the ABC Family series “Switched at Birth,” which premiered on the network on June 6, 2011.

Walsh starred with Chris Sheffield, Elaine Hendrix, Bobby Campo, Janeane Garofalo and Larry Miller in “General Education,” a comedy film directed and co-written by Tom Morris. Released on August 24, 2012, the film received unfavourable reviews, but Morris successfully took home the Breakthrough FilmMaker Award at the 2012 Newport Beach Film Festival. She played the role of Jennifer on the mystery/thriller movie “Last Hours in Suburbia,” which was released on September 22, 2012.

Walsh will co-star with James Morrison and Bobby Campo in the Jesse Rosen film “One of Us Must Know” (2012) and support Matt Lanter, Eric Tiede and Hallee Hirsh in the drama film “A Chance of Rain” (2012), by Cindy Gustafson. She also is set to portray the leading role of Kantmiss Evershot in the forthcoming comedy film “The Starving Games” (2013), co-directed and co-written by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.


Awards:

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