Episode 128: Working Actor Series- Interview with Maria Dizzia

About Maria:

Maria Dizzia currently teaches an ongoing scene study class at The Freeman Studio in NYC. She has taught both Public Speaking and Acting at the University of California at San Diego as well as master classes at Wheaton College, Penghao Theater in Beijing and the Sichuan People's Art Theater in Chengdu, China. She was a Beinecke Fellow at Yale School of Drama and a 2011 recipient of the Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship.

Broadway credits include: In The Next Room by Sarah Ruhl (Tony nomination Featured Actress; Lincoln Center). Recent theater credits include If I Forget by Steven Levenson (Roundabount Theater Company),  Belleville by Amy Herzog (Drama Desk Nomination; New York Theater Workshop, Yale Rep), Annie Baker's Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep), Drunken City by Adam Bock (Playwrights Horizons), and Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl (Second Stage, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep). Outside of the United States, Maria has performed at The Gate Theater in London with The Civilians and at the Garasjen theater in Norway with Young Jean Lee's Theater Company.

Television credits include: a recurring role on Louis C.K.'s "Horace and Pete," recurring role on "Orange Is the New Black" (SAG Award, Outstanding Ensemble), "Louie," "Master of None," "Newsroom," "Elementary," and "The Blacklist." Among her film roles are: Christine, Martha Marcy May Marlene (Gotham Film Award nomination, Best Ensemble), While We're Young, and Margin Call.

To find a teacher who sees something in you and be able to have an adult conversation with you is essential.

Everybody who keeps acting keeps learning.

When it’s with Zoom, you get to take responsibility for yourself.

When you work with celebrity, they love the story that they’re telling.

Meeting them is wanting to tell that story with them, and to understand their vision.

Really dig into the work relationship part of it.

It always comes down to the work.