Who is Maria Thayer?
Maria Christina Thayer was born in Portland, Oregon USA, on 30 October 1975 – her zodiac sign is Scorpio, and she holds American nationality. She’s an actress and a comedienne, who has been credited with appearing in more than 70 movies and TV series, while she’s perhaps still known best for her portrayal of Rory Thayer, in the 2006 comedy movie “Accepted”. It was directed by Steve Pink, starred Justin Long, Jonah Hill and Blake Lively, and follows a teenager who has opened his own school – South Harmon Institute of Technology – on a property close to his hometown; the film was nominated for four awards.
Early life and education
Maria was raised in Boring, Oregon by her mother Catherine, and her father who prefers to be left out of media; as she hasn’t mentioned having any siblings, she’s believed to be an only child.
Maria grew up on her parents’ bee farm, and after they left this kind of work, they moved to Minnesota. It was there that Maria became interested in acting, while attending Apple Valley High School, as her drama teacher began casting her in school plays; she mostly played lead characters, and was advised by the teacher to pursue a career on TV. Maria was interested in various other activities during her four years there, and was a member of the National Forensic League, an award-winning forensics program; she was also crowned Homecoming Queen.
Upon matriculating in 1993, she enrolled at the prestigious Julliard School in New York City, from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1997.
Roles in movies
Maria made her debut film appearance in 1999, with her portrayal of Louise in the romantic comedy “Kimberly”, and a couple of her following roles were in the 2001 romantic comedy drama “Storytelling”, the 2003 short romantic drama “Scratch”, and the 2005 comedy “Strangers with Candy”.
She gained recognition in 2008, when cast to play Wyoma, in the romantic comedy drama “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, directed by Nicholas Stoller, and which starred Kristen Bell, Jason Segel and Paul Rudd.
It follows Peter who has gone on a vacation to Hawaii to try and get over his ex-girlfriend Sarah, without knowing that she’s going there as well, with her new boyfriend; the movie won four of the 23 awards for which it was nominated. In 2009, we saw Maria appear in the mystery crime drama “State of Play”, which starred Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck, and won two of the six awards for which it was nominated.
The 2010s saw her focused on appearing in series, while a couple of her most notable performances in movies were in the 2011 comedy “Let Go”, the 2011 family fantasy comedy “Annie Claus Is Coming to Town”, and the 2015 romantic horror comedy “Night of the Living Deb”. Her three most recent movie roles have been in the 2018 romantic comedy drama “Half Empty/Half Full”, the 2019 comedy drama “I’ve Got Issues”, and the 2020 short comedy “The Ride”.
Roles in TV series
Maria made her debut TV series appearance in 1999, when cast to play Tammi Littlenut, in the hit comedy “Strangers with Candy”, created by Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello, who also starred in it alongside Amy Sedaris. It follows a 46-year-old former drug addict, who has now returned to high school.
The following years saw Maria appear in an episode or two of various series, such as the mystery crime drama “Big Apple”, the drama “The Education of Max Bickford”, and the mystery crime drama “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”. Her most notable performance in the 2000s was perhaps her portrayal of Cassidy in the 2008 comedy drama “Lipstick Jungle”, created by Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline, and which starred Brooke Shields, Kim Raver and Lindsay Price.
It follows the lives of three women, Victory, Wendy and Nico, who were featured in the list ‘New York’s 50 Most Powerful Women’ compiled by the magazine “The New York Post”.
Maria returned to guest starring in the 2010s, and some of the most popular series in which she appeared include the crime comedy drama “Harry’s Law”, the romantic comedy “Cougar Town”, and the comedy “Arrested Development”. Between 2011 and 2014, she starred as Susie Wagner, in the popular action comedy “Eagleheart”, created by Michael Koman and Andrew Weinberg, and which also starred Chris Elliott and Brett Gelman. It follows a US Marshal as he’s battling crime.
Three of Maria’s most recent TV series roles have been in the 2020 episode “Get Hoppy!” of the comedy “A. P. Bio”, the 2021 pilot episode of the comedy “Punky Brewster”, and four episodes of the comedy “Superstore” also in 2021.
Other credits
In 2011, Maria sang the song “Hallelujah Chorus” in the movie “Annie Claus Is Coming to Town”.
In 2019, she received special thanks for the romantic comedy film “Almost Love”.
Maria wrote and produced the 2021 episode “Hatumentary” of the comedy series “Liza on Demand”.
She has made a guest appearance in a number of talk-shows, including “The Colbert Report”, “Home & Family” and “@midnight”.
Awards and nominations
In July 2018, Maria and her three colleagues were nominated for a New York Film Award for Best Ensemble, for their performance in the movie “Half Empty/Half Full”.
Love life and husband
Maria’s highly secretive when it comes to talking about her love life, and there’s only a single man whom she has dated that the public knows about, while there are various rumors circulating the internet, concerning both her sexual orientation and current relationship status.
Maria was once in a relationship with the American actor David Kenneth Harbour, who’s perhaps known best for his portrayal of Jim Hopper in the award-winning Netflix series “Stranger Things”. They were together from 2009 to 2011, and were engaged, but eventually called it off for unknown reasons; since 7 September 2020, David has been married to the British singer-songwriter Lily Allen.
There are some who believe Maria to be a lesbian, and that this is why she avoids talking about her love life; some have even claimed that this is perhaps what led to her and David’s break-up, but this hasn’t been confirmed, nor has Maria addressed these rumors.
As of September 2021, she seems to be single, hasn’t married, and doesn’t have children.
Hobbies and other interests
Maria’s quite active on Instagram, as she seems to be enjoying the attention she’s receiving from her close to 30,000 followers; she’s uploaded more than 100 pictures, the majority of which have been taken during her everyday life.
She likes to drink alcohol, and her favorites are beer and white wine.
Maria enjoys traveling, and has been all around the US for both work and pleasure, and to a couple of European and South American countries; her dream travel destination is Florence in Italy.
She has her own favorite actors and actresses, some of whom are Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne and Emma Watson, and a couple of her favorite films include “A Good Year”, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and the franchise “Harry Potter”.
Maria’s physically active, and has a couple of training sessions at the gym every week, while she also practices yoga.
Age, height and net worth
Maria’s age is 45. She has long ginger hair and blue eyes, her height is 5ft 4ins (1.63m) and she weighs around 120lbs (55kgs).
As of September 2021, her net worth has been estimated at over $300,000.
