Maria Soccor is an American actor, director, and producer. Her acting credits include '' Another World'' (1998), '' Pizza My Heart'' (2005), '' K-Ville'' (2007), and '' NCIS: New Orleans'' (2015) as well as a number of

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

s and television films.

Biography

Soccor got her start at the age of 13 modeling in print ads for various beauty and Fortune 500 companies. She studied acting in Orange, New Jersey at The Children's Matinee Workshop under

Gwen Guthrie Gwendolyn Guthrie (July 9, 1950 – February 3, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter and pianist who also sang backing vocals for Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Peter Tosh, and Madonna, among others, and who wrote songs made fa ...

. In her senior year of high school, in 1992, she won first place in the annual national America's Junior Miss scholarship pageant as a representative from

Essex County, New Jersey Essex County is located in the northeastern part of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 863,728, making it the state's second-most populous county, behind Bergen and Middlesex Counties.

. She continued her acting studies under the late three-time Tony Award winner Uta Hagen before appearing on Broadway and in several Off-Broadway productions. One of her first big roles was in ''Club XII'', MC Lyte's

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

hip-hop rendering of Shakespeare's ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vio ...

''. She returned to the New York stage in February 2019 to star in ''The Sandstorm'', presented during the New York Theater Festival Winterfest. In 2021, she starred in the New Jersey production of ''Mannequin Diaries'' written by Brian Wiggins and directed by Tony Award winner

Trazana Beverley Trazana Beverley is an American stage and film actress as well as a lecturer in acting. She received a BFA in Acting from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She was the first African-American actress to receive a Tony Award for "Bes ...

. In addition to acting, Soccor began directing and producing documentaries in 2009. In 2016, she directed ''

Lords of BSV ''Lords of BSV'' is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Maria Soccor about bruk up dancing, a dance style that originated in Jamaica, West Indies in the early 1990s. The film premiered on April 9, 2015, at the Riverside International Fil ...

'', which won 13 awards across the world, including Best Director of a Feature Documentary at the Madrid International Film Festival. In 2018, she wrote, directed, and acted in ''Kicks'', which was a Cannes Film Festival entry. She is currently in production on ''Tillie'', ''Freestyle Music: The Legacy'', and ''Sybil in Her Own Words''. In 2015, Soccor created a comic series called ''SPEAR'', illustrated by artist Rolo Ledesma. It launched in October that year at

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a f ...

. She is a member of the

Film Fatales Film Fatales is a non-profit which advocates for parity in the entertainment industry and supports a community of women feature film directors who meet regularly to mentor each other, collaborate on projects and share resources. History The group w ...

Alliance of Women Directors The Alliance of Women Directors (AWD) is an American 501c(3) nonprofit organization created to support education and advocacy for women directors in film, television, and new media. The AWD, established in 1997, has over 250 members and is based in ...

, and New York Women in Film & Television organizations.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soccor, Maria American film directors 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses 20th-century Filipino actresses 21st-century Filipino actresses American actresses of Filipino descent American film actresses American television actresses American voice actresses Filipino voice actresses Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Actors from Livingston, New Jersey Actresses from New Jersey