Marisa Calin (born 5 January 1983) is an American-born English

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, writer and producer.

Early life and education

A native of

Bath, Somerset Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...

, Calin began her actor’s training at the Junior

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

in London, and at 18 attended the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a Private college, private drama school with two locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ...

in New York.

Career

Writing

Calin's debut book, the

young adult novel Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

''Between You & Me'', was published in 2012 by

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

. It earned positive reviews in ''

Kirkus ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, non ...

'' and ''Publishers' Weekly.'' ''Between You and Me'' was named a ''Kirkus'' Best Book of 2012 and was selected for the American Library Associations’ 2013 Rainbow Book List of quality books with authentic LGBT content.

Audiobook narration

As an audiobook narrator, Calin has earned an

Audie Award The Audie Awards (, rhymes with "gaudy"; abbreviated from ''audiobook''), or simply the Audies, are awards for achievement in spoken word, particularly audiobook narration and audiodrama performance, published in the United States of America. They ...

nomination for full cast recording of

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

’s ''Fairytales'', and an Audie win for ''Sadie'' by

Courtney Summers Courtney Summers (born 1986 in Belleville, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian writer of young adult fiction. Her most famous known works are ''Cracked Up to Be'' (2008), '' This Is Not a Test'' (2012), ''All the Rage'' (2015), and '' Sadie'' (2018)'' ...

. Calin has earned '' AudioFile'' magazine's Earphones Awards for a variety of titles, including books by

Garth Nix Garth Richard Nix (born 19 July 1963) is an Australian writer who specialises in children's and young adult fantasy novels, notably the ''The Old Kingdom, Old Kingdom'', ''The Seventh Tower, Seventh Tower'' and ''The Keys to the Kingdom, Keys t ...

, Jennifer Robson, and

Mary Calvi Mary Calvi is an American television journalist and author of ''If a Poem Could Live and Breathe: A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt's First Love, ''publishing Valentine's Day 2023, which is based on love letters from Gilded Age to and from Roosevelt an ...

's ''Dear George, Dear Mary'', for which she was featured on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

in a behind-the-scenes look at the making of audiobooks. Her performance in Sophie McKenzie’s ''Close My Eyes'' received a ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' Starred Review and made their 2013 Listen-Up Awards for Audiobooks of the year. She led an effects-full production of ''Teeth in the Mist'' by

Dawn Kurtagich Dawn Kurtagich (born 4 November 1986) is a psychological horror and young adult fiction author. She lives in Wales though she grew up in a number of places around the world, including mostly within South Africa. Her mother was single; a globe tro ...

for Hachette Audio which was named by

Paste Magazine ''Paste'' is an American monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publi ...

as one of the 19 Best Audiobooks of 2019 So Far. Three titles she narrated in 2019 were selected for Yalsa's round up of Amazing Audiobooks. 2024 included a Society of Voice Arts and Sciences award nomination for Outstanding Audiobook Narration - Fiction - Best Voiceover.

Film

Calin wrote and produced the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

A Million Happy Nows ''A Million Happy Nows'' is a 2017 American independent drama film written by Marisa Calin and directed by Albert Alarr. The film stars Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia as a lesbian couple dealing with the diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer' ...

'' with her company Perfect Features. The film played primarily the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

festival circuit for the 2017 season, screening at more than 50 festivals including the

Mardi Gras Film Festival The Mardi Gras Film Festival is an Australian LGBTQ+ film festival held in Sydney, New South Wales annually as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebrations. It is organised by Queer Screen Limited, a non-profit organization, and i ...

Frameline Film Festival The Frameline Film Festival (also known as San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival and formerly known as San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival; San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival) is an annual event that ...

, the

Palm Beach International Film Festival The Palm Beach International Film Festival was a film festival in the United States held in Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm ...

and

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

. The film won Outfest's Audience Award for Best First U.S. Narrative Feature. It also won Curve Magazine's poll to screen at the first ClexaCon film festival in Las Vegas in 2017, and came away with the award for Best Feature. Research for the film led to Calin's advocacy for the Women's Brain Project and she was their guest at the International Forum on Women's Brain and Mental Health in Zurich, Switzerland in 2019.

References

External links

Marisa Calin WebsiteA Million Happy Nows Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Calin, Marisa 1983 births 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American women writers 21st-century English actresses 21st-century English novelists 21st-century English screenwriters 21st-century English women writers American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni American women screenwriters American young adult novelists Audiobook narrators English voice actresses English women novelists English women screenwriters Living people Actresses from Bath, Somerset Screenwriters from California British women writers of young adult literature British writers of young adult literature American women writers of young adult literature