“Maria really has it!”
– James Earl Jones
“Maria Guida is GREAT.”
– Olympia Dukakis
“I love how endlessly explored Maria’s work always, always is.
Her range is literally, and thrillingly, inexhaustible.”
– Austin Pendleton,
Tony-nominated director; actor; playwright; winner of the Obie & Drama Desk awards
Maria Guida is a classically-trained actor based in New York who has played Shakespeare (for Theater for a New Audience) and other classics, and she appeared on Broadway in the original productions of The Pirates of Penzance and King of Hearts. On TV, she played principle recurring roles on the daytime dramas One Live to Live and As the World Turns and has appeared on Saturday Night Live, The Today Show, and the Jerry Lewis Telethon.
Maria has performed with and been directed by luminaries including James Earl Jones, Kevin Kline, Estelle Parsons, Treat Williams, Linda Ronstadt, Dame Patricia Routledge, Millicent Martin, George Rose, Kaye Ballard, Gary Sandy, Tom O’Horgan, Austin Pendleton, Frank Corsaro, Graziella Danielle, Ron Field, Don Scardino, Maureen McGovern, and Robbie Benson.
She has taught acting, scene study, improvisation, and speech at HB Studio, New York University, Hunter College, and the School of Visual Arts. She also coaches corporate executives in presentation skills and designs/delivers theater workshops to seniors in the Program for Cognitive Strength and Ability at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.
Maria’s many acting teachers/mentors have included John Barton (Royal Shakespeare Company, London), Olympia Dukakis, Austin Pendleton, Joseph Chaiken, and Mira Rostova (acting coach to Montgomery Clift). She studied acting improvisation with Alan Arkin.
Maria graduated from the Graduate Acting Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. While there, she was directed by James Earl Jones.