Mara Davi (born January 22, 1984,

Alameda County, California Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Alam ...

) is an American actress, singer, and dancer; she made her

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

debut as Maggie Winslow in the 2006 revival of ''

A Chorus Line ''A Chorus Line'' is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante. Set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater, the musical is centered on seventeen Broadway dancers ...

''.

Biography

Mara Davi grew up in

Highlands Ranch Highlands Ranch is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The p ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. She began dance lessons at three years old at a local studio but later transferred to the Academy of Theatre Arts in Englewood, Colorado. She studied several styles of dance, including

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, tap, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, but enjoyed tap the most. Her family moved to Folsom, California, where she attended

Folsom High School Folsom High School is a public secondary school in the western United States, located in Folsom, California, a suburb east of Sacramento. Established in 1922, it is a part of the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. School history The firs ...

. During high school, Davi shifted her focus away from dance to

musical theater Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

. She appeared in numerous regional productions including: '' Annie'', ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. S ...

'', ''

Gypsy The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

'', ''

Baby An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

'', '' Grease'', and '' Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat''. Davi attended

California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

where, during her sophomore year, she was chosen for the lead in the U.S. and Japan tour of '' 42nd Street''.

Career

Davi played the role of Maggie in the Broadway revival of ''

'', in 2006. She joined ''

The Drowsy Chaperone ''The Drowsy Chaperone'' is a Canadian musical with music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, and a book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. The story concerns a middle-aged, asocial musical theater fan who, feeling "blue", decides to p ...

'' on Broadway on July 30, 2007, succeeding

Sutton Foster Sutton Lenore Foster (born March 18, 1975) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical twice, in 2002 for her role as Millie Di ...

in the lead role of Janet van de Graaff."Mara Davi Broadway"
Internet Broadway Database, accessed November 16, 2016 In March 2008, she was featured in the premiere of the musical stage version of ''

The Band Wagon ''The Band Wagon'' is a 1953 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. It tells the story of an aging musical star who hopes a Broadway show will restart his career. However, ...

'' at the

Old Globe Theatre The Old Globe is a professional theatre company located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It produces about 15 plays and musicals annually in summer and winter seasons. Plays are performed in three separate theatres in the complex, which i ...

in San Diego, in the role played by

Cyd Charisse Cyd Charisse (born Tula Ellice Finklea; March 8, 1922 – June 17, 2008) was an American actress and dancer. After recovering from polio as a child and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s. Her roles usually featured her abilit ...

. Davi returned to New York for the May 2008 Encores! concert presentation of ''

No, No, Nanette ''No, No, Nanette'' is a musical comedy with lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans, and a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play ''My Lady Friends''. The farcical story involves t ...

'' in the title role, playing alongside

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American comedian, television producer, actress, author, and television personality. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series '' Star Search'' ...

Sandy Duncan Sandra Kay Duncan (born February 20, 1946) is an American actress, comedian, dancer and singer. She is known for her performances in the Broadway revival of ''Peter Pan'' and in the sitcom ''The Hogan Family''. Duncan has been nominated for thr ...

, Shonn Wiley, and

Fred Willard Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film '' This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries '' W ...

. In 2012 she was in a musical adaptation of '' The Toxic Avenger'' at The Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas. ''The Toxic Avenger'' musical had plans on transferring on Broadway in the near future. Davi made her Birdland cabaret debut in May 2008. She appeared on the Broadway stage as Judy Haynes in the 2009 New York production of

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russ ...

's '' White Christmas''. She played Daisy Parker who blackmails Derek Wills for a role in the fictional ''Hit List'' on the second season of '' Smash''. From 2011 to 2012 she played the role of Bianca Sanfino in "A Night on the Town", "Moonlighting", and "Women with Guns" the 5th, 9th, and 16th episodes of the second season of the

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

police procedural drama '' Blue Bloods''. From 2011, Davi and pianist/composer Adam Waite have appeared as the band "Mara and the Bitter Suite" and released an album in 2012 titled ''Unspoken.'' Davi starred as Joan in the Broadway revival of "

Dames at Sea ''Dames at Sea'' is a 1966 musical with book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller and music by Jim Wise. The musical is a parody of large, flashy 1930s Busby Berkeley-style movie musicals in which a chorus girl, newly arrived off the ...

", which ran from September 2015 to January 2016.

Personal life

Davi married actor Aaron Gaines on June 8, 2008. They currently reside in New York.

References

External links

*
Mara Davi web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davi, Mara Living people American musical theatre actresses People from Folsom, California American stage actresses 21st-century American actresses 1984 births