Maria Alejandra Delfino ( ; born February 20, 1981), known professionally as Majandra Delfino, is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as

Maria DeLuca Maria DeLuca is a fictional character created by Melinda Metz for the young adults book series ''Roswell High.'' The character was also adapted by Jason Katims for the 1999-2002 American science fiction television series ''Roswell''. She was por ...

on '' Roswell'', and as Andi on the CBS sitcom '' Friends with Better Lives''.

Early life

Delfino was born on February 20, 1981, in Caracas,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. Her father Enrique Delfino is Italian Venezuelan, and her mother Mary Hellmund is

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a perso ...

. As a child, she lived in Caracas and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, until moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

as a teenager. Her nickname / stage-name “Majandra” is an amalgamation of her given name: Mariah Alejandra. She started using the nickname when her baby sister was not able to pronounce her full name properly.

Career

Acting

Delfino was cast in MGM's '' Zeus & Roxanne'' before landing the role of Tina Dimeo in NBC's '' The Tony Danza Show'', where she played Tony Danza's teenage daughter. After playing Natalie Sanford in the independent film '' The Secret Life of Girls'', Delfino was cast as

on '' Roswell''. On hiatus, she performed in the small role of Vanessa in ''

Traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffi ...

''. She also acted in ''Reeseville'', ''

Celeste in the City ''Celeste in the City'' is a television movie starring Majandra Delfino and Nicholas Brendon. It premiered on ABC Family in 2004. It was directed by Larry Shaw. Plot Celeste Blodgett is a somewhat unkempt young woman who moves from her small h ...

'', and in '' R.S.V.P.'' She played Trudi in the film ''

State's Evidence A criminal turns state's evidence by admitting guilt and testifying as a witness for the state against their associate(s) or accomplice(s), often in exchange for leniency in sentencing or immunity from prosecution.Howard Abadinsky, ''Organized C ...

''. Delfino starred in a number of episodes of the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

show ''

Quarterlife ''Quarterlife'' (stylized as ''quarterlife'') is an American web series, also briefly an NBC television series in 2008, created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the creators of '' Thirtysomething'' and ''Once and Again'', and producers of ...

'', also shown on MySpaceTV, which started airing November 11, 2007. In 2011, she starred with

Raven-Symoné Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman-Maday () (née Pearman; born December 10, 1985), also known mononymously as Raven, is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She has received several accolades, including five NAACP Image Awards, two Kids' ...

in the show '' State of Georgia'' on ABC Family until its cancellation. Delfino performed in ABC's pilot ''The Family Trap'' starring

Mandy Moore Amanda Leigh Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to fame with her debut single, "Candy (Mandy Moore song), Candy", which peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Her de ...

and Stockard Channing. Delfino was eight months pregnant with her first child during the shooting, so director

Shawn Levy Shawn Adam Levy (born July 23, 1968) is a Canadian film director, film producer, actor, and founder of 21 Laps Entertainment. He has worked across genres and is perhaps best known as the director of the '' Night at the Museum'' film franchise an ...

shot around the pregnancy for the entire project. One month after giving birth, Delfino was cast as Dwight Schrute's sister on NBC's ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series o ...

'' attempted spin-off/

backdoor pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

, " The Farm." NBC did not

greenlight To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead". Film industry In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...

the series. Delfino starred in CBS's '' Friends with Better Lives'', where writers included her pregnancy in the storyline.

Music

Delfino sang in several ''Roswell'' episodes, such as "Viva Las Vegas," "Cry Your Name," and "Behind the Music." In the summer of 2000, Delfino released three songs onto the internet, "Siren," "Bruises" and "Tattoo," and wrote and produced them in association with "Sci-Fi Lullaby." On October 31, 2001, Delfino released the EP '' The Sicks'' on her own label, Dripfeed, without

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

or television airplay. Her second album, ''Tarte'', was released on April 23, 2007, by her own record company, Red Velvet Cake Records. In February 2011, the singer announced via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that she was working on her third studio album, scheduled for a late 2018 release.

Personal life

Delfino was in a relationship with her ''Roswell'' co-star and on-screen love interest

Brendan Fehr Brendan Jacob Joel Fehr (born October 29, 1977) is a Canadian film and television actor, perhaps best known for portraying Michael Guerin in the WB television series '' Roswell'', and for portraying lab tech Dan Cooper in '' CSI: Miami''. In ...

from 2000 to 2002. The two were briefly engaged before parting ways. In 2007, Delfino married

Devon Gummersall ''My So-Called Life'' is an American teen drama television series created by Winnie Holzman and produced by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. It originally aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from August 25, 1994, to January 26, 199 ...

, who also appeared alongside her in several ''Roswell'' episodes as her character's cousin, Sean DeLuca. The marriage was short-lived, and the two divorced the next year. On March 18, 2011, Delfino married actor David Walton in Miami. They have two children, a daughter born in 2012, and a son born in 2013. She is the younger sister of actress Marieh Delfino.

Discography

*''The Sicks'' (EP) (2001) Dripfeed *''Le Prince Bleu D'Arthelius'' (2003) (CD single duet with

RoBERT The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

) *''Tarte'' (2007) RVC Records

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delfino, Majandra 1981 births Living people 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Caracas Actresses from Miami American television actresses American film actresses American women singer-songwriters American people of Italian descent American singer-songwriters American people of Cuban descent Dark cabaret musicians Hispanic and Latino American actresses Venezuelan emigrants to the United States 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Women punk rock singers