Biography
Based in Melbourne, Maria P. Afanador is a Colombian-born actress. She started studying performing arts in 2007 at the Charlot Academy, and continued on at the National Theater Housein Bogotá, Colombia. She played Bella in “Beauty and the Beast” for a year at that venue. She graduated in 2013 and travelled, before settling down in Australia by November of the same year.
Maria has worked in plays such as “44 Minutes to Recover Love”, “The Trojan Women”, “The Real Inspector Hound” among others. In the meantime, several of her distinguished professors had encouraged her passion for theatre and film through twice-weekly scene study courses. She has also worked on renowned Columbian television like “Also Mom” (Telest), “Popland” (MTV), “Infiltrados” (the Latin American version of “The Departed” by Caracol TV) and short films like “Belle & Sebastian”, “Heads & Tails”, “The Street” and “Victoria Klaus”.
Maria has also a professional model now for over 5 years, having gained significant and progressive experience in international fashion shows, photo shoots and commercials. Some of the highlighting contracts were for Lacoste, Virgin Mobile and appearing in high profile international fashion shows such as Colombia Moda and Bogota Fashion Week.
Since arriving in Melbourne, Maria resumed training and has performed with the Spanish Theatre Company presenting “Erotica Alleluia” (an adaptation of the play by Federico Garcia Lorca). At Bridge Latin Theatre, she performed “Women on the Verge” as the Woman Alone (from the 8 Monologues by Dario Fo) and as Lucrecia Borgia on “The Mask of Beauty”, both productions presented at La Mama Theatre in Melbourne.
Keen to act around the globe for the rest of her life, Maria is a chameleonic, symbolic, romantic thespian alternating between a fresh, cheerful, glamourous, liberal Latino and a forbidding, torrid, dark streak.