Born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, Marianna Palka is a passionate actress and humanist filmmaker. Marianna can be seen as Reggie in Netflix’s new original series “GLOW”, which follows the personal and professional lives of a group of women who perform for a wrestling organization in Los Angeles. At the age of 17, Marianna moved to New York from Scotland to study at David Mamet and William H. Macy’s Atlantic Theater Company. From there, she amassed numerous roles in theater, film and television. Marianna made her first journey to Sundance with her film GOOD DICK in 2008, starring Jason Ritter and herself. She returned in 2010 as a Sloan juror. Marianna can be seen in Peter Mullan’s 2011 BAFTA award winning film NEDS and in the lead role in director Jeremiah Jones independent film RESTIVE, which won the Audience Award at the 2011 Austin Film Festival and was nominated for Best Actress and Best Feature Film at the 2012 Charlotte Film Festival. She appeared in two short films which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival; SPOONFUL by director Jenee LaMarque and Bryce Dallas Howard’s second film WHEN YOU FIND ME, executive produced by Ron Howard for the Canon sponsored Project Imagina8tion. She returned to Sundance again in 2014 with the short documentary THE LION’S MOUTH OPENS. Marianna recently returned from yet another stint at Sundance after premiering a film which she wrote and starred in, BITCH; a surreal, manic, funny, absurd, tragic, and painful depiction of family life about a woman who takes on the identity of a wild dog. BITCH had its international premiere at Sundance London this June. She is currently directing EGG, starring Alysia Reiner, Christina Hendricks and Anna Camp.
On the small screen, Marianna’s work includes HBO’s “Girls”, “Derek and Simon”, and Comedy Central’s “Drunk History”.
Tune into our interview right HERE
Resources
LINKS:
- Marianna on Instagram: @mariannapalka
- Good Dick trailer
- Bitch description
- Girls season 5
- Glow trailer
QUOTES:
“Art and money are the same thing. You make money from art. Money is there to support art.”
“Richness of life is in art. The most beneficial thing you can do to survive as a human being is to go work as an artist.”
“I’m working with joy and positivity. Never think about the project as good or bad, I just follow the instinct and believe it in.”
“Self love is not selfish. Take the time to love yourself so that you can be the portal to the artist message.”
“Acting can heal something or someone out there. Performances are there to support the human experience.”
“People hire your enthusiasm and your self-belief. Being up for it is what people employ.”
“Leave space for the absolute miracle that is suppose to happen.”