سيرة
Marika Rivera was born on November 13, 1919, in Paris, France. Her father, Diego Rivera, was a Mexican artist then exploring Cubism and residing in Paris. Her mother, Marie Vorobieff, known artistically as Marevna, was originally from Russia. Soon after Marika’s birth, her father left to live with another woman and later married the artist Frida Kahlo.
Marika was raised by her mother Marevna and trained as a dancer and actress. She also had a surrogate father figure in Chaim Soutine, a Russian-Jewish artist who lived with her mother in a common-law relationship. They were part of the artistic community at La Ruche (The Beehive) in Montparnasse. In 1938, Marika married French painter Jean Paul Brusset, with whom she had a son, Jean Brusset. Her second husband was Rodney Philips, owner of Athelhampton House in Dorset, England, where she gave birth to her second son, David Philips, in 1949. After her second marriage ended, Marika lived with her mother and two sons in a suburban London home. She appeared in minor roles in several films, most notably in the adaptation of Sholom Aleichem’s "Tevye the Milkman," titled "Fiddler on the Roof."
Marika also pursued playwriting; her play "Marika’s Cafe Theatre" was produced by the Lyric Studio in Hammersmith, London, in 1980. She is now retired and resides in a London suburb.
