Biographie
Majandra Delfino gained recognition for her portrayal of Maria DeLuca on Roswell. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, to a Cuban mother and Venezuelan father, she split her early years between Caracas and Miami before settling permanently in Los Angeles during her late teens.
At age four, Majandra's parents faced a decision when they noticed she could read music from a worn Schubert book but had only a basic grasp of multiplication. They opted to focus on academics, enrolling her in a school with a strong academic emphasis. Nevertheless, from ages four to thirteen, Majandra trained with the Miami Ballet, joining the junior company by nine, while also studying classical piano. Her parents hoped this combination would suffice. However, at eleven, Majandra and her best friend Alana Chirino (daughter of Cuban salsa legend Willy Chirino) secretly auditioned among 400 girls for an all-girls pop group. Along with Alana’s sister Nicole and friend Samantha Gibb (daughter of Bee Gees member Maurice Gibb), they were selected to form the soul-influenced pop group China Dolls, signed to Sony. After opening for the Bee Gees at a benefit and performing other local gigs, the group achieved modest success, leading to an audition for Columbia Pictures' The Baby-Sitters Club. Out of over 800 girls, Majandra earned a callback. Encouraged by this, she pursued acting alongside music—again sneaking out to attend auditions. Although her parents were unhappy with her non-academic ambitions and gave her six months to prove herself, within two months she landed a lead role in MGM’s Zeus & Roxanne, and three months later secured the role of Tony Dana’s daughter on NBC’s The Tony Danza Show.
Her breakthrough came with Roswell, where her role as the witty Maria DeLuca earned her international fans and cultivated a lasting cult following. During Roswell’s second season, she played Vanessa in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, a performance that garnered her an Alma Award. Despite acting success, Majandra maintained her musical passion, independently releasing two self-produced albums, The Sicks and TARTE, which she wrote, performed, produced, and engineered herself. Her other notable work includes roles in Warner Bros’ Life As We Know It and the acclaimed drama Don’t Come Knocking, directed by Wim Wenders. Majandra also starred in a series of comedies: State of Georgia as Laverne alongside Raven Simone’s Shirley; The Office spin-off The Farm, playing one of three siblings managing the family business as Rainn Wilson and Thomas Middleditch’s sister; and CBS’ multi-camera comedy Friends with Better Lives, where she portrayed a pregnant wife and friend to Kevin Connolly, Brooklyn Decker, and Zoe Lister-Jones. Returning to comedy, she is now developing two self-created television projects, expanding her creative work beyond music to screenwriting and production.
Majandra Delfino is married to actor David Walton, and they have two children, Cecilia Delphine and Louis Augustus. She will next appear in Zoe Lister-Jones’ directorial debut, the Sundance film Band-Aid. Although rumors about a third album persist, no official announcements have been made by Majandra or her representatives.
