Biography
Karla's early performing ambition arose in singing with her mother, and as a student in her school's drama club. Her passion for acting ignited when her high school acting teacher noticed her talent and mentored her. After graduating high school, Karla auditioned for and was accepted into The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, California. Her training at the Academy, proved invaluable and helped to hone her talent. Her first paid acting job was as a "groupie" in the 1984 cult classic film, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, or (Buckaroo Banzai) starring Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Jeff Goldblum and Ellen Barkin.
In 2014 Karla moved to Nashville. She began actively pursuing acting and has since garnered numerous credits in film and television. She is passionate in her craft and portrays a range of characters from the grieving mother whose young daughter is dying of cancer in the film Snow, to the hilarious ditsy blonde in The Mrs. Club, to the sweet but lonely widow in American Letters.
Karla was awarded Best Actress in a Feature Film, for her performance as leading lady Angela Carmichael, in the independent feature film, The Text, by Dreams Come True Films, at the Great Lakes Christian Film Festival (2022).
In 2019, she made her first venture into the area of Executive Producing. Under her direction and guidance her team produced Why She Smiles, a moving documentary about a young woman with a rare neurological disease that is incurable. The film won several awards, including Best of Fest, Best Documentary Short, Best Documentary Feature, Most Inspiring Woman in a Film, and Best Picture, and was picked up for distribution by Bridgestone Multimedia Group.
In her spare time Karla enjoys painting, writing, kayaking on the cove behind their home, and visiting her grown children as often as possible!
