Biography
Bella Maori, is an American actress, writer, director, model, and cultural theorist based in Los Angeles, California.
A Southern California native, Bella Maori began her career in modeling before expanding into film and academia. She co-starred in the 2015 independent feature film The Internship Games and later gained wider recognition as one of the featured models in the promotional trailer for Baby Keem’s Grammy Award-winning debut album, The Melodic Blue, produced in collaboration with Kendrick Lamar.
Her modeling work has appeared in numerous publications, including The Indie Post, Splash Magazine, BCAMS Magazine, Stardom101 Magazine, and The Influencer. She has also worked with Slickforce Studio and appeared on Playboy’s platform.
As a filmmaker, Bella wrote and directed the award-winning web-series pilot Ugly (2021), a drama exploring color-ism and beauty standards in Hollywood. The project received multiple film festival awards and nominations, including recognition for directing, writing, cinematography, and web-series production. Her earlier short film, The Disillusion of Pretty Butterflies, examined the impact of social media on self-image and self-esteem. In 2026, her screenplay Shattered Screens received a Best Pitch nomination from the Script Awards Los Angeles. In 2026 her first book was published, a memoir, Ugly Philosophy Beauty Absurdity & the Black Feminine Paradox
Bella holds degrees from California State University, San Bernardino; Full Sail University; and the University of Southern California. She earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy with a concentration in Women’s and Gender Studies from Antioch University. Her academic research focuses on representations of Black women in American cinema and the intersections of race, gender, identity, and media.
Through her work as both a scholar and artist, Bella explores themes of beauty, identity, visibility, and cultural representation across film, literature, and performance.
