Maria-Christina Oliveras is an American television, stage and film actress, singer and voice-over artist. She has performed extensively on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, and in various films and television series, and is known for her versatility and transformational character work in a number of world premieres. She is of Filipino and Puerto Rican descent.
Early life
Born in New York City, Oliveras is first-generation American. The daughter of Beatrice, a nurse, and Luis Tomas, a hospital food service administrator, she grew up in the Bronx. She studied at Yale University and received her BA with honors in Theater Studies. While there, she was an active participant in Yale Undergraduate Theater, where she first met Alex Timbers, with whom she has subsequently collaborated on a number of projects, most notably Here Lies Love. She was also a member of the esteemed a cappella groups SHADES (whose alumni include fellow Broadway colleagues Anika Larsen and Lauren Worsham) and WHIM N' RHYTHM.
In summer of 2004, Oliveras was accepted into the Shakespeare Lab at The Public Theatre, where she studied with Ron Van Lieu, Kate Wilson and Michael Cumpsty, both of whom she later worked with on Broadway in Machinal. One of eight students selected, Oliveras went on to receive her MFA in acting from the National Theatre Conservatory in 2007.
Career
Upon graduation, Oliveras returned to New York City and immediately started working on and Off-Broadway and in film and television. She made her Broadway debut in 2010's Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, directed by Alex Timbers. She returned to Broadway in the Roundabout Theater’s 2014 revival of Machinal, playing multiple roles opposite Rebecca Hall. Dedicated to new works, Oliveras' other Off-Broadway credits include the world premieres of The Civilians' production of Pretty Filthy by Bess Wohl and Michael Friedman, directed by Steve Cosson; Here Lies Love at the Public Theater; Reading Under the Influence, starring Barbara Walsh, directed by Wendy Goldberg; Night Sky, starring Jordan Baker, directed by Daniella Topol; The Really Big Once, directed by David Herskovits; And Miles to Go, directed by Hal Brooks; After, directed by Stephen Brackett; and Slavey, directed by Robert O’Hara.
In 2015, she originated the role of Suzanne in the world premiere of Amélie at Berkeley Rep, directed by Pam MacKinnon, book by Craig Lucas, music by Daniel Messe, lyrics by Nathan Tysen and Daniel Messe, musical staging by Sam Pinkleton, and musical direction by Kim Grigsby.
In 2016, she returned to The Public, where she first studied Shakespeare, to play the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, directed by Lear DeBessonet for the Mobile Shakespeare Unit. In the summer, she played Macbeth in a critically acclaimed three-woman production of Macbeth, directed by Lee Sunday Evans, which the New York Times hailed as "irreducible and transcendent," and Jacques in As You Like It, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, both at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.
In spring 2017, Maria-Christina returned to Broadway in Amélie at the Walter Kerr Theatre in the role of Gina, after a sold-out pre-Broadway run at the Ahmanson. She subsequently went on to star in We're Gonna Die by Young Jean Lee at the Ancram Opera House.
In spring 2018, she returned to Los Angeles and Center Theatre Group for the world premiere of new musical Soft Power, with book by David Henry Hwang, score by Jeanine Tesori, directed by Leigh Silverman, choreographed by Sam Pinkelton, and music directed by Chris Fenwick.
In fall 2018, Maria-Christina returned to New Haven to co-star with Jennifer Paredes at the world premiere of El Huracan by Charise Castro Smith, a play directed by Laurie Woolery at the Yale Repertory Theater.
In spring/summer 2019 and subsequently spring/summer 2022, Maria-Christina starred as Tolima in Kiss My Aztec, a new musical by John Leguizamo and Tony Taccone, with music by Benjamin Velez, lyrics by Leguizamo, Benjamin Velez and David Kamp, and directed by Tony Taccone, at Hartford Stage, Berkeley Rep, and La Jolla Playhouse. She has been a part of the development of the show since Atlantic Theatre's Latino MixFest in 2015.
In October 2022, Maria-Christina began performances as Persephone in the North American tour of the Grammy- and Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown, directed by Rachel Chavkin.
In January 2023, it was announced that Oliveras would return to Broadway as part of the cast of the Second Stage Theater revival of Stephen Adly Guirgis's Between Riverside and Crazy in the role of Church Lady, succeeding Liza Colón-Zayas.