Life & Work with AnnaMaria DeMara of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to AnnaMaria DeMara.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
“IT WAS ALL A DREAM”… okay, and a bowl of French onion soup!

The dream didn’t actually start with soup, it started with the beautiful boredom of childhood. My parents would tell us to scram and find something to do, so we turned our basement into a playground for our imaginations.

As a shy kid, my mom put me in dance classes to help me “open up.” For a long time, I stayed in the back row, a bit stiff and obsessed with one goal: the splits. I convinced myself that if I could just master the splits, I’d finally be a real dancer and make it into the movies as an actress that can dance! I don’t know why I thought everyone had them, and that every actress can dance but I worked on them constantly!

In my late 20s, I headed to Los Angeles to pursue my dream. I remember one afternoon in West Hollywood like it was yesterday. I was sitting in a French restaurant, mid-onion soup, when Joe approached me. At first, I thought he was picking me up (he was cute!) or selling me something. He asked if I was a breakdancer. Now, I didn’t necessarily have the “look” on that day, you know, the Channing Tatum street vibe look, so I wondered how he knew. I happened to be wearing my Gazelles, so maybe that was the giveaway. I responded, “Yes, I am actually!” (My B-girl name was Anaconda back then!)

As we talked, I mentioned my interest in acting. He told me he’d been an actor, too, and suggested I audit the class he took: Arthur Mendoza’s scene study. When I walked into that classroom, my jaw dropped. BAM! The very dancers and choreographers I had spent my entire childhood studying in music videos were all there. Dancers for Janet Jackson, MJ, Madonna, and Gwen Stefani and a group of dancers named the Groovaloo’s too, even the girl who doubled for Jessica Alba in Honey. How did Joe know my dancer dream?

I never saw Joe again, but I’ll always think of him as my first L.A. angel. That was the moment my acting journey truly began.

Also, I have nooooo idea why my stories always start with food!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think you are talking about the pot hole I hit every day on the way to school drop off, I know it’s there but I still hit it!

NO WAY was it a smooth road!

For starters, I was the shyest kid you’ve ever met. Why on earth did I want to be an actress or a dancer in the front row? I could barely find my voice to speak, so there was zero chance I was thinking about singing.

When I finally arrived in LA, I felt like I was constantly being forced into a box: ‘Are you an actress or a dancer?’ I believed that to be taken seriously, I had to drop the dancer part of my identity entirely. So I made the Grand Jeté from dancer to actress ! For years, I stayed in that hard grind by auditioning, waiting, and letting others decide if I was ‘good enough.’ Note to self, never give up dancing ever! That was a mistake but dance did come back to me, like may other things I loved.

I’ve booked some amazing roles that I’m incredibly thankful for, but something was missing in my soul for my art. For a long time, I felt like an artist with a fast car who was only allowed to drive in a school zone. But the real shift happened when I did the inner work and realized the truth. I hadn’t even told anyone I had an engine. I didn’t even share parts of my acting abilities to the world so how were they supposed to know. You can’t let others tell you who you are. You have to show them but first I had to feel that confidence to get driving.

That frustration is exactly what forced me to pick up the pen and write Check, Please!. And guess what? Writing was never my specialty. Once again, I had to dive into something where I didn’t feel “skilled” just to get out what was burning inside me. So if you haven’t figured it out yet, I fight for everything I want, as I said not a smooth road at all! I spent years in screenwriting classes on the side, of acting discovering my own creative rhythm. I doubled up on acting classes, too, learning how to layer physicality and deep emotion into a character.

Then, life shifted again: I became a mother.

After all, this is my personal journey. Even the hardest parts were a gift. They led me to this exact moment, with these exact projects in my hands. None of it was easy and it was a real, messy process. I’ve come this far, and let me tell you, it’s a fight worth winning. The best part? The fight isn’t over. All those years of ‘doing the work’, the acting classes, the writing workshops, the entire year of navigating the LA Metro to get my son to school and back, the co-parenting from different countries, were just the setup. All those late nights as a single mother weren’t just hurdles, they were my training. I’m no longer waiting at a finish line for someone to tell me I am amazing. I’m out here building the track I was meant to be on.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an actress living in Los Angeles. Halfway through my career, I felt a deep soul craving for something more. I wasn’t seeing roles that reflected my actual life, so I stopped waiting for a “yes” and started writing for myself. I wanted to play characters with real agency, humor, and heart women who drive the story rather than just reacting to it.

That’s how my short film, “Check, Please!”, was born. I starred as a woman navigating the hollows of the modern dating world, and it resonated deeply, winning “Best Female Filmmaker” award at Best Shorts . It proved there is a massive, underserved audience for the “singles” and “modern woman” stories I specialize in. Then I had a kid and my life flipped upside down and became a mom! Don’t worry all in a good way! There are more than 10 million single moms in the USA alone, we have stories to tell, and not all of us want to stay a single mom forever.

I’m inspired by a quote from Ethan Hawke’s character in the Oscar-nominated film Blue Moon directed by Richard Linklater: “I want to grab the audience by the shoulders and say, ‘What are you laughing at?’ Demand more!” I want to demand more. I want the industry to recognize that being single, single mom or not, is no laughing matter for those who truly want to be coupled up and find love. There are a lot of us who are single and wondering why, how come there is no one for me? I want you to know, I see you. I understand feeling like that. I feel like single mothers are a completely unrepresented demographic. We’ve been a group talked about, but never talked to. From the writers’ room to the screen, single mothers are sidelined, even in stories supposedly written for us. I’m here to bridge the gap between how we are seen and how we actually live. For the 10 millions of single women still dreaming and seeking connection, you are allowed to want love. It’s time we replace the outdated guilt with an honest, unapologetic look at our modern lives.

I’ve since optioned Check, Please! as a feature length film that finally lets a single mother showcase a full range, flipping from the comedy of a disastrous date to the raw vulnerability of finding love just as you’re about to lose everything. As we move toward production, this character is ready to come to life on a much larger canvas.

With a multicultural background spanning dance, fashion, sports, and even technology, I’ve always felt there were more dimensions inside me than the industry typically asks for. People tell you to “pick one thing,” but for some of us, our gift is choosing more than one. My dance background gives me a specific physical discipline, a “cool, vibey” grace that I bring to every frame. Whether I’m inhabiting a mother navigating maternal mental health or a woman reclaiming her femininity, I lead with a grounded, athletic elegance.

My mission is to use my platform as an actress to bring the divine feminine back to the forefront. I want to tell stories that feel like a return to love, stories that are heavy with truth, but always lightened by love, allowing women to feel joy guilt-free. One of my favorite humans to exist, Brené Brown, mentions in her timely book Atlas of the Heart: “If you’re afraid to lean into good news, wonderful moments, and joy… you are not alone. It’s called ‘foreboding joy,’ and most of us experience it.”

I don’t want to lose my vulnerability to “for-NO-boding”! We trick ourselves into thinking that if we do allow joy in our lives, disaster is soon to follow. We must give ourselves permission to have joy, DEMAND IT FOR YOURSELF!

How do you think about happiness?
What makes me happy aside from my craft and career? There is actually one specific thing that brings me immense joy, but I’m keeping that gift to myself.

Beyond that, I find happiness in the simple, grounded things: the sun, the beach, long city walks with those I love or even alone finding new cute places. I live for deep conversations with the people, especially over a great meal at a crowded table. I’m a fan of the tactile world, too. the weight of a hardcover book, my sewing machine, feeling of fabric material in my hands, or the slow intention of a handwritten letter. I love dancing and love good music and I love culture.

While I’m a fan of cool tech and people changing the world, my greatest happiness is found in the simple moments with my son. Right now, our ‘thing’ is driving out for ice cream under a sky so heavy with stars, maybe a full moon if we are lucky, you can almost feel the light. Between the salt air and the crashing waves, it’s truly magic. It’s the kind of sky you have to see for yourself to believe.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annamariademara/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annamariademara
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/missannamaria/
• Twitter: https://x.com/amdemara

Image Credits
Bradley Meinz / headshot