Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Chavarri.
Hi Maria, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I started getting involved in student sets while I was a senior at LMU. As a Film Studies and Sociology double major, it seemed like my areas of study organically connected through casting. A friend of mine reached out about needing some help looking for actors and I, eager to get my foot in the door, accepted to help out. I started by reaching out to actor friends I knew were talented and could fit specific roles until I widened searches to all of LA through websites like Casting Breakdown and Backstage. Being exposed to such diverse performers and seeing the wide variety of deliveries there could be for a role increased my interest for this preproduction stage.
Towards the end of my senior year and applying to post-graduation positions, I found myself lost and confused. I could barely find any casting-related jobs, and the possibility of an actor’s strike happening the summer after graduating terrified me. It was one random morning refreshing the Disney Careers site that I found what looked like my dream internship: Animation and Live Action Casting for Disney Channel shows. I spent a lot of time making sure that my resume reflected how prepared and excited I was to take on such a cool job – and I guess it worked!
Now, I’m more than half a year into my dream internship, and I have learned so much about how to closely work with performers and a variety of professionals in the entertainment industry!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No road is smooth! Or at least no road worth going through.
I’m originally from Spain, and even though I have been living in the States since 2017, I have never felt fully adjusted to the cultural aspects reflected in everyday life. I second guess myself a lot, sometimes even forgetting if a sentence, mannerism, or saying is common in one language or another. These hurdles seem small but somehow make me feel limited in how I express myself and communicate with others daily. However, my strong support system and curiosity to learn have helped me stay grounded over the years, keeping a balance between not forgetting where I’m from and adjusting to a very different society from what I’m used to.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m currently a Casting and Talent Relations Intern for Disney Television Animation and Disney Branded Television. What that means is that I help out the people in charge of choosing the faces and voices of beloved characters in Disney shows like Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, BUNK’D, and Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. My teams also work in content beyond TV, which means that I get to see how the casting process works for movies and unscripted media as well!
Before working at Disney, I did casting for independent short projects – one of them (Sunless by Boris Vesselinov) even got selected to qualify for Academy Award consideration in the Live Action Short Film category!
I have also participated in film festivals like FILMADRID, New Filmmakers LA, and the Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival. I was part of the judging committee for the latter, which was a one-of-a-kind experience that inspired me to pursue ways to highlight underrepresented talent and content creation full of meaningful representation.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I loved getting dressed in cool costumes as a kid.
Snow White used to be my favorite, and I would always make up excuses to dress like her for family events or birthday parties – like in the picture!
Contact Info:
- Website: mariachavarri.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariachavarri/
Image Credits
Vanessa Lua
Boris Vesselinov
