Conversations with Maura Lefevre

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maura Lefevre.

Hi Maura, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started studying opera at a very young age. I had always done theater, but when I was 11 years old my dad, who was a music critic for the Orange County Register at the time, took me to my first opera (Madame Butterfly). After seeing that performance I made the resolute decision that that was what I wanted to do with my life. I commuted an hour and a half everyday (huge shout out to my parents!) to a performing arts high school where I could study classical voice and was in my first professional opera at 15. I then moved to New York to major in Opera/Vocal Performance in college at SUNY Purchase in New York in their very selective and intense program. Despite my long commitment to the goal of becoming an opera singer, I realized the hard truth when I graduated from college that my heart wasn’t in it anymore and I was burnt out. I graduated less sure of myself than when I started school, so when I finished school I dropped everything and went to live in France for a year as an Au Pair. During that year I regained a sense of myself and my confidence. While I loved and still love opera, that year away from everything made me realize what I loved most about opera was the characters and stories and I came back to America with the inner knowing that what I really wanted was to pursue a career as an actor. I moved to New York City and spent years doing indie theater projects and trying to find my footing in the city. There was still a lot of uncertainty for me during this time, I was working as a nanny and trying to figure out how make a living as a theater actor. The Covid years added to the confusion and uncertainty. After a few moves back and forth between New York and LA (where I’m from), I decided to return to LA to build my life out here and try my hand at on-camera work, something I had never seen myself doing or even attempted to do in the past. Almost immediately, I began getting work. I got an agent, and I was off to the races. I am now working as an actor full time and am very grateful to be doing so.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It certainly was not a smooth road! For me on my journey, one of the major challenges has been knowing when to pivot. If I’m being honest, I wasn’t pursuing opera for all the right reasons. There was safety in pursuing a career that sounded impressive and prestigious, even if it wasn’t what was making me happy. Not to mention the hours and hours and years and years of language classes, voice lessons, music theory classes that I had put into this goal. I was scared to walk away, and I didn’t trust I could pursue being an actor and actually have any success given how notoriously difficult and competitive it is as a career. Ironically, the more in alignment I have been in doing what I want to do instead of making decisions of off what I think people will approve of, the better things have gone for me. The same thing can be said for living in New York. While I’m so grateful for the whole life I built there, it was very hard to trust that leaving was the right call even though I felt in my gut it wasn’t where I was meant to end up .

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As an actor I tend to specialize in comedic or villainous roles, and often the winning combo of a comedic villain. I think what sets me apart is my comedic timing. That has been with me my entire life, even during the very serious opera years, and is a gift from my very funny family. I have recently done a lot of commercial work and a lot of vertical shorts. I am 90% of the time playing an over the top villain and it’s not uncommon for me in a weeks time to have faked several illnesses, committed extortion, slapped, kidnapped, committed adultery, and sometimes straight up murder several people. It can be exhausting, but it’s weirdly really fun!

How do you think about luck?
I don’t think luck is something that I give a lot of credence to. Luck feels random and it honestly hasn’t felt like a controlling factor in my life. I don’t resonate with the idea that there is an external unpredictable force at play determining my life because of how I am operating in the world, nor do I think it’s helpful for me to believe that’s what is going on. For me, the concept of luck feels like it takes away a lot of my own agency. And I keep coming back to this word, but I think being in alignment is much more how I aspire to operate. If I am operating from a place of integrity, good ethics, compassion, and listening to my own internal compass “good luck” seems to find me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm15984922/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mauralefevre/

Image Credits
Tony Zamarripa