Mariana Matthews was born in New York City and raised in a small town
in Connecticut. She spent a semester abroad at The University of Sussex in Brighton, England and studied with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. After moving to New York, Mariana took comedy classes and worked at the box office of an improv/comedy theater while auditioning for film and television. She first caught the public eye in the short film Looking Out (2002) in which she portrayed a Lolita type high school girl who carries on a romance with a much older man. The film won two awards at the First Run Film Festival, and an Audience Award at Slamdance, and led to several supporting roles in indie features.
