Maria Pitillo is a former American actress, who is mostly famous for her roles of Audrey Timmonds in Roland Emmerich’s “Godzilla”, and Tina Calcatera in the “Providence” series.
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Early life and family
Maria Pitillo was born on 8 January 1966, in Elmira, New York USA, and so holds American nationality and her zodiac sign is Capricorn. Maria was born into the family of Irish and Italian descent – Maria’s mother, Patricia Masterson, and her father, who name is unavailable, divorced when Maria was around eight years old. When Maria’s father moved to Mahwah, New Jersey, she lived with him there most of the time, as well as with her sisters, Gina and Lisa. Maria never shared why she chose to live with her father rather than her mother, however, it is not known if she had a choice at all.
From a very young age, Maria knew that she wanted to perform on stage, and took music and vocal classes. She also liked walking, playing football and volleyball.
Educational background
Maria attended Mahwah High School, where she was a member of the track team. Later she was transferred to Northern Highlands Regional High School, located in Allendale, Bergen County, New Jersey. She had a lot of friends at school, but couldn’t get along with her teachers. Right before the start of the prom Maria had an altercation with one of her teachers, so she was prevented from attending the graduation ceremony, however, Maria sneaked in to the prom to enjoy dancing and partying with her school mates. After matriculating in 1984, Maria enrolled at Playhouse West School and Repertory Theater, from where she graduated in 1988.
Later she took additional courses of Robbie McCauley, who gave Maria vocal classes. She also went to New York to study the Meisner-Technique of acting, being taught by Harold Guskin and William Esper. When in Los Angeles, she didn’t miss her chance to study at the prestigious Jeff Goldblum’s Playhouse West.
Career
Acting career: first steps
Before acting, Maria worked in an Ann Taylor store in New Jersey, saving money for her college. However, with the help of her friend who took her to auditions for young actors, Maria started her acting career, appearing in various TV commercials. She could be seen in such promo campaigns as Chic Jeans, Pepto-Bismol, and many others. Maria debuted in “Wise Guys”, landing the role of Massuese in 1986.
In 1987 she appeared as Vickie in the episode “What If I’m Gay?” of the popular series “CBS Schoolbreak Special”, and in 1988 landed the role of the Pony Tail Girl in “Bright Lights, Big City”, playing opposite Michael J. Fox and Dianne Wiest, and the same year she was cast as Angel in “Spike of Bensonhurst”.
From 1989 to 1991 Maria could be seen in various popular series, landing supporting roles in sporadic episodes of such shows as “Ryan’s Hope”, “Miami Vice” and “Law & Order”. She also appeared in such movies and TV films as “The Lost Capone” (1990), “She-Devil” (1989) and “White Palace” (1990). In 1990 Maria recorded two songs, “Bye Bye Blackbird” and “The Jazz Standard”, which were included on the soundtrack of “The Lost Capone”.
In 1992 Maria landed the role of Robin in one of the episodes of “Middle Ages”; the series developed into a very successful project, however, for Maria it was her first time of getting positive reviews from critics, who praised her talent even though she could be seen only in the episode “Night Moves”.
Further success
The year of 1995 was very important for Maria, as she participated in more than five projects, including movies and TV series. She landed the role of Kim in “Bye Bye Love” and of Zee in “Frank & Jesse”. She also portrayed Teresa Walden Stamper in the TV movie “Escape from Terror: The Teresa Stamper Story”, and Maria Caprefoli in “Between Love and Honor”. In the middle of 1995 Maria was cast as a regular in the FOX comedy series “Partners” (1995 – 1996), playing Alicia Sundergard.
After landing the role of Gloria McKinney in “Drea God” in 1996, she then appeared in such series as “Out of Order”, “House Rules” and “In The Loop”.
However, Maria’s most significant role found her in 1998, when she was invited to portray Audrey Timmonds in Roland Emmerich’s “Godzilla”. Despite the hard work of the whole crew, the movie received a lot of negative reviews from critics and the audience. 19th Golden Raspberry Awards smashed Maria, awarding her as Worst Supporting Actress; the movie also got a Golden Raspberry Award as Worst Remake or Sequel, and was nominated in the categories “Worst Picture”, “Worst Director” and “Worst Screenplay”. 1998 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards also added some sadness to the creator of the movie, as “Godzilla” ‘won’ in the category “Worst Screenplay For A Film Grossing More Than $100 Million (Using Hollywood Math)”.
The song from the movie “Come with Me”, performed by Sean P. Diddy Combs and Jimmy Page got two contrasting awards: “Favorite Song” by 1999 Blockbuster Entertainment Award and “Worst Song in a Motion Picture” by Stinkers Bad Movie Awards in 1998.
Latest works and retiring from acting
Maria was not confused by the moot results of her work in “Godzilla”, and landed more roles in other projects. In 2000 she portrayed Vicki in “After Sex”, Paula in “Will & Grace” and Debbie McNeil in the TV movie “The Christmas Secret”. From 2001 to 2002 she was in the recurring cast of “Providence”, landing the role of Tina Calcatera; Maria then shared that she enjoyed working in the series, as the story of the plastic surgeon, who left her job in the rich area of Beverly Hills to work in her hometown of Providence, Rhode Island to be with her family, was in tune with her own view on work and family balance.
In 2002 Maria married, and had to quit acting soon after the wedding, as she found out she was pregnant. Among her later works there is an appearance in the “Friends” episode “The One with the Home Study”. In 2008 she appeared as Valerie Cerritas in “Big Shots” comedy drama, and never did any acting ever since.
Personal life, husband David Roger Fortney
Maria met David Roger Fortney in Los Angeles, when they both worked there. David is a camera operator, who worked on such projects as “American Greed” TV series documentary, “The Cure Is U” and “Earth Scapes”. David and Maria bring up their daughter, Eva Jean, but don’t appear much on social media, keeping their private life low-key. As of 2020, she is running a small family business with David.
Hobbies, favorite things and interesting facts
Maria is still an avid runner; she is also a yoga enthusiast., and likes spending time at the beach, walking there in the evenings. She likes reading non-fiction books. Her favorite color is red.
Appearance
Maria has middle-length brown hair and green eyes. She is 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall and weighs around 123lbs (56kgs); her vital statistics are not available at the moment. Maria has no tattoos.
Net worth and salary
As of 2020, Maria’s personal net worth is estimated at over $1 million, largely from her acting career, but the income she and her husband get from the family business they run suggest that their joint wealth is somewhat higher.
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