EyesOnNY OCNY Journal 2022

MISTRESS OF CEREMONIES Marilee Talkington

Marilee Talkington (she/they) is an award winning actor, artist, writer, director, creator, educator, consultant, disability advocate and activist. She has been acting for nearly 25 years on stage, television (Apple TV+, CBS, CW, NBC), film, commercial, voice-over and motion capture work. On screen, she recently starred alongside Jason Momoa in Apple TV+’s SEE, directed by Francis Lawrence (Hunger Games, Mocking Jay 1&2). This year, she will be appearing in EXTRAPOLATIONS, directed by Scott Z. Burns (Inconvenient Truth), also on Apple TV+. And you can currently hear Marilee’s voice throughout the Guggenheim Museum describing some of the world’s most influential art works. Marilee was one of the first legally blind women in the United States to earn an M.F.A. in Acting (American Conservatory Theater). Upon graduation, received the Carol Channing Trouper Award for Excellence and Dedication in the Craft. She has been advocating for herself for nearly 20 years as a legally blind performer and began advocating for the larger blind, low vision, and disabled community on the national level 15 years ago. In 2019 she founded Access Acting Academy, a 1st-of-its-kind actor training studio specifically for blind and low vision actors, for which she innovated a leading-edge pedagogical approach to actor training rooted in her Anti-Ableist and Non-Visually Biased teachings. For her acting and advocacy work, Marilee was awarded the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award in 2020. She is also a current member of the National SAG/AFTRA PWD (performers with disabilities) committee. Marilee also played competitive basketball in her youth and was a California State Regional All-Star. She was point-guard.

www.marileetalkington.com