Maria Thayer

Maria Christina Thayer (born October 30, 1975) is an American actress and comedian.[1] She first earned public recognition for her portrayal of Tammi Littlenut on the cult series Strangers with Candy in 1999. Thayer has also had supporting roles in the comedy films Hitch (2005), Accepted (2006), and Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008).[1]

Maria Thayer
Maria Thayer at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International.
Born	Maria Catherine Thayer (1975-10-30) October 30, 1975 Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Alma mater	Juilliard School
Occupation	Actress, comedian
Years active	1999–present

She has appeared in numerous television series, including a lead role on the Adult Swim series Eagleheart (2011–14), and a lead role as Abbey Logan on the comedy series Those Who Can't. She played the title role in the Hallmark Channel movie, Annie Claus Is Coming to Town.[2]

Early life

Thayer was born in Portland, Oregon,[3][4] and spent her early life in the small town of Boring, east of Portland, where her parents owned a bee farm.[1][5] During her childhood, the family relocated to Minnesota, where she attended Apple Valley High School in Apple Valley, Minnesota, and was a member of the award-winning forensics program and the National Forensic League,[6] as well as Homecoming Queen.[7] She studied acting at The Juilliard School in New York.[1]

Career

In 2005, Thayer appeared in Hitch with Will Smith and Eva Mendes.

In Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Thayer plays a woman on holiday with a new husband, played by Jack McBrayer.[8] Thayer and McBrayer reunited on an episode of 30 Rock in which she portrays Kenneth Parcell's blind, shallow love interest.[1] She also played Grace and Leo's daughter, Lila (at age 18), in the series finale of Will & Grace (2006).[1] In 2009, she appeared in the film State of Play as Sonia Baker, the researcher and mistress of a congressman.[1]

Thayer stars in the Adult Swim comedy series Eagleheart,[8] which began airing on February 3, 2011 on Cartoon Network.[9] She appeared as Tracey Bluth in the fourth season of Arrested Development in flashback scenes.[10] In 2012, she was featured in the music video "Sensitive Man" by Nick Lowe.[11][12]

In 2014, Thayer played the sudden wife of Forrest MacNeill (Andy Daly) on the Comedy Central show Review for the episode "Marry, Run, Party" of the first season.

Starting in 2015, she starred in the TruTV sitcom Those Who Can't as an incompetent teacher at a Denver high school, alongside Ben Roy, Adam Cayton-Holland and Andrew Orvedahl (The Grawlix).

Personal life

Thayer was previously engaged to actor David Harbour.[13]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Kimberly	Louise
2001	Storytelling	Amy	Segment: "Fiction"
2001	Scratch		Short film[14]
2005	Strangers with Candy	Tamela "Tammi" Littlenut
2005	Hitch	Lisa
2006	Accepted	Rory Thayer
2008	Forgetting Sarah Marshall	Wyoma
2009	State of Play	Sonia Baker
2011	Let Go	Beth
2014	Night of the Living Deb	Deborah Clarington
2017	Table 19	Infamous Kate Milner

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999–2000	Strangers with Candy	Tamela "Tammi" Littlenut	14 episodes
2001	Big Apple	Rosemary	3 episodes
2001	The Education of Max Bickford	Tina	Episode: "Herding Cats"
2003	Miss Match	Chelsea Greer	Episode: "Pilot"
2003	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Claire Brody	Episode: "A Murderer Among Us"
2004	Comedy Lab	Jill	Episode: "12:21"
2005	Romancing the Bride	Kimmy	Television film
2006	Will & Grace	Lila	Episode: "The Finale"
2006	The Colbert Report	Jenny (voice)	Episode: "Will Power"
2006	Nip/Tuck	Transplant Consultant	Episode: "Burt Landau"
2006	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Hope	Episode: "Infiltrated"
2008	Lipstick Jungle	Cassidy	3 episodes
2009	30 Rock	Jennifer Rogers	Episode: "St. Valentine's Day"
2009	House	Annie	Episode: "Both Sides Now"
2010	Important Things with Demetri Martin	Edith	Episode: "Strategy"
2010	Our Show		Television film
2011	Traffic Light	Esme	Episode: "Credit Balance"
2011	Harry's Law	Julie Cassidy	Episode: "Purple Hearts"
2011	Annie Claus is Coming to Town	Annie	[15]
2011–2014	Eagleheart	Susie Wagner	24 episodes
2012	Louie	Rental Car Lady	Episode: "Dad"
2012	New Girl	Amelia	Episode: "Halloween"
2013	Cougar Town	Lisa Riggs	3 episodes[16]
2013	Portlandia		Episode: "Nina's Birthday"[8]
2013	Family Tools	Wendy Doyle	Episode: "Now You See Me, Now You Don't"[17]
2013	Maron	Megan	Episode: "Dominatrix"[18]
2013	Arrested Development	Tracey Bluth	Episode: "It Gets Better"
2014	Review	Eliza	Episode: "Marry; Run; Party"
2014	American Dad!	Nun (voice)	Episode: "Cock of the Sleepwalk"
2014	Dads	Maria	Episode: "Baby Face"
2014	Men at Work	Bridget	Episode: "Molly"
2014–2016	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Monica Dubinsky / Marissa Price	4 episodes
2014	Mulaney	The Doula	Episode: "The Doula"
2014	The League	Cheryl	2 episodes
2015	Man Seeking Woman	Maude	Episode: "Dram"
2015	Kroll Show	Duchess Tina	Episode: "The Time of My Life"
2015	Difficult People	Nicole	Episode: "The Courage of a Soldier"
2015	Gotham	Scottie Mullen	2 episodes
2015	Married	Kristi	Episode: "Gymnastics"
2016-2019	Those Who Can't	Abbey Logan	3 seasons
2016	The Mindy Project	Courtney	3 episodes
2017	The Catch	Gretchen	Episode: "The Knock-Off"
2017	Brooklyn Nine-Nine	Jean Munhroe	Episode: "The Venue"
2018	Robot Chicken	Julia Child, Helen, Woman (voices)	Episode: "Why Is It Wet?"
2020	Robot Chicken	Rita Repulsa, Mourner, Bird (voice)	Episode: "Sundancer Craig in: 30% of the Way to Crying"

Music videos

Year	Artist	Title	Role
2011	Hospitality	"Friends of Friends"[19]	Friend in Glasses
2012	Nick Lowe	"Sensitive Man"[12]	Girlfriend

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Necessary Targets	Nuna	Variety Arts Theatre
2002	Endpapers	Sara Maynard	Variety Arts Theatre
2012	Unscreened	Stranger in the Park	Elephant Theatre Company[20]
2013	Love's Labour's Lost	Rosaline	Delacorte Theater[21]

References

1. "Maria Thayer pictures, bio, movies". PopTower. Retrieved Jun 12, 2013.
2. https://www.hallmarkdrama.com/annie-claus-is-coming-to-town
3. Turnquist, Kristi (February 11, 2016). "TV's Maria Thayer: From a bee farm in Boring to the new sitcom, 'Those Who Can't'". The Oregonian. Oregon Live. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
4. In a 2016 interview with The Oregonian, Thayer states that she was born "in the hospital"—there is no hospital in Boring, and the nearest hospitals are in Multnomah County, Portland. Additionally, in a 2014 interview while on the set of Night of the Living Deb, she states "I'm from Portland, Oregon."
5. "No Title". Kansas City Star. Aug 11, 2006. p. F3.
6. "Alumni Spotlight - Maria Thayer". Apple Valley High School Forensics. Archived from the original on May 13, 2013. Retrieved Jun 12, 2013. Actress Maria Thayer (Accepted, Forgetting Sarah Marshal) was honored at a Nationals Award banquet recognizing her success both during and beyond her NFL career.
7. Jesse Thorn and Jordan Morris (Dec 12, 2011). "Jordan, Jesse, Go! Episode 203: Bone Manor with Maria Thayer" (Podcast). Maximum Fun. 45:45 minutes in. Retrieved Jun 12, 2013.
8. Abby Schreiber (Jan 3, 2013). "Our Guide To All the Celebrity Cameos on Portlandia's Third Season". Paper. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved Jun 10, 2013. Mike O'Brien and actress Maria Thayer (who plays Susie on Adult Swim's Walker, Texas Ranger spoof Eagleheart and Jack McBrayer's amorous wife in Forgetting Sarah Marshall) will play a young couple who are prepared to go into debt in order to attend an outlandish birthday party
9. "Eagleheart". Adult Swim.
10. Snierson, Dan (Jun 5, 2013). "Arrested Development: Mitchell Hurwitz on the movie -- and the Romney joke you never saw". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved Jun 10, 2013.
11. Yep Roc Records (2 March 2012). "Nick Lowe - "Sensitive Man"" – via YouTube.
12. Ross Luippold (Mar 2, 2012). "Nick Lowe's Sensitive Man Music Video Features Marc Maron, Tim Heidecker, Other Surprise Guests". Huffington Post. Retrieved Jun 10, 2013.
13. Magazine, SOMA. "SOMA Magazine » Archive » Late on the Scene". www.somamagazine.com.
14. Patrick Ciccone (Apr 20, 2001). "Cannes on the Hudson". Archived from the original on 2013-12-17. Retrieved Jun 12, 2013. By contrast, the 16mm films on the opening Student Reel Awards night were varied and intriguing. Julia Solomonoff's Scratch, whose Maria Thayer won for lead actress, is stylistically somewhat muddled despite the story of a Kosovar immigrant in New York City that gradually emerges.
15. Troy Anderson (Nov 7, 2012). "Annie Claus is Coming to Town". Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved Jun 10, 2013.
16. Ssndra Gonzalez (Mar 9, 2013). "Cougar Town sneak peek: Sparks fly for Bobby on the dodgeball court -- Exclusive Video". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved Jun 12, 2013.
17. "ABC Medianet". ABC. Apr 22, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-12-14. Retrieved Jun 12, 2013.
18. Nicholas DeLorenzo (May 28, 2013). "MARON, "Dominatrix" episode recap". Screen Invasion. Retrieved Jun 12, 2013.
19. Merge Records. "Hospitality - Friends of Friends". Vimeo. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
20. Adam Hetrick (Jan 29, 2012). "American Pie Actor Chris Klein Set for Unscreened in Los Angeles". Archived from the original on 2013-12-12. Retrieved Jun 2, 2013. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
21. Adam Hetrick (July 23, 2012). "Shakespeare in the Park Musical Adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost Premieres July 23". Archived from the original on August 4, 2013. Retrieved August 10, 2013. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

External links

• Maria Thayer on IMDb