Mara Rydell was born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. She is the 5th of 6 siblings and the only one in her family who developed an interest in acting. As a child, she always enjoyed reenacting scenes from movies and TV shows while dreaming of someday becoming a great actress herself. She took her first acting class in her early twenties with the incentive of her mother and soon realized that she had a passion for the craft. She worked in several theatrical plays while still living in Brazil, including a couple musical productions (Cabaret Brazil I and II, which ran for 4 years) and developed an audience who enjoyed watching her characters on stage for several years. After 10 years in theater, she joined a nationally renowned artist as a backing vocalist. Mara toured and performed extensively as part of the 13 piece band in shows across Brazil, Mexico and Portugal including performances in many Brazilian cites during the world famous Brazilian Carnival from 1996 - 1999. She eventually left the band when she moved to the United States with her husband in 1999. Mara intended to go back into acting once in the US, but her limited English interfered in the process. While learning the language, she once again turned to music and performed for 5 years as a lead singer in the Bossa Nova and Brazilian Jazz band "Ticket to Brasil" in Minneapolis, MN from 2000 - 2005 participating in several Jazz festivals including the Winnipeg International Jazz Festival in Canada. In 2012, Mara became a citizen of the United States and was also cast in an independent short film "My love and Hip Hop" produced and directed by Paula Jai Parker. In 2014 she achieved success in her first American theater production, "Doubt, a Parable" in Grand Forks, ND. She will continue to pursue her dream and wishes one day to have an opportunity to play a double role where she hopes to be able to make the audience love and hate her in one single project.