LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 10: Actress Tatiana Maslany poses for a portrait at the Broadcast Television Journalists Association's Third Annual Critics' Choice Television Awards on June 10, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for CCTA)
Tatiana Gabriele Maslany is a Canadian actress best known for her roles on Orphan Black, The Other Half and Pink Wall. This Tatiana Maslany bio lets the actress tell her story in her own words.
Tatiana Maslany was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, on September 22, 1985 (Tatiana Maslany age: 37). She is proficient in English, French and German. She learned German at home from her mother before learning English. Maslany received her primary education at a French immersion school and her secondary education at Dr. Martin LeBoldus High School, from which she graduated in 2003. She acted professionally throughout her high school years, often traveling for months at a time to complete projects.
Prior to acting professionally, Maslany performed in community shows from a young age. She sat down with uInterview in May 2019 for an exclusive interview about how she first became involved in the industry.
“My first acting experience was when I was nine years old,” she said, “and I did a community theater production of Oliver. I played an orphan in the chorus. And it was just the biggest rush of my life. Being in front of an audience was so thrilling, and playing make-believe and that being a job was surreal and perfect and exactly what I wanted to do.”
Maslany told uInterview exclusively that she was not immediately certain about pursuing acting as a career. “I don’t know that I knew at that time, ‘I’m gonna be an actor for the rest of my life,’” she explained. “But it definitely sowed a seed of: ‘I want so much attention all the time, please!’”
Check out the full interview at the top of this page.
Maslany first hit the screen as a leading character in the Canadian sci-fi series 2030 CE, which she filmed while still in high school. She also held a leading role in the TV series Heartland from 2008 to 2010. She played Mary in the critically acclaimed British mini-series The Nativity. She has also had minor roles in television series like The Listener and Parks and Recreation and appeared in four episodes of the show Being Erica. Other notable TV appearances include World Without End, Cracked, and 3 Below: Tales of Arcadia.
Maslany’s first feature film appearance was in the horror movie Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004). She has since starred in a number of TV movies including Dawn Anna, Trapped!, An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving and The Robber Bride. Maslany has also appeared in more major films such as The Messengers, Woman in Gold, and The Vow. Her role in Grown Up Movie Star won her the Special Jury Breakout Role Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Maslany’s most recent work includes the three-season series Perry Mason and the one-season show She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Above all her other projects, Maslany received international recognition for her starring role in Orphan Black. The series, which ran from 2013 to 2017, follows a woman named Sarah Manning who discovers she is one of many clones facing great violence.
Maslany revealed to Vanity Fair, “When I’m playing those characters, it’s really fun to explore different impulses and discover new ways to respond and new ways to be in the world and to move and all of that. It’s the most natural enjoyable playground to be in.”
The actress’ work on Orphan Black earned her a Critics’ Choice Television Award, a TCA Award and a Prime-Time Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Maslany was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in this series.
Maslany famously starred in the film The Other Half alongside then-boyfriend Tom Cullen. uInterview spoke to Maslany exclusively about the movie and her experience filming a romantic movie with her real-life partner.
Maslany first discussed her character, Jenna, who suffers from bipolar disorder. “I guess she’s hiding the fact that she is bipolar and … sort of wanting to be defined by not that,” she told uInterview. “And, you know, I think the beginning of the film speaks a lot to those things that we hide in ourselves when we first meet somebody.”
When asked about filming with Cullen, Maslany admitted that the process did not always go smoothly. “I feel like there were a lot of challenges in different ways,” she explained. “For me, one of the scariest scenes was just the very first scene we ever shot together. Because Tom and I are obviously in a relationship and we know each other extremely well, and suddenly we’re doing a scene where it’s our first date, and we’re kind of like, ‘Why are we acting?’”
Aside from the struggles of escaping the relationship mindset, Maslany gave glowing reviews of Cullen as a costar. “The joy of having a scene partner like Tom who’s not only an incredible actor but knows me extremely well, and is so generous … He gave me everything,” she told uInterview. “He was there with me, helping me, working with me, through that scene. Which is exactly what Emily and Nickie are doing at that moment. She doesn’t know what to do, and he’s giving her everything. So the generosity of that allowed me to move through that scene, and we found the truth of it together.”
Check out the full interview below.
Maslany’s most recent collaboration with Cullen is Pink Wall, a dramatic romance film released in 2019. In Maslany’s own words, “Pink Wall is a nonlinear exploration of six kind of pivotal moments in a … six-year relationship. And so whether they be innocuous or sort of meaningful moments, they somehow change the course of this relationship between Leon and Jenna, who are the characters that we play.”
Maslany expressed a strong desire for Pink Wall to make an impact on its audience. “I always love a film to just spark questions and spark reflection,” she told uInterview, “and what’s been so beautiful about the screenings that we’ve had is that people are, like, recognizing themselves or their partners in the film.” She classified the film as “ human and relatable in that regard” and said she hoped it “just opens up all those questions” about unhealthy dynamics and other relationship issues.
uInterview asked Maslany about the filming process behind Pink Wall with her boyfriend as its director. She replied that, although the cast had only nine days to complete filming, she never felt rushed thanks to Cullen’s directing style.
“There’s a space that he builds on the set that feels like the creativity is king and that exploration is king and that there’s no rush, even though there was a massive rush,” she explained. \“I really did feel like we got to dig into stuff in a way that was, like, deeper than you even get from times on a fifty-day shoot or whatever.” Maslany went on to describe Cullen as “so insightful, so challenging, so loving in his work” and said it was“a total dream” to be under his directorship.
Check out the full interview below.
Tatiana Maslany currently resides in Los Angeles, having moved from her native Canada in 2017. She started dating Cullen when they met on the set of World Without End in 2011. The two have collaborated on a number of projects since, enjoying both personal and professional relationships with each other before their split in 2019.
Maslany married actor Brendan Hines in 2022.
Updated by Jen Curran, June 2019
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