Bio

Marialejandra Delfino was born in Caracas, Venezuela on February 20, 1981, as the second daughter of Venezuelan Enrique Delfino, an entrepreneur, and Cuban Mary Hellmund, a real estate agent. Majandra has an older sister Marieh, also an actress, who was born on September 24, 1978. It was little Marieh's inability to pronounce Marialejandra that made her start calling her sister Majandra, and it stuck.

After her parents divorced, Majandra, at the age of three, her sister and mother moved to the United States, where they settled in Miami. She lived there for most of her childhood before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career.

On October 6, 2007, Majandra married her longtime boyfriend Devon Gummersall, which she confirmed by posting on her official message board. Sadly, the marriage didn't last, and they divorced sometime in 2008.

After her divorce, she started dating David Walton, who she met on the set of "Quarterlife" where they also played a couple. In March 2011, they got married after dating for three years. The ceremony took place at Trinity Cathedral, the oldest church in Miami, and the reception was held at The Surf Club ballroom, one of Miami's oldest private beach clubs – and one with a special meaning for Majandra because she had her debutant ball there at 19. Majandra's former Roswell co-star Katherine Heigl served as a bridesmaid.

The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter Cecilia Delphine Walton, on June 14, 2012 and their second child, a son Louis Augustus Walton, on November 10, 2013. Both children were born in Los Angeles where the couple lived for several years before moving to Maine in 2018 where the family still resides together with their two dogs Paloma and Pablo.

Majandra's interest in the performing arts came at a very early age, so it wasn't surprising when she started playing the piano at the age of five. She then enrolled in ballet, singing and acting lessons, and soon began performing in school plays and community theater productions of "Grease", "Peter Pan" and "Oliver". She also danced with the Miami Ballet in "The Nutcracker" three years in a row.

"The first year I was one of the harlequin dancers, the next year I was in the party scene, and I was in the chorus of girls, then the following I was again in the party scene, but I had a solo that was very cute, and my family went "aww" when they saw me dance."
Majandra Delfino, April 22, 2004

At age eleven, she and her best friend Samantha Gibb; daughter of the late Maurice Gibb of Bee Gees' fame, joined the singing quartet called China Doll along with Alana and Nicolle Chirico. The group specialized in soul-styled pop and even had the opportunity to open for the Bee Gees at a benefit concert at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, a concert to raise money for Alzheimer’s research.

"The benefit night was so much fun, we even got to get up with the Bee Gees and sing a song, it was very cute - us little girls singing with these experienced dudes."
Majandra Delfino, April 22, 2004

After two years, Majandra and Samantha left the group, but continued to write and record songs as a duet.

"I’ve been singing professionally since I was like 11, when I was in a band in Miami, with three of my friends, called China Doll. Our managers had this great image of us being like Spice Girls or something, but we just didn’t get to do what we wanted, so we split up. Now, two of the girls have a deal with Sony and the other has a deal with BMG, so everybody’s got it together." - YM (2002)

Even though Majandra excelled in academics, her favorite subjects being math and English, she always gravitated toward the performing arts and was serious about becoming a professional actress, so her parents gave her a six-month deadline to test the waters. Within a few months, she booked her first role in the feature film "Zeus and Roxanne", after being accepted at the New World School of the Arts and finding a local agent. However, since production on the film included a nine-week stint in the Bahamas, she opted to spend her sophomore year in a private prep school.

Majandra landed her first role at the age of fifteen, playing Kathleen Quinlan's daughter in the Disney film "Zeus and Roxanne". The film also included Steve Guttenberg, Arnold Vosloo and Miko Hughes and was shot in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas. For her role as Judith, Majandra had to learn to snorkel, pilot a boat and interact with her animal co-stars. The film was released January 24, 1997.

Soon after, she moved to Los Angeles, got herself an agent and started auditioning, landing her first television role when she was cast as Tony Danza's strong-willed oldest daughter Tina DiMeo on "The Tony Danza Show". She noted that while Tony Danza taught her a lot about comic timing and sitcoms, that it wasn't easy to play this light, bubbly character.

"It is actually a lot easier for me to be dramatic than light, bubbly, and loud and funny. In TV, Drama-wise, light and bubbly is a different story from a sitcom. On a sitcom, it's so overdone you just can’t tell because I was shot from like really far away, but in order for anything to translate onto the tiny little TV in the little shots that sitcoms give you, you have to be really huge. And, that was really hard for me because it was going against all my acting. You know – all the understanding that I had of acting, which was all the subtleties and showing what you were thinking and stuff like that. It went against that completely. So it was very hard for me." - eFanGuide (2000)

The series only aired for five episodes before being taken of the air with nine episodes unaired and was not renewed for a second season.

Nonetheless, even with just five episodes, Majandra mastered her role, and it earned her the first Alma Award nomination for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Television Series in a Crossover Role (the only female nominated in that category).

Her next project led Majandra back to film, when she landed the lead role in the coming of age dramedy "The Secret Life of Girls", opposite of Linda Hamilton and Eugene Levy, who played her parents. Majandra also got the chance to sing in the film. She covered the song "Superstar", which was used as background music in a scene with Majandra and Meagan Good.

In the same year, she got a role in the film "The Learning Curve" which she auditioned for when she was sixteen. Majandra thought it was a fun role, because the character was a sellout, the kind of singer that she herself despised. She also got to sing two songs in the film, including one of her own, "Sick Jag". Eve though the film premiered at the World Film Festival in Canada on August 28, 1999, it didn't come out in the United States until 2001.

After finishing up the two films, she went back to television with two new roles. The first, a recurring role on a sitcom called "Katie Joplin", starring Park Overall, which was filmed in Fall 1998. The second, a potential regular role on a little show called "Roswell", based on the Roswell High Series by Melinda Metz. The pilot episode was filmed in 12 days with a budget of $2,000,000 and Majandra got the role of Maria DeLuca, though she auditioned for Liz Parker.

"I went in to audition and everything was great. I was auditioning for the part of Liz and, when you go in to test, you have to draw up the contract right then and there, so I asked for a studio teacher because I was only 17, but I had told them that I was 18 because I was going to be turning 18 by the time I did the pilot. They figured out I was 17 and they told me they never wanted to see me again. They told me not to ever go back to that casting office or even try to work for Regency or Fox. They hated me and wanted to blacklist me, so I wrote them all letters explaining, ‘Listen, I’m going to be 18 by the time I do the pilot and, when you’re six months away from your 18th birthday and if you have a GED’, which I had, ‘then you are allowed to work as an adult.’ Finally, they were like, ‘Oh, okay,’ and they brought me back in and said, ‘Listen, in the process of you sending your letters, we already cast the Liz role. Would you be interested in coming in for Maria?’ Maria only had two scenes in the pilot, but they said, ‘We’re totally turning it around. It’s going to be different. It’s going to be much bigger,’ so they sent me the new script and I agreed. I went in and basically got the role the next day." - FilmStew (2001)

She kept busy while waiting for news of a series pick-up and filmed the spoof "Shriek if You Know What I Did Last Friday The 13th" which reunited her with her "Katie Joplin" co-star Simon Rex.

During the filming of "Shriek if You Know What I Did Last Friday The 13th", Majandra found out that The WB had picked up "Roswell" for a full season. The series premiered on October 6, 1999, to favorable reviews. It quickly gained a following, but the ratings were not good enough for the network and the series was almost canceled if it hadn't been for the passionate, outspoken fans who fought for a second season.

Even though the fans succeeded with their campaign, the network made changes to the show that many fans didn't seem to like which showed in the ratings and so The WB cancelled the series on May 15, 2001, before UPN revived it for a third season as a package deal with 20th Century Fox.

The series was ultimately cancelled after three seasons due to bad ratings, but it still earned Majandra, a nomination for her second Alma Award in 2000 for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series as well as a nomination for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Drama Series - Leading Young Actress. It also put her on the map, and she took away some friendships for life since she is still close with Brendan Fehr, Jason Behr and Nick Wechsler.

In 2000, after the first season of "Roswell", Majandra had a small role in Steven Soderbergh's multi-Award winning film "Traffic". This role earned Majandra her third Alma Award nomination for Outstanding Latino Cast in a Feature Film Award, proving that third time's a charm because she walked away with her gold statue at the end of the evening.

In 2001, she did a short film called "Dirty Laundry" with her "Roswell" co-star Nick Wechsler. The film wasn't released until 2015.

Still in 2001, in the middle of filming "Roswell", Majandra took two days off to film "R.S.V.P." in Las Vegas. The film was a film festival and critics darling and it won several awards including Audience Choice Award at the Slamdunk Film Festival and the Jury Award for Best Feature at the Malibu International Film Festival where Majandra's former co-star Tony Danza presented the award at the festival award ceremony. The film also enjoyed success at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2002 where it played two nights to capacity crowds that lined up outside the state-of-the-art theater Rivera 8 in the heart of the Cannes to see the film.

In 2002, she played the female lead in the independent feature "Reeseville", opposite "Luke Skywalker" himself, Mark Hamill. The role was different than what she had done before and a little bit riskier and something out of Majandra's comfort zone. The film had its premiere at the Cinequest Film Festival on March 7, 2003.

In 2003, Majandra filmed the ABC Family romantic comedy "Celeste in the City" in Toronto opposite Ethan Embry, Nicholas Brendan and Debbie Gibson. This role really highlighted Majandra's natural comic timing. The film premiered in March 2004.

In 2004, Majandra was cast in a slightly differnt role in the drama "State's Evidence" that co-starred Alexa Vega. The film dealt with heavy topics such a suicide and rape and was premiered at the Coney Island Film Festival on October 2, 2004. The film was honored with the Festival Award for Best Director at the Channel Island Indie Film Festival in 2004.

In the same year, she guest starred on her former boss' Jason Katims show "Boston Public" before landing a small role in the critically acclaimed film "Don't Come Knocking" written by actor/playwright Sam Shepard and directed by the legendary award winning German film maker Wim Wenders. The cast included Oscar winning actors Jessica Lange, Eva Marie Saint, George Kennedy and also Majandra's older sister Marieh. The film premiere at Cannes Film Festival in May 2005.

In 2006, Majandra was busy filming two pilots. The first was the original pilot for ABC Family's "Three Moons Over Milford" along with Sherilyn Fenn. The pilot was re-shot later that year but unfortunately Majandra dropped out of the project.

She also landed the role of Suzette in the pilot for CBS's "Ultra" based on the hit graphic novel by The Luna Brothers. The series was created by Emmy winning writer and producer Barbara Hall. Even though fans fought hard for it, CBS did not go forward with the series and didn't include it in their 2006 line up.

Majandra also guest starred twice on the Ted Danson's series "Help Me, Help You" playing Lucy.

guest star on the hit online series "Quarterlife" by Emmy winning producers Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick.

"Quarterlife" was actually a family affair for Majandra since her husband Devon was a writer for the show, her brother-in-law Joshua was a producer and her father-in-law C. Gregory Gummersall's artwork was displayed on the show. Fans were also pleasantly surprised to see Majandra's sister Marieh playing Ariel on the show.

In November 2007, NBC announced that they had picked up the "Quarterlife" and would begin airing it in February 2008.

In 2008, Majandra reuinted with director Holly Goldberg Sloan, with whom she worked together on "The Secret Life Of Girls" for "Heidi 4 Paws". She lend her voice to 'evil' Miss Rottenmeier in Holly's dog-version of Johanna Spyri famous novel "Heidi". The film aired around Christmas.

In 2009, Majandra made a pilot with Lindsay Sloane called "Pulling" based on the BBC show from 2006. The show was not included in ABC fall line up. She also starred in a short film called "Bent" together with her sister Marieh and her future husband David Walton.

In Summer 2009, she did an independent film called "Web Of Lies" which was shot in Canada.

In October 2009, she joined her former "Roswell" co-star Katherine Heigl and "Transformers" star Josh Duhamel in their romantic comedy "Life As We Know It" which was released in December 2010.

She had a guest appearance on "Men Of A Certain Age" as Scott Bakula's girlfriend.

In Summer 2011, her show "State Of Georgia" aired on ABC Family. She played Raven-Symoné's BFF Jo Pye. The project was very dear to Majandra and she loved working with Raven. Unfortunately, the show got canceled after only one season.

In 2012, Majandra filmed two pilots. Unfortunately, neither show got a pick-up. One was a comedy with Majandra's old friend Mandy Moore called "Family Trap". The other was the spin-off to "The Office" called "The Farm". Even though the show didn't get a pick-up, we got to see the pilot as an episode of the final season of "The Office".

"We do a few pilots as actors that don’t see the light of day. But very rarely do they still air your pilot and sneak it in as a regular episodes on an already established show. The beauty of spin offs. Still, we are experts at disappointment and handling the good ol “it’s not going any further” call. But this one was a heart breaker for sure. Playing little sister to @rainnwilson was everything. And playing even younger than other brother @tombini was an even bigger triumph because he’s actually younger than me, and that don’t happen very often in these here Hollywood parts. I also had a one month old stashed in my trailer and the crew would break every two hours with zero resentment to let me put her on my boob. Could this have been a better set up for a young lady? Twas like spotting a unicorn and actually getting to pet it." - Majandra Delfino (2018)

In 2013, Majandra was cast as a supporting character in a pilot called "Keep Calm And Karey On" but soon dropped out only to be cast in another pilot for CBS "Friends With Better Lives". Lucky for her since the latter got a pick-up.

While filming "Friends With Better Lives" Majandra got pregnant again which was written into the show. Sadly, the show didn't get picked up for a second season.

In 2015, Majandra was cast in the pilot "Nerd Herd" with James Roday and Melanie Griffith. Unfortunately, the pilot was not picked up.

In June 2016, Majandra revealed that her and Brendan were working on a project together called "B+T", a pilot written by Majandra herself. After campaigning for years to get the pilot picked up by Netflix, Majandra and Brendan decided to take matters in their own hands and started a Indiegogo campaign in October 2020, in order to be able to shoot the pilot, the way they want it without a studio changing everything. The goal was met easily within two weeks and is still going strong. Filming is set to begin in Fall 2021 in New Mexico.

In 2017, Majandra appeared in Zoe Lister-Jones directorial debut "Band Aid". The role may have been small but Majandra happily promoted her friends film during Sundance Film Festival.

In September 2019, Majandra and her husband David Walton filmed the comedy "Later Days" where they played a married couple. The film was released on March 20, 2021 at the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival.

In 2001, Majandra released her self-produced debut CD called "The Sicks" and showed her fans another side of herself, not only through her music but through her paintings that were used as the artwork for the booklet of the CD.

embarked on promoting her CD with concerts in New York, LA and Paris.

In 2003, Majandra co-wrote and sang her first duet with French singer RoBERT called "Le Prince Bleu" as well as working on two films. She also returned to Paris and played two shows with RoBERT where she debuted two of her new songs "I'm MAD" and "Still Not Over This" as well as announcing that she was completing the finishing touches on her upcoming second CD. 2004 also saw the re-launch of Majandra's website in which she shares with her fans personal pictures and journal entries letting her fans know what she is up to.

2007 was a very busy year for Majandra in both her professional and personal life. In April of 2007 Majandra launched her own record label called "Red Velvet Cake Records" and released her anxiously awaited sophomore album "Tarte". The release of "Tarte" coincided with a revamping of Majandra's official site as well as her official MySpace page.