We are thrilled to introduce our latest cover star and The UNTITLED Podcast guest, Maia Reficco, the multi-talented actress and singer making waves in the entertainment industry. Best known for her groundbreaking role as one of the first Latina leads in HBO Max’s “Pretty Little Liars” reboot, Maia’s career continues to soar with her Broadway debut as Eurydice in the award-winning musical “Hadestown,” and her new film “One Fast Move,” which released this week on Amazon Prime Video. In the film, Maia stars as an aspiring singer alongside acclaimed actors KJ Apa and Eric Dane.
Born in Boston and raised in Buenos Aires, Maia’s unique cultural background has profoundly shaped her artistic identity. In our candid interview, she opens up about her dynamic upbringing, her journey in the performing arts, and the importance of authentic representation for Latinas in Hollywood.
At just 24, Maia has already achieved what many actors only dream of. Her breakout performance as Noa Olivar in “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” followed by Season Two, “Pretty Little Liars: Summer School,” resonated with fans worldwide. Beyond her impressive acting credentials, Maia is also an accomplished musician having released a number of tracks through Sony Music Latin America.
In this exclusive interview for The Untitled Magazine by editor-in-chief Indira Cesarine, Maia shares her journey from Argentina to Hollywood, the challenges she has faced, and her hopes for the future. She discusses her latest projects and shares insights into her personal life, from her inspirations, to how she stays grounded amidst the whirlwind of the entertainment industry.
Indira Cesarine: Thank you so much, Maia, for joining us and taking time off your Broadway play, which must be very intense. I understand you’ve been performing back to back with Hadestown having just launched a few weeks ago.
Maia Reficco: Yes. It’s definitely been very hectic, but I’m very happy to be talking to you. I’m so excited. I had so much fun during our shoot.
Yay! Thank you so much! You have a lot going on right now between your play and your role in Pretty Little Liars, as well as your upcoming film that is releasing, One Fast Move. I just want to dive in to talk first of all, though, about your background, as I understand you were born in Boston, but grew up spending your childhood in Buenos Aires, which is a really unique combination. Tell me a little bit about what life was like as a child growing up in Buenos Aires.
I was very lucky to grow up in Argentina. I was four when I left Boston. My identity was solidified and developed when I was in Argentina. I take such a huge sense of pride because I am from there and because of what that country and the culture means to me. Growing up in Argentina was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I can’t imagine a world in which I live life without that sense of pride and without carrying the flag with as much love as I do. And at the end of the day, growing up with my family was very special. Honestly, I don’t really think about it much cause it was just how my life was and I can’t imagine it going any other way.
What’s interesting is how you have had a dual cultural experience – not that many people, particularly Americans born in Boston, get the opportunity to also live in Argentina. How do you feel that may have affected your abilities as a performer?
I think a lot of first generations go back to where their parents are from. And I think it’s actually very beautiful to, as a young person, get to meet so many people that have similar lived experiences as I do, that have been born somewhere and grown up somewhere else.
I think it’s actually such a beautiful part of how the world’s become nowadays with so many remote jobs and traveling and this and that. And I think finding a sense of identity amidst so much traveling as a kid is very important for me.
And I feel like culturally it really makes room for so much more understanding that there are endless amounts of possibilities of who you can be and want to be in the world. And for me as an artist, it’s so engraved into who I am and it’s such a big part of my identity.
I think working in the U.S., I just have a different way of processing everything because I’m culturally from somewhere else. I just try to bring as much of my personality as I can into my art. And because where I’m from is a part of me, that’s going to inevitably become a part of my art.
Yeah, of course. It’s obviously intuitive for you since that’s the reality you grew up with. So let’s talk about your role in Pretty Little Liars. I would say out of all the roles that you’ve done so far, that’s probably the one you’re most known for. How did you first of all get cast for the role?
I got cast through auditioning. I was shooting something else, and I remember getting that email in my inbox and getting so excited. I was ecstatic because I was a huge fan of the show. I remember I actually sent my brother a screenshot of the self-tape request, and I was like, “Bro, they’re doing a Pretty Little Liars spinoff. I don’t care if I book this or not, but I can’t wait to watch it.” It was already exciting that the show in itself existed, regardless of whether I was going to be part of it or not. So then, it goes without saying, that when I did end up booking the part, it was the most exhilarating, craziest, exciting thing ever. I was so happy, I was head over heels. I still to this day can’t believe my name follows the title Pretty Little Liars. Like I love the show so much. It’s still so surreal. I’m so proud to be a part of it.
That’s incredible. It must’ve been such an exhilarating experience to find out…
Oh my god, I died. I sobbed, I literally didn’t stop crying.
I love that. And I know that there are other Latina characters on the show, although you were the first Latina lead in Pretty Little Liars, correct?
I think so, yes.
Do you think it’s important to have more Latina leading characters perform in impactful productions?
Well, absolutely. I think it’s imperative. I think it’s way overdue. I think making room for fellow women of color and underrepresented groups is always crucial. Because at the end of the day, tokenized representation or furthering stereotypes when it comes to representation can subtract so much more than it can possibly add. I’m very proud to be Latina and to be a part of these stories and be a part of the team that gets to tell them and get to have my input and my voice be heard.
I think again, the representation I’ve seen in the past has always been very sidekick-y and it’s always been very tokenizing and it’s been very much leaning into stereotypes. So I believe that by having Latinos in the room, you get to have a voice.
You get to actually be able to verbalize and vocalize what it is that you think will make other Latinos feel seen. Because at the end of the day, if what you see as representation is simply somebody else’s perception of who you are, then it won’t feel like representation. It’ll just feel like the complete opposite.
I’m very proud to be a part of a show that makes room for women of color to speak up and to have an opinion and a voice. And they really hear us out and they really care about what we think about the characters in the storyline and how we can bring these girls’ identities to life. I’m very grateful that there’s room for that on the show.
Yeah. There’s a lot of diversity with the casting. You can see that they made an effort with the reboot to have a more contemporary presentation of the cast. Tell me about behind-the-scenes moments. Is there anything that stood out to you while filming the show, where it really resonated with you or was an incredible experience filming?
Oh my goodness, so many, so many. I love these girls. I blab on about how much I love the show because I have so much fun shooting it.
We all lived together for a combined year and a half in upstate New York. You can imagine how many things we’ve gone through together. I think one of my favorites is we were shooting a couple of scenes by a roller rink in a different town, an hour away from where we usually shoot, and we were all put up at this bed and breakfast, so it was a million rooms, but a shared space. It was so much fun. It was like one huge slumber party, and it was all six of us, and we had the best time. We hid Bailee’s dog from her, we were little kids in summer camp. We had the best time. It was the most beautiful, sisterly type of bond.
That’s so cool. I love the fact that you were all upstate when you were filming and that you had that “being at camp together” experience.
Oh, absolutely. It’s a mix between camp, Big Brother, and well work.
I love that. Your character Noa is described as very straightforward and athletic. How did you prepare for the role?
It changed between Season One and Season Two. Season One, being an athlete was a very big part of Noa’s storyline, so I tried my best to be as loyal to that as I possibly could be. I reached out to my trainer and I learned form, and I learned how to run. I would go out for runs just to try to build up stamina so when we would shoot I wouldn’t look winded. Different things can add a bit of reality to this character and to the storyline because God knows I’m not an athlete! I tried my best to fake it and to be one for Noa.
Season Two was summer school. I think her athleticism took the backseat and prep work came more through the story. It was very much focused on who this character was and what her art was going to be during the season.
Let’s talk about your Broadway debut in the new Hadestown. Can you tell me how you prepared to transition from being on screen to being on stage and the challenges you faced?
It’s almost like night and day. I would say like, in all honesty, it’s completely different. Theater is what I grew up doing and what I grew up dreaming about, so I feel like I’m on cloud nine every single day I walk into that theater. Every time I walk in and I have to cross the stage to get to my dressing room, I look out into the house and I can’t believe I’m there. It’s truly magical and it’s so special and I continue to pinch myself every moment I get.
It’s been the most intense preparation I’ve ever done for any job because of the physical requirements that theater in general has. This show, and this role particularly, requires a very specific endurance, and I didn’t have it. Whether it was vocally or physically, I was nowhere near the point I had to be, to be ready to be doing eight shows a week or more. This week, for example, we’re doing nine shows. It’s a lot for the body and I think for me it was crucial to surround myself with a team of people that a) I trust and b) believe in me and that can help me get to where I needed to be.
I trained so much. I trained for two hours every day at the gym with my trainer. I would do an hour of speech therapy in the morning and then an hour of singing in the afternoon. Like I was really preparing to be as ready as I could be because I really want to honor this responsibility of being on Broadway. Hadestown has definitely been the role I’ve prepared for the most in my life.
I understand that you actually lost your voice a few days before opening?
Yes. I got acute laryngitis. It was terrible timing. It was awful.
That’s horrible.
At my last rehearsal, I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t say hello. It’s an opera. It’s a sung show, the whole show. I couldn’t even speak, let alone sing. I did my last rehearsal as a marking, not even marking, because I wasn’t even marking the words. I wasn’t saying them.
It was incredibly stressful, but everyone on the team was very supportive. Jordan Fisher is my best bud on the show, and he’s incredible. He plays Orpheus and we got to have a lot of fun. He recommended me his ENT. So I went to the doctor. And she cured me and saved me and brought me back to life.
I had to go on complete vocal rest for four days. And I took a bunch of things, and I was able to open, and I was able to do the whole week of shows. And now we’re on to week two and it’s looking good. So I’m very grateful that I was yet again, supported by a team of people that allowed for this to happen.
And this might seem lame to say, but I owe it to so many people to be able to do what I do. I know that if it were just me, I wouldn’t be able to be where I am and I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing. And it’s truly just because of every single person that’s helped me, especially my mom, who’s my vocal coach. She’s incredible. None of this would be remotely possible without any of their help.
That’s so cool that your mom is your vocal coach. Tell me about the relationship that you guys have and how you work together.
Well, she’s the best. She is a legend. Quite literally, a legend in Latin America. I can talk about my mom forever. I love her so much. I look up to her in every way. She’s taught me everything I know. Everything. Regardless of singing. Absolutely everything I know. Getting to share what I do with her, and her being so incredibly generous with her knowledge and so kind with passing it on. It’s an honor and a privilege to get to witness and to be on the other side of it. In Latin America she coaches everybody – like it’s crazy – every artist that I’ve loved goes to my mom now! I still fangirl over her students it’s just an honor to get to spend more time with her. She’s been here for a month with me prepping. She came two weeks before opening night just to make sure my voice was where it had to be. And then I got laryngitis, which was terrible because it’s an infection and there was nothing I could do to prevent that from happening – because that’s how life goes. She made it so that I could also sing on Tuesday because it was her and my auntie working together. It’s honestly such a team effort.
I could talk about her forever. She’s the best and it’s just a privilege to get to spend more time with her and get to learn from her.
Was she also a performer or has she been a voice coach her whole career?
She’s a speech pathologist, she’s a vocal coach, and she’s a singer. She makes all of her students feel so loved. She’s so maternal with the way that she teaches and so maternal with the way that she cares for everybody that I think that’s why she’s as successful as she is.
That’s so cool. So, tell me a little about your upcoming role in the new movie, One Fast Move, which is coming out in August, right?
Yes! It is coming out on August 8th. I’m not sure how much I can share about the role because they’ve been really cryptic with what they wanted to share about my role specifically in the trailer. It has a pretty big twist, so I don’t want to spoil much. What I can say about the movie is that it was a joy to shoot. Aside from the extreme Atlanta weather during the summer, it was honestly the most fun I’ve had.
It was so rewarding, both creatively and in a human sense. I feel like the bonds that we made in that movie were so special. I adore KJ [Apa]. Kelly [Blatz], the director, is wonderful. Such a human director, such an empathetic, generous way of conveying his ideas, his thoughts, and his opinions. And it was a joy to work with Kelly and try to bring the story to life that he had been working on for so long alongside KJ. I just felt very honored that they allowed me to jump in and, and be a part of it.
In the role you play as an aspiring singer, right?
I do.
And in real life, you’re also a musician, and you’ve released quite a few singles. Tell me a little about your passion for music and singing.
Well, singing is the genesis of my love for art. Singing is who I am. How do I put this without being so corny … it’s truly what I love the most. There’s nothing in the world that makes me as happy as singing does. It’s what I love the most. Making music was always something that I was terrified of because I love it so much. I put so much pressure on making music and trying to make the best possible song that I possibly could have made.
And it became a little jarring at times, but now I feel so much more proud of the music that I’m making because of how long it’s taken me. I cannot wait to finally get to share it. I’ve not released anything in around three years. I think finding who I was musically and sonically was really tough. And I went back and forth a million times, but I think now with feet on somewhat solid ground, I feel like I can say that I know who that is.
When I listen to the music that I’m making, I can hear myself in it. And that’s all I was aiming for at the end of the day. I can’t wait to get to share it with the world. I think obviously it’s been taking me a while because of now the show and before with other acting stuff, but I definitely want to focus on music coming up.
And as an actress and musician, what are some of the biggest challenges you have faced along the way?
The only challenge I would say for me is scheduling. It’s crazy. It’s just hard to manage setting time aside for both. It’s really hard. Thankfully I’ve been really lucky. It’s been tough to allot time for music when you don’t have such a set schedule as you do with acting.
I love both so much that thankfully I’ve been able to enjoy doing both. I would never want to quit either.
Who do you consider your biggest inspirations or role models in the entertainment industry?
Um, well, honestly, as cliche as this answer is going to sound, my mom. She’s the best. I think she is the person I look up to the most in the world. I have a million idols and people that I’ve idolized my whole life. Stevie Wonder, Rosalía, and Setangana are some of my favorite artists. There are so many people that I love and that I enjoy listening to and that I look up to what they’ve done with their careers. But honestly, when it comes to admiration, I can only talk about my mom. And my brother, to be honest. I admire him a lot.
It’s so cool you have such a tight family.
They’ve been here with me for the past couple of weeks and I’m even more in my feels about how much I love them.
That’s so cool. What would you consider the most rewarding aspect of your career so far?
Getting to share it with other people and getting to make them feel the way that I felt when I would listen to music or the way that I would feel when I would watch a show. It’s so incredibly moving when at the stage door, someone tells you that because of you, they started playing piano or they started singing. And I think getting to connect with others is so unfathomable. As a little girl, I never thought that this would be my reality, and getting to experience it firsthand just feels so surreal and feels like it’s not real life. Getting to hear how people can connect with what you do is such a big honor and incredibly rewarding.
Representation and diversity in the entertainment industry have obviously become a very important topics. How do you hope to contribute to the conversation as a Latina performer?
On the one hand, it’s just making room. Whether it’s making room for girls in Argentina, that grew up dreaming about something that feels so far away. I hope all of them can someday be doing what they dream of doing.
On the other hand, I think a very big priority for me and something that I try to advocate for every day that I’m on set is making sure representation is accurate and genuine; as close to the reality as possible. Growing up, something that really hurt me and would make me feel invisible was that whenever there was a Latino character on screen, it would never feel like me or my reality or the people that I knew. It would always just feel like white America’s perception of Latinos. I think that for me was incredibly hurtful growing up because I would try to figure out how to fit into all these little boxes that didn’t pertain to me by any means because it wasn’t who I was.
Something that I really just actively try to do every single day that I’m on set is if something feels stereotypical, I’m calling it out. If something doesn’t feel like I would say that, or if that feels like I’m furthering X, Y, or Z stereotype, I’m not doing it. I think we have to be the people, unfortunately, to keep reminding others that that’s not how it is.
I wish there comes a day where I don’t have to do that anymore and that just is a part of who I am, because the people writing these characters are also maybe Latino. I think that’s a very big part of representation for me. Accurate, real, genuine representation.
Yeah, that is very important. What advice would you give to an aspiring actor or musician who’s just starting out in their career?
Study. Study up. Work on your craft. Develop it as much as you can because it’s a job in which we’re told no every day. We’re constantly getting beaten up. Our egos are destroyed every day. It’s a really hard job. And getting to work on your craft gives you something tangible to hold on to whenever you feel insecure. I think that it really saved me a lot of times. And also it makes you better, obviously, but I think it goes above and beyond that.
I think for me studying and working on my craft really allowed me to hone into that whenever I was feeling not good enough. And then I would also say, just remember why you do what we do. And if the answer is because you love it, then keep going, man. If you love it and if you work really hard, there’s a way of making it work and there’s a way to do what you love and that can look a million different ways. There’s no set definition of success. And there’s no clear answer as to what success has to look like, but if you love what you do, and if you know what you want, and if you work really hard for it, I think it’s a recipe for success.
Do you have any words of wisdom that you personally live by?
I honestly really do live by “everything happens for a reason.” I go back to that a lot, whenever there’s a harsh no, I go back to that. I do believe that everything happens for a reason. So as much as we’ve heard that being said and postured around, I do really live by those words.
Everything that comes your way, you’ve got to use that challenge to learn and to grow. Those are some great words of wisdom! Do you have any other upcoming projects or goals you’re excited about that you’re pursuing in the near future? I know that your Broadway performance is ongoing at the moment and One Fast Movie you’ve already shot, obviously. What’s next for you?
I’m going to be on the show for a couple of months. So right now I’m focusing on the show, but then my music’s coming. And I have a couple more movies coming out. It’s definitely very exciting! I think I’m going to try to focus my energy on music once the show is done and hopefully, I’m going to get to share that with the world soon.
Oh, I can’t wait to hear it!
I can’t wait! I hope we’ll talk again whenever that happens.
Well, that’s so exciting, and congratulations. I think it’s really incredible, everything you’re doing and you’re so young. It’s just been back to back across all these different mediums – between music, stage, screen, film, and TV. You’re just hitting it on all ends, but with equal strength, which is beautiful.
That’s so sweet. Thank you so much. It’s an honor. I feel very privileged to be able to do what I do.
Good luck with everything you’ve got going on, and with the performance, and keeping that voice intact. Until the next time.
Until next time!
Tune in to The UNTITLED Podcast featuring Maia Reficco on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music, and more of your favorite podcast channels, to experience firsthand the inspiring journey of one of Hollywood’s most promising young actresses as she opens up about her upbringing, passions, and rise to fame with host Indira Cesarine.
For more from Maia Reficco view on socials: @maiareficco
Photography and Interview by Indira Cesarine @indiracesarine
Fashion Editor: Ty-Ron Mayes @stylisttyronmayes
Make-up and Hair: Roberto Morelli @robertomorelli1
Fashion Assistant: Julizza Vivas
Assistants to Indira Cesarine: Alyssa Latella, Sierra Weitz, Sophia Peyser
