Maiara Walsh

Maiara Walsh (; ; born February 18, 1988 ) is an actress and singer of Brazil and the United States citizenship. She played Ana Solis on the sixth season of the ABC show Desperate Housewives, Meena Paroom on the Disney Channel sitcom Cory in the House and Simone Sinclair on the Freeform series Switched at Birth. She also portrayed Vicky Patterson in the film Identity Theft of a Cheerleader by Lifetime and Mandi Weatherly in the film Mean Girls 2 on Freeform.

Early life Walsh was born in Seattle, Washington Her family moved to São Paulo, Brazil when she was one year old where Portuguese became her first language. Walsh has said she was bullied as a child. After a few years, they moved back to Seattle where Maiara took an interest in music and the arts, diving into every musical and play offered by her school. At 11, she moved to Simi Valley, California, to pursue her acting career and graduated from Royal High School.

Career Walsh first appeared in the spin-off series Cory in the House (2007-2008) based on Disney Channel's original series That's So Raven (2003-2007). Walsh played the character Meena Paroom, who is an ambassador's daughter that attends the same private school as Cory Baxter. Meena (Maiara Walsh) is a series regular playing Cory Baxter’s best friend along side Newt (Jason Dolley), heir to a political dynasty, become Cory's new friends.

In 2010, Walsh appeared in the second season of The Vampire Diaries as Sarah. In 2011 she co-starred in Mean Girls 2 as Mandi Weatherly, an A-list cliché girl also known as a "Plastic".

Walsh was the female lead in the television series Zombieland as Wichita, taking over the role from Emma Stone. After the pilot episode, the series was not picked up.

Walsh had a recurring role as Simone Sinclair, in the ABC Family drama series Switched at Birth.

In 2019, Walsh starred in the Lifetime film Identity Theft of a Cheerleader as Vicky Patterson, a woman in her 30’s who pretends to be a high school student to have a second chance at education and becoming a Cheerleader. Walsh’s character was modeled after the real-life case of Wendy Brown. In 2020, she starred in Lifetime original movie Killer Dream Home alongside John DeLuca.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 2008 Lullabye Before I Wake Megan 2010 The Prankster Sage Ryan 2011 Mean Girls 2 Mandi Weatherly TV movie Empty Sky Samantha McDonnell Short 2012 General Education Katie Last Hours of Suburbia Jennifer 2013 Chocolate Milk Lucy Short The Starving Games Kantmiss Evershot 2014 The Armadillo Molly Gardner Short The Jazz Funeral Emily 2015 Vanish Emma Glitch Sophie Summer Camp Michelle 2016 Hopeless, Romantic Summer TV movie 2018 Her Boyfriend's Secret Carrie Ryder Tanya Short 2019 Babysplitters Taylor Small The Ex Next Door Louisa TV movie Identity Theft of a Cheerleader Vicky Patterson TV movie Young Blood Ama Mendoza Short 2020 Killer Dream Home Jules Grant TV movie Chasing the Rain Kelley 2021 The Accursed Zara The Secret Diary of an Exchange Student Katherine Kenner (Kat) Cash Cow Jessica Short 2026 Bight Charlie

Television Year Title Role Notes 2005 Unfabulous Girl Cousin Episode: "The Bar Mitzvah" 2007–08 Cory in the House Meena Paroom Main Cast 2009–10 Desperate Housewives Ana Solis Guest: Season 5, Main Cast: Season 6 2010 The Secret Life of the American Teenager Girl in Light Blue Pajamas Episode: "Lady Liberty" The Vampire Diaries Sarah Recurring Cast: Season 2 2011 Dr. Phil Herself Episode: "Mini Mean Girls" 2012–17 Switched at Birth Simone Sinclair Recurring Cast: Season 1-2, Guest: season 5 2014 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Callie Hannigan Episode: "Seeds" 2015 Elizabeth Stanton's Great Big World Herself Episode: "Equestrian Adventures" 2016 Notorious Willow Recurring Cast 2018 The Last Ship Mia Valdez Recurring Cast: Season 5 2019 Criminal Minds Nikki Pareno Episode: "Night Lights" 2020 Girls from Ipanema Sarah Episode: "Choices" 2022–23 Reis Abigail Main Cast: Season 4-6 2022–24 Good Trouble Jenna Peréz Recurring Cast: Season 4-5

Music videos Year Title Artist(s) 2008 "7 Things" Miley Cyrus 2013 "Go With It" Tokimonsta featuring MNDR 2015 "The Warrior" Diego Boneta 2016 "Coming Over" Dillon Francis and Kygo featuring James Hersey 2017 "Window" MAGIC GIANT 2021 "THE BREACH" Starset