Marisa Vitali
Marisa is a Brooklyn based actress and producer. She found acting at an early age, and after graduating from NYU Tisch she pursued a professional acting career. Soon, she became disillusioned with acting and was attracted to the instant gratification of clubs and drugs. Marisa found herself in a treatment facility at 25 years old for heroin addiction.
Marisa says acting saved her life, knowing she had other options besides a life of addiction. In treatment, she met Lawrence Sacharow (Broadway Director “Three Tall Women”) who was on staff and casting his Off-Broadway play THE CONCEPT, which chronicles addicts in treatment. Marisa was cast in his show and Lawrence became a mentor, encouraging Marisa to pursue acting fulltime. She joined Michael Howard’s Master Class and found a channel for the guilt, shame and resentments that she carried into recovery. Marisa credits working on THE CONCEPT and honing her acting craft as the two things that kept her clean.
Since then, Marisa has been seen in films on the festival circuit, television shows aired on HBO, ABC and ID Discovery, and in NYC theater. She has been in numerous commercials and is the voice of many audiobooks for audible.com. She was a lead in the Official Cannes Film Selection "YOU & I," directed by Christopher Scott, opposite Blake Gibbons.
Marisa produced, wrote and acted in the short film Grace, based on her struggle with heroin addiction, and has wrapped a highly successful Festival Run along with numerous Speaking Engagements at Universities. One in which was sponsored by Amazon where over $19,000 was raised for Youth Services on Long Island. She is in development of a feature film loosely based on the short film.
Marisa is a member of SAG/AFTRA, AEA, NYWIFT (New York Women In Film and TV: Serving on the Programming Committee) & WIF (Women In Film)
You can join Marisa on her journey:
@marisavofficial
www.marisavitali.com