Maria Howell

Wanda Maria Howell is an American actress and singer.

Life and career
Howell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and graduated Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She worked as jazz singer and made her film debut in The Color Purple (1985) and later began appearing in film and television. She lived in Okinawa, Japan, from 1995–2001.

In the 2000s, Howell returned to United States and made guest appearances on television series such as Drop Dead Diva, Army Wives, The Game, Necessary Roughness, and The Vampire Diaries, and well co-starred in films include Daddy's Little Girls (2007), Mississippi Damned (2009), The Blind Side (2009), and What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012). In 2013, Howell played Seeder in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Also in 2012, she was cast in recurring role of NBC post-apocalyptic series Revolution as Grace Beaumont, and in 2013 played Ida Hayes in Lifetime comedy-drama Devious Maids.

From 2016 to 2018, Howell played Lt. Theresa Hawkins in the Bounce TV prime time soap opera Saints & Sinners. In 2019 she co-starred opposite Kristin Chenoweth in the Hallmark Channel Christmas film, A Christmas Love Story. In 2021 she had a recurring role in the BET+ thriller series, Sacrifice.