Māra Mennika

Born: 17 August 1978

Born in Riga, Māra Mennika graduated from the Valmiera Theatre acting course at the Screen and Theatre Arts Department of the Latvian Academy of Culture in 2003. She has been an actress at Valmiera Theatre since 2003.

Actress Māra Mennika is a wonder—not only because, with such quiet determination, she has achieved her dream and found happiness within it, but also because she possesses such an extraordinary freedom to see the world and embrace seemingly unconventional wonders that are not always typical for her generation. In 2001, while still a student, she performed her first role at Valmiera Theatre—the character Riu in Inga Ābele’s drama Dark Deer, directed by Māra Ķimele.

Māra laughs that at the theatre she is called a “trotter”, yet everything she says reveals something entirely different—a thoughtful, endlessly calm, and harmonious person’s reflections on a world whose constant rush is nevertheless unable to overwhelm her.

Māra has found a very important balance, and it is reflected in her work: she holds each of her roles with a remarkably composed and professional grasp. Whether it is the Art Nouveau–refined Jeļena Mežainī, whose eyes are always filled with tears, or Vassa Zheleznova, whom life has forged from a fragile child into an iron woman; whether it is the butterfly-like Florence, who touches everything only with the tips of her fingers, or the clockwork-precise actress Brooke, who, once having mastered a role, would be able to perform it even during an earthquake.