Thread: Kelli Maroney  

Kelli Maroney

Born
December 30 in

Height
5' 2" (1.59 m)

Mini Bio
American Actress/Producer Kelli Joan Maroney career spans several decades, with over 70 production credits, including 31+ films and over 540 hours of television.

She first came to recognition as the bad seed Lolita "Kimberly Harris" in the ABC Daytime drama Ryan's Hope (1975), winning the plum role only two weeks after arriving in NYC to attend classes at The National Shakespeare Company Conservatory. She soon found herself acting opposite the likes of Joan Fontaine and Christopher Reeve as they made guest appearances on the show. She went on to take over the role of sex-kitten manipulator "Tina Lord" on ABC's One Life to Live (1968).

Kelli also gained notice for her portrayal of the exasperated cheerleader "Cindy Carr/Spirit Bunny" in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), a film that for many epitomized the 80s. Today Kelli's cheerleader costume is on display in the Universal Studios Museum. Strong female leading roles, notably MAC-10-toting cheerleader "Samantha Belmont" in the zombie apocalypse classic Night of the Comet (1984), the sweet Killbot-slaying "Alison Parks" in Chopping Mall (1986), "Jamie" in the underground slasher The Zero Boys (1986), teen psychotic-killer "Jolene" in Slayground (1983), and several other well-received films quickly earned Kelli her seat at the table as a Final Girl in the horror genre.

She also guest-starred in a variety of prime-time ABC, NBC, and CBS shows, including the ever-popular Murder, She Wrote (1984). Kelli has said that her most fulfilling role to date is the schizophrenic femme fatale "Merrie/Meredith" in Showtime's noir thriller Face Down (1997) (written and directed by Night of the Comet's Thom Eberhardt), playing opposite Joe Mantegna, J.K. Simmons, and Adam Ant. Other streaming highlights include Kelli's channeling Tammy Faye Bakker on HBO's True Blood (2008) and playing herself in Adult Swim's Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007) alongside Patrick Duffy.

On-demand films include Scare Package II: Rad Chad's Revenge (2022) released on Shudder, The Wild Man (2022), and Exorcism at 60,000 Feet (2019) (with horror icons Lance Henriksen, Adrienne Barbeau, and Bill Moseley), The Deep Ones (2020) (a modernized film adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story) Night Caller (2021), (the 70s-inspired shocker with Steve Railsback and Lew Temple), and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama 2 (2022).

Productions released in 2023 include Scalper (2023), H. P. Lovecraft's the Old Ones (2024), and Apocalypse Death Party (2024), a film in which she both appears and has a co-producer credit. Kelli's first job as executive co-producer was the 1999 festival award-winning short film Sam and Mike (1999) (in which she also co-starred). The experience ignited her love of film festivals, and she remains deeply committed to championing independent filmmakers. Her work from 2019 to the present has garnered festival awards in and for short films and full-length features which include Best Actress, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Film, and other department-specific awards for creative teams.

Kelli is featured in CNN's The Movies: The 80s! She is also interviewed in six documentaries: In Search of Darkness: I, II, and III; Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All Time; Direct to Video: A Study of the Independent Film Scene of the 1990s; and Mental Health and Horror: A Documentary, debuting in 2023.

Kelli is a strong advocate for mental health awareness and animal welfare. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Dan Ulin, and two rescue cats.