Maria Mercedes is an Australian actress who has many credits in television, movies, and theatre.

Mercedes has had starring roles in the television comedy/variety series Greeks on the Roof

Greeks on the Roof

Greeks on the Roof was an Australian television talk show that ran for 11 episodes on the Seven Network in 2003. It was hosted by Greek-Australian character Effie and her "family"....

as Poppy, the mother of Effie

Effie

"Effie" is an outrageous comedic character played by Australian actress Mary Coustas. Coustas depicts a stereotypical second-generation Greek Australian....

, and in the comedy series Kick

Kick (TV series)

Kick is an Australian television comedy that was first broadcast on 9 June 2007 on SBS TV. It is set in Brunswick in Melbourne, Australia. The series follows the adventures of wild twenty-something Miki Mavros who is forced to move back in with her Greek-Australian parents on Hope Street after a...

as Dora Mavros. She has also appeared in Neighbours

Neighbours

Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...

in a recurring role as Lucia Cammeniti.

Mercedes is known for her two appearances in the cult television series Prisoner

Prisoner (TV series)

Prisoner is an Australian television soap opera which was set in the Wentworth Detention Centre, a fictional women's prison. The series was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation and ran on Network Ten for 692 episodes from 27 February 1979 to 11 December 1986.The series was inspired by the 1970s...

. In 1979, she played Greek prisoner Irene Zervos, and in 1985 she returned to the series to play another ethnic inmate, Yemil Bakarta. Mercedes' first movie role was as Nurse Panicale in the Australian Gothic thriller, Patrick

Patrick (film)

Patrick is a 1978 Australian horror film directed by Richard Franklin and written by Everett De Roche. It is the pivotal movie of respected Australian director Richard Franklin's career.-Plot summary:...

. Mercedes appeared in the movie Head On

Head On (1998 film)

Head On is a 1998 award-winning Australian film directed by Ana Kokkinos. Based on the acclaimed novel Loaded written by Christos Tsiolkas, it stars Alex Dimitriades as a young gay man of Greek descent, living in the inner city of Melbourne. The film gained notoriety upon its release for its sexual...

with Alex Dimitriades

Alex Dimitriades

Alex Dimitriades is a Greek Australian film and television actor.-Early life:Dimitriades was born in Sydney, the son of first generation Greek immigrants and is the youngest of three siblings . He grew up in the suburb of Earlwood...

, playing the role of Tasia. Mercedes starred as the alternate Norma Desmond, lead character in the original Australian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

's Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard (musical)

Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the...

at the Regent Theatre

Regent Theatre

The Regent Theatre is the name of several theatres in various cities.These include the following:-In Australia:*The Regent Theatre in Ballarat, now home to Regent Cinemas*The Regent Theatre *The Regent Theatre, Melbourne...

, Melbourne in 1996/1997 alongside Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman

Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...

 as Joe Gillis. She gave almost 100 performances. In 2003, she starred in the critically acclaimed independent film by Anna Kannava, Dreams for Life. Mercedes was nominated for Best Actress in the Cypress International Film Festival for her role as Ellen in Dreams for Life.

In 2006 and 2007, she starred in the musical Pet Shop Boys Re-Interpretered in Melbourne for the 'Midsummer Festival' at Chapel Off Chapel, and at the Edinburgh Festival

Edinburgh Festival

The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...

 in Scotland in 2007.

In 2008 and 2009, Mercedes toured nationally in Menopause The Musical

Menopause the Musical

Menopause, The Musical debuted March 28, 2001 in Orlando, Florida, in a 76-seat theatre that once housed a perfume shop. The original cast members were Shelly Browne as the Power Woman, Patti McGuire as the Iowa Housewife, Pammie O'Bannon as the Earth Mother and Wesley Williams as the Soap Star...

.

She is currently starring as Madame Giry in Melbourne in Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

's Love Never Dies at the Regent Theatre.

External links