Mary Claire Garcia (she/her) is a Los Angeles–based actor, singer, and speech specialist. She is an MFA graduate of California Institute of the Arts in Acting, where she specialized in speech pedagogy under the mentorship of Dwight Bacquie and Denise Woods, and is a member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA).
Garcia has taught for over a decade as associate faculty and lecturer at acting studios and institutions throughout Los Angeles, including the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. She coaches acting, script analysis, audition preparation, and dialect acquisition for a wide-ranging clientele that includes actors, comedians, public speakers, broadcasters, ESL speakers, and corporate professionals, working both privately and on set.
Her training encompasses Bel Canto vocal technique and extensive study of the International Phonetic Alphabet, completion of all Knight-Thompson Speechwork (Andrea Caban, Julie Foh, Tyler Seiple, and Cynthia Santos DeCure), extensive Linklater Voice Method (Fran Bennett), Denise Woods’ Voice and Dialect Coaching Track, Alexander Technique (Babette Markus and Andrea Stark), Edith Skinner’s Speak With Distinction (Dwight Bacquie, Mary Lou Rosato, Deborah Ross-Sullivan, and Damian D. Lewis), Roy Hart and Barrantes Voice System (Rafael Lopez-Barrantes), and Fitzmaurice Voicework (Chelsea DuVall and Christine Menzies).
Garcia’s screen credits include 9-1-1: Lone Star, Grown-ish, Good Trouble, Criminal Minds, Days of Our Lives, While You Were Breeding, and Tragiometry (Cannes nominee), along with multiple upcoming projects in film and video games. Her theatre work includes classical, contemporary, and musical roles such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, The Winter’s Tale, The Merchant of Venice, Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, Oklahoma!, Little Shop of Horrors, Electricidad, and Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice.
At CalArts, she teaches core performance curriculum courses in Speech: Accents, Dialects, and Phonetics for BFA3 actors during the fall and spring semesters.
