The Inspiring Story Of Actress Marie Karkashadze And How She Never Gave Up
For many actors and actresses and filmmakers in general, the Covid-19 shutdown affected their careers negatively. A great deal of them had to go to work in other occupations just to make ends meet and to pay rent or their mortgage. Marie Karkashadze, the very talented and experienced actress from the Republic of Georgia, was taking her finals in her first semester of earning her Master’s Degree in Film, when she felt like her whole world was collapsing. Her country and her family in Georgia were going through a huge economical crisis and her fellow students and friends, in the United States were going through a similar financial crunch. Many of her friends completely lost hope and had to drop out of school and she also found herself in the desperate position of packing to go back to her home country of Georgia because she couldn’t pay for her tuition.
Marie had lost hope too. She had won several small scholarships previously, but she felt there was nothing more she could do in order to stay in Los Angeles to become a professional actress. Her years of personal sacrifice and hard work at that particular moment seemed to be worthless and futile to her. So, as she sat on the floor crying in her L.A. apartment she wrote a letter to the acting department to let them know that she was dropping out and she explained the cause and thanked them for the earlier scholarships. After a week, before she found a suitable cheap ticket to travel to Georgia, Marie got a phone call informing her that Mr. Matthew Modine was giving her an additional scholarship and his fund would cover her whole tuition for the next semester. (And possibly future semesters if the pandemic lasted). It was an unbelievable feeling, she said later — better than any rescue mission movie.
Matthew Modine has been acting for years and is a household name. His latest claim to fame is his featured role in the Netflix global mega hit Stranger Things. To qualify for this scholarship, recipients must demonstrate the values set forth by NYFA to further the art of visual storytelling. The chosen grantees receive $5,000-$10,000 per year based on criteria including an audition or portfolio submission, academic performance, professional experience, and participation in the arts. Only 5–10 scholarships are awarded per year and there are hundreds of applicants. Maria Karkashadze was one of the deserving winners.
Marie Karkashadze was born in the Republic of Georgia and has been acting since childhood. She graduated in Theater and film from Georgia State University and moved to Los Angeles to get a Master’s degree and to pursue an acting career. She worked in television and theater in Georgia for ten years before coming to California and she is best known for her leading role as Nia in the show So What, That Lilac Is Wet, which ran for more than 10 seasons.”
When asked on stage of the Staller Centre at Stony Brook University in New York, why she gave Special Thanks to Matthew Modine, her answer was : “It’s because of him that I’m standing here on this huge stage of The Staller Center in front of you and doing what I love the most.”
