ABOUT
Bella Martin is a Brazilian American actor with Appalachian roots. She first fell in love with performance as a young kid, about to hit the double-digit milestone of turning ten, when she acted in a short film by Wenting Deng Fisher that eventually premiered in her hometown's historic movie theater, The Athena Cinema. Watching that story on screen made her feel the same rush of joy and adrenaline she felt while making it, amplified by feelings of gratification, excitement, and a deep connection to both the people around her and something larger than herself. About a decade later, she fell in love with performing all over again, this time on stage, energized by the electric presence of a live audience and the unique opportunity to join a group of people fully inhabiting a story with her, experiencing and discovering its humanity together in real time.
Bella is a people person, which is one of the reasons she was drawn to performing as a kid and continues to adore it to this day. Collaboration is the backbone of performance, and the joy and growth she experiences through exchanging ideas, shaping creative vision, and learning from diverse perspectives drives her. She values curiosity, intuition, and generosity in the work and feels most alive when exploring characters and stories that reflect the beauty, humor, chaos, and darkness of the human condition.
In addition to performing, Bella played soccer competitively for over a decade and was an honors student for much of her academic life. Soccer, along with a deep curiosity and love of learning, has served her artistically by strengthening her specificity, adaptability, and stamina – qualities she consistently brings into creative spaces.
Bella holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance with a focus in Acting from Ohio University (OU). Her work includes short films and stage productions, as well as performing with a treble choir and a competitive a cappella group. She is a recipient of The Denny, an award issued annually by OU's School of Theater to a fourth-year BFA actor chosen by their peers for excellence in training and performance, with particular emphasis on their ability to exercise independent discipline and thought. In addition to performing, she has also had the opportunity to assistant direct plays and serve in a leadership position as Co-Coordinator of Community Outreach and Engagement with Vibrancy Theater, OU’s BIPOC-centered and led student theater.
In her free time, you can almost always find Bella binging TV shows, enjoying thunderstorms, and drinking chai lattes.
