Kelli Maroney
- Actress
- Producer
Kelli Maroney is an American actress whose career spans several decades, with 72 production
credits, including 31+ films and over 540 hours of television.
She first came to recognition as the bad seed teen Lolita "Kimberly Harris" in the ABC
Daytime drama Ryan's Hope, 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.
Kelli also gained notice for her portrayal of the exasperated cheerleader "Cindy Carr/Spirit
Bunny" in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a film that for many came to simply
personify 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, the sweet Killbot-slaying "Alison
Parks" in Choppin Mall, "Jamie" in the underground slasher The Zero Boys, teen
psychotic-killer "Jolene" in Slayground, and several other well-received films quickly
earned Kelli her seat at the table as a final girl in the family of 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. Kelli has said that her most fulfilling role to date is the
schizophrenic femme fatale "Merrie/Meredith" in Showtime's noir thriller Face Down
(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 Baker on HBO's True Blood and playing herself in ADULT SWIM's Tim and
Eric's Awesome Show-Great Job! alongside Patrick Duffy.
Current on-demand films include Exorcism aT 60,000 Feet with horror icons Lance
Henriksen, Adrienne Barbeau, and Bill Moseley, The Deep Ones, a modernized H.P.
Lovecraft film adaptation, and Night Caller, the 70s-inspired shocker with Steve Railsback
and Lew Temple.
Slated for release in 2022 are Scare Package II, The Wild Man, and Staycation, 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 (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 (Kelli
Maroney) Best Ensemble Cast, Best Film, Best Director, 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. Both are magician members of Hollywood's legendary
Magic Castle.
