Kristina Valada-Viars
Kristina feels very lucky to live and work in the city she calls home and actively pursues connections with other art-based communities around the country and the world. She plays Elizabeth Fermi in CBS’s The Red Line (series premiere April 2019) created by Caitlin Parrish and Erica Weiss. She appeared in Make Believe Association’s Lost Books of The Odyssey (A.V.Club podcast of the week selection, available on Itunes, Google Podcasts, Radiopublic and various platforms), performed as Eldest in the world premiere of Act(s) Of God at Lookingglass Theatre Company, and served as director of the Chicago premiere of Steven Strafford’s Small Jokes About Monsters.
She is the recipient of the 2017 Princess Grace Award for Theatre (Acting/Directing) with Steppenwolf Theatre Company. She was a Grand Prize Jury Member for the 2012 Iris Prize for Short Film in Cardiff, Wales, as well as recipient of the Best Actress in a Feature Length Film award for her work in Molly’s Girl. Other favorite on camera projects include The Animal Kingdom with director Andrew Repasky-McElhinney (MOMA Archives), Black Box with director Stephen Cone, and Easy (Netflix-Season 3) with director Joe Swanberg.
Favorite stage work has included The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence by Madeleine George at Theatre Wit (director Jeremy Weschler), Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies at Steppenwolf (Jeff Nom supporting actress, director Austin Pendleton), The Diary of Anne Frank at Writer's Theatre (director Kimberly Senior), Monstrosity by Lucy Thurber at 13P (director Lear DeBessonet) and Love Drunk by Romulus Linney at the Abingdon (acting opposite Austin Pendleton, director Kelly Morgan). She was the first woman to play the role of Freida (traditionally "Fred") in Goodman Theatre's A Christmas Carol (2016) and has appeared in two seasons of Steppenwolf's SYA program, first in the world premiere of The Burials (Caitlin Parrish and Erica Weiss) and most recently as Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible (director Jonathan Berry).
She has worked extensively in new play development, trained in London and New York, and holds a degree from Grinnell College in theatre with an additional focus in western social anthropology and immigration history. She is a freelance writer, coach, teacher and a member of the Chicago Green Theatre Alliance. She is working to foster artist-led exchange with performer-based communities engaged in interdisciplinary social justice work.
