Maria Howell

Wanda Maria Howell is an American actress, jazz vocalist and voice-over artist from Gastonia, North Carolina, whose on-screen career has stretched from 1985 to the present.

After graduating from Winston-Salem State University she first came to wider attention as the impassioned choir soloist in Steven Spielberg’s “The Color Purple” in 1985, then spent several years singing on the international jazz circuit—including a six-year residency in Okinawa—before returning to U.S. screens in the early 2000s.

In television she is best known for recurring roles such as Grace Beaumont, the mysterious engineer on NBC’s post-apocalyptic “Revolution,” Ida Hayes on Lifetime’s “Devious Maids,” and Lt. Theresa Hawkins on Bounce TV’s southern-gothic soap “Saints & Sinners.” Guest arcs and appearances span “Drop Dead Diva,” “Army Wives,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “Necessary Roughness,” and “The Game,” among many others.

Her film résumé includes Seeder, the mentor from District 11 in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” a council member in “The Divergent Series: Allegiant,” Ms. Sumner in “Hidden Figures,” and supporting turns in “Daddy’s Little Girls,” “Mississippi Damned,” “The Blind Side,” “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” “American Made,” and the recent ensemble comedy "Summer Camp."

Her latest screen credit arrived in May 2025 when she joined the CBS daytime drama “Beyond the Gates” as Tracy, a figure from heroine Anita’s past, underscoring her steady presence on television four decades after her debut.