Maria Zani

.Maria Anglea Luigina Zani was born in the city of Glasgow Scotland. She comes from a large Italian family her family have been involved in the tiling business since the early 19th century and moved from the northern mountain range surrounding the Cena Valley in Northern Italy and travelled through France Belgium England and finally Scotland. Her late mother was born in Northern Italy during the second war 11 and grew up in a convent full of orphanage children her late mother was a former nun who left the order before taking her final vows and in the late 1960s she meet her husband in a pizzeria in a small mountain village run by her late mother sister, Her late father was building a summer home for his family thus a transatlantic love story begun She grew up in Dennistoun in a late 19th-century brownstone Victorian mansion designed by a famous Scottish archi·tect and commissioned by Lord Dennistoun, and spent many years as a young girl living in her family home in a small mountain village in Northern Italy surrounded by the Cena Valley, She spent her time visiting her next-door neighbour who had so many stories and loved art Maria would go and draw and paint there Maria's great grandfather was a lecturer and artist at the Belgium arts school and world-famous Glasgow School of art his painting was mosaic tiles. Maria is the middle child she has an older sister who returned back to Italy when she fell in love with an Italian and now lives in Milan the fashion capital of Europe and her two younger brothers live in Glasgow, As a young child, Maria was diagnosed with a rare bone disorder and spent many years under the care of the staff at the world-renowned Glasgow Royal infirmary of Sick Children Yorkhill for short, As a child, she was extremely shy and could not speak and she was bullied growing up she used art to escape that when she fell in love with performing her late mother let her join the drama club where she found her voice , After a few years of speech therapy, she being to open up In 1988 she won a two-week residential placement in a world-renowned after-school art programme that was the jewel in the crown of the Glasgow education department Her first love was theatre she comes from a background in Musical theatre which she honed her skills at the Glasgow School Musical youth theatre one of her former alumni was the actress Natalie Robb At the age of 18, she opened her own youth theatre project at her local community centre She never her Dyslexia dyscalculia ADHD suspected Autism which could be related to her bone disorder She was diagnosed when she was in 1st year at University. Being on the spectrum has made her who she is She trained in method acting in Glasgow with New York-based Art Connexion came over to Glasgow and Edinburgh and created a theatre company that performed at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival the biggest art festival in the world. She was offered a place at the company following two-year training she did a scene from Arthur Miller's play Playing for time she was given the role of Fania Fenelon based on her true life story PLAYING FOR TIME is the autobiography of FANIA (Goldstein) FENELONE, a french singer and musician, and survivor of the holocaust from Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp. it tells the story of her time in 1943 when she sang in a choir that would lead victims to the gas chambers. Following the scene with her scene partner, a customer maker with the Scottish Royal Opera during the powerful scene her scene partner broke character and the scene was done again but Maria never did. Following the scene and the amount of research that Maria and her scene partner did she was the only one invited to join the professional company following this Maria was targetted by an individual due to her disabilities and was told that no one would hire her or take her seriously The abuse and bullying become a lot to bare that she had to step out for a while a discussion that she has always rejected. She studied Marketing at the University of the West of Scotland. and completed over 1000 course She was part of the mountaineering group for 2 years she was the only girl she never let her disabilities get in the way as her disabilities don't define her she defines her In her second year, she directed her first play. and wrote her first script, During her early 20's she did a year with ERASMUS studying Business and Economics at the University of Genoa in Northern Italy. She became a member of Toonspeak Young people youth and later sat on the broad of directors as one of its founding members She worked in many different sectors of the creative arts She has worked for sky plc Uk branch now owned by parent company Comcast sky is one of the world's biggest telecommunication and broadcasters part-time for 17 years and has won many awards She was the former director of International Relations with Co-Director Evelyn Hills, for Marfa House Publishing part of Big Ben Productions LLC and her former role saw her as the branch manager of Lost Mine Films based in the US. she works remotely from the UK The film company covers documentaries, short films, feature films, book trailers music videos corporate videos animations web series TV series books comics and much more She handled international authors and graphic comics as well as a script consultant and sales agent for scriptwriters. She is also a freelance producer film director; 1st ad , set designer , music manager, event former music promoter and artist manager and a literary agent. She had a career as a social media and marketing promoter, booking agent, singer and model. She works as a talent manager developing and discovering new talents across the globe. She is an actress who had set up her own multimedia PR production literacy agency and was a former co -director of an online record label with Hop Artist EMAK BC and others. She helps to manage and work with music artists actors and crew across the Globe since the paramedic she moved away from this sector She is e a former alumnus of screenskills mentee 2021 programme her former mentor was a BBC producer who had many credits her faith in Maria She also won a place on Film 104 and Netflix with Screenskills Step up to Post Production Supervisor. She was selected to be part of the first-ever high-end amination budget clinic in the United Kingdom and was one of only a few chosen and she was the only freelancer chosen her mentor had over 30 years experience in amination She has been producing short films in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Next year her first novel will be published entitled The Gift set in Glasgow it's a supernatural thriller and her first debut feature film went in pre-production by the end of 2020 covid has delayed it and is in process of directing her first short film. She has worked with clients that have included the Author Clarie Voet Brian Hiller . In the past, she worked at Angel Artist as a PA researcher and assistant Music manager whose clients included Taylor Dayne and Tony Cowell. She had been part of Scare Scotland as an actress and was represented by several casting agencies. She was part of the Edinburgh Fringe festival Generation of Z show in 2014 as a Zombie. She is currently on the raise as one of the leading Independent filmmakers in Scotland and has started to expand across the globe and has been touted as one to watch. she has moved into a more development producing writing role her stories have a focus on the deaf disabled community they are original have twists multi Layered and will continue to write books too she has just a completed children's book on death following the death of her mother and father and she has written fantasy series set in Scotland a twist on the tale of Macbeth drama based on supernatural elements and Scotland is the most haunted place in the world with a mixture of true stories and multilayered characters and documentaries and will be returning to her first adult crime series novel Beyond Doubt set in Glasgow. This has been developed into a tv series that has been co-created with former BBC alumni Scottish Voice Amelia Nashe a multi-award-winning producer and writer Maria is a Neurodiversity champion for mental health stopping domestic violence for all genders she is now the head of inclusion disability acessabity for the Ramsgate International film and Television festival 2022 and will return for 2023 Maria is committed into bring changes into the industry and is fighting to get more deaf disabled neurodivergent talent behind and in front of the scenes and she an advocate to prevent suicide in the armed forces and also bring them into the industry once they have left the armed forces. and she actively campaigning for this as there are many shortages of trained professionals Maria has been campaigning with others to educate in hiring deaf and disabled neurodivergent talent lbqtplus Bame talent for more equality and more accessabity. She has been working and committed to advocating for mental health education climate change aminal rights disability Justice Human rights with her work as part of an organisation that collaborates with the United Nations her role in welfare and wellbeing and as part of their filming team will allow Maria to help highlight welfare issues and wellbeing issues and bring light to these issues using high-end drama film music art theatre amination she hopes in the future to be a commissioner for a small network mand bring stories from around the world and show all cultures