STORY BY LAUREN SPEIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY BY KENNEDI KOOZER HAIR/MAKEUP BY KAREN BRODY STYLING BY p.45
MIRANDA RAE MAYO is a jack of all trades, and a kind, charming, and vivacious one at that. Miranda recalls her earliest years with a smile that I can hear through the phone; she can trace her passion for performance back to her childhood. “When I was three or four, there was this tree stump near our family’s house and Snow White was my favourite movie, so in the morning I would go and stand on this stump and I would sing at the top of my lungs. I remember being nervous and then I’d look around and when nobody was telling me to be quiet I’d just get louder and louder. So, that’s not acting but it is performing; getting up on my own stump stage and commanding attention.” Miranda’s most current role is her ongoing portrayal of Stella Kidd on NBC’sChicago Fire, and I was interested to see what she enjoys most about playing this fiery character. “I enjoy the physicality that playing her demands. It is such a welcome challenge,” she says. “I love the community aspect of the world that she lives in. I love the firehouse and the comradery between all of the members of the house. She is a shyster and she’s really funny. She’s always up for a good scheme and that’s really fun to play.” Of all the roles she’s had, Miranda feels she has had the most opportunity for growth through playing Stella: “I’ve taken away something different from every project I’ve worked on but this one I’ve been in a relationship with the longest. Every role that I’ve done though has been beneficial and impactful. It’s like asking which one of your lovers has been the most impactful. I think you learn something different every time you enter into a relationship, whether it’s with a person or a project.”
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