Main Company:

Mary Benedict

Name: Clarissa Siobhan Ariadne Pacino III
Stage name: Mary Benedict
AKA: “Cheekbones McGee”

As soon as adorable baby Mary began to say her first syllables, it was clear she was destined for more than just spitting out gobs of Gerbers. When she grew to womanhood, “Cheekbones” began studying The Improv Craft at the School of Hard Knocks with some extra training at the Groundlings theater, Comedy Underground and Empty Stage Theater. A paralegal, published writer and former entertainment journalist, this versatile vixen has been a founding member of Jeff Michalski’s Beat to Beat troupe and of Bill Johnson’s Magic Meathands ensemble. Yet she still finds time for Magic Meathand sketch work, hitting the beach, and pulling boardgame all-nighters.
Turn-ons: Cashmere, broody actors and Democrats.
Turn-offs: Beets, crickets, and elevators.

Corey Blake

Before becoming a member of The Magic Meathands, Corey focused more on sketch comedy with The 3rd Floor: LA and Foe Pa. He has been seen in online videos from The Jeff Lewis 5-Minute Comedy Hour (Best Web Comedy-Episodic, Clicker.com) and Poopdog Entertainment, short films Tough Love (Official Selection, Festival de Cannes’ Short Film Corner) and Hattie Needs Rehab (Excellence in Performance, Extreme Filmmaker 48 Hour Film Festival), as well as on stage in an award-winning production of Chekov’s Three Sisters and Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. He has written and directed sketches for the Magic Meathands, Foe Pa and The 3rd Floor: LA. He also helped produce the award-winning documentary Dig Comics. For more, visit CoreyBlake.com.

Shane Boroomand

Shane Boroomand was born in Iran. He developed his sense of humor while growing up in Tehran, or as he calls it, the comedy capital of the Middle East. Shane has acted in, produced and directed short films, and now is obsessed with comedy improv. In fact, when Shane is not busy running his tax firm, he is busy preaching the gospel of improv to anyone who’ll listen. Shane also loves to travel (to the dismay of his clients), eat fatty foods (to the dismay of his wife) and waste time surfing the net (to the dismay of both his clients and his wife).

Liz Gill

As a native Angeleno and the only member of the troupe who can remember when City Hall was the tallest building downtown, Liz Gill brings decades of life experience to MMH’s shows. When you’ve lived as long as she has, comedy is the only option. Liz loves the transformative power of improv, that she can be any sex, any race, any age, even any species or object, and it’s all YESSED. Her other team sport is soccer. A writer by compulsion and profession, she also teaches part-time at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and strives to bring the zen of improvisation into all her activities. For more, visit www.elizabethgilland.com.

Paige Kimball

Paige Kimball is an actress, writer, and director. She started her career as a producer/director of documentaries and reality shows. Credits include “Project Greenlight,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “NASCAR Driver” and many more. Recent film directing and writing credits include “Slipped”, “OMG! I’m Knocked Up”, and “Divorce Party.” Acting credits include: “Curtain”, “OMG! I’m Knocked UP”, “Band of Mothers”, “The Agency”, “The Anniversary”, “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant” and numerous industrials and commercials. Paige has studied Improv at the Groundlings, and with Bill Johnson and she preforms improv regularly with The Magic Meathands. Recently she began to explore stand up comedy as another source of absolutely no income.

Jim Maloy

James Scott Maloy is a Canadian artist, designer, children’s author and film-maker who played an important role in the recognition of Inuit art and introduced printmaking to the Inuit. The name “Saumik” was attributed to him by the Inuit, which means “the left-handed one”. He fought in World War II with the Toronto Scottish Regiment receiving the Canadian Active Service Medal. After the war, he went to the Eastern Arctic to paint and lived there for twelve years. He was a Northern Service Officer and Civil Administrator of West Baffin Island. No, wait, that’s someone completely different. What were we talking about?

Marshall McGehee

Marshall loves to find the funny. She realized that when she started her improv journey at the Empty Stage. Originally, Marshall hails from Richmond, Virginia. She arrived in LA after living in a myriad of places including New York, London, San Francisco, and Wyoming – she loves both the great outdoors and concrete. She can be seen most recently in the upcoming CSI dvd game playing Kelly, who claims the girl was dead when she got there. More information can be found at http://resumes.actorsaccess.com/marshallmcgehee

Carol McLaine

Carol McLaine has ancestors and parents and cats. She likes to play and have fun, but otherwise is a very serious person. The Magic Meathands let her play and have more fun because they are nice like that.

 

Seth Rotkin

Seth was born in Los Angeles, making him one of the only actors never to take a bus there. He has performed improv all around the Pacific Rim, including Japan, Los Angeles, and San Diego with UCSD’s FOOSH. Seth has also acted in and written for sketch comedy shows. Seth likes to take relaxing breaks from working hard at improv and auditioning by working hard at golf and basketball. He’s relieved to finally be recognized by the public for having hands made out of meat.

Nikki Turner

Nikki Turner sings, writes and improvises. Annoyingly dependable and always on time, she admits her inability to properly perform the role of a Leo “artiste”. Instead, Nikki could easily be mistaken for a Virgo actuary. But she’s not bitter… just irritatingly optimistic and will carry on with faith in heart.

Alumni of the Main Company:

Carrie Aikman, Dawn Akemi, Sandie Bass, Ben Bates, Kathie Bostian, Heather Brumley, Kevin Callahan, Eric Field, Lauri Fraser, Lily Gatica, Phil Gibbs, Eric Chad Ho, Bill Johnson, Wendy Lee, Travis McElroy, Jason Palmer, Andrew Pari, Tara Powell, Carmen Rohde, Rodrigo Sáenz, Lara Sterling, Randy Turner, Tony V, Janet Villalba