Mary Chieffo

Chieffo was born and grew up in the neighborhood of Valley Village, Los Angeles in California, only daughter of actors Michael Chieffo and Beth Grant.[2] Her acting debut was at the age of three when she played a sleeping girl in Sandra Bullock's short film Making Sandwiches, in which her mother also had a role, and later acted in various TV shows and short and feature films. As a child, she attended Shakespeare theater camp at the Theatricum Botanicum, where she performed in a variety of shows including Antony and Cleopatra.

She attended the Drama division of Juilliard School in New York City, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2015. One of her classmates was future Star Trek: Discovery castmate Mary Wiseman.[4] Her first high profile acting position was on Star Trek: Discovery, where she played the recurring character of L'Rell, a Klingon warrior and spy who becomes leader of the Klingon Empire at the end of Season 1.[5] Her writing and producing debut was Operation Othello, a virtual reality adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello, where she also plays Lt. Iago in a gender twist from the original play.[6]

Chieffo came out publicly as a lesbian on the red carpet prior to the Star Trek Day event held September 8, 2021, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California.[7] A few days later, she confirmed via her Twitter feed that she was dating writer and actor Madi Goff.[8]

• Mary Chieffo at IMDb