Victoria Exconde is Maria in “Maria and the Mennos”

Winnipeg  local actress,  dancer  and stage performer Victoria Exconde  brings life to the character of  Maria Mendoza-Friesen  in the upcoming   Manitoba-made  rom-com TV series “Maria and the Mennos”.

After opening a casting call in July,  co-creator Hazel Wallace revealed on  92.7  FM CKJS   that  Victoria will  lead the casts  as   Maria, an extrovert, independent Canada-born Filipino woman and  fashion designer  who moved in with her  Mennonite  in-laws  after getting married to their son Nate- to be playef by Kenton Dyck, a local actor and  radio host in Steinbach.

(Photo Credit: Maria and the Mennos)

Acting for the first time on TV,  Victoria shared,   “I  am excited and also nervous to play a character that is so similar  to me and to be working with such a talented cast and crew. It is going to be fun!”

While fairly new to acting,  Victoria, who is also a teacher,  is  veteran in  performing arts and competitive level dance.  She is a professional dancer trained in jazz, ballet,  modern,  theatre  jazz, and  hip hop.   Victoria  graduated from   The School of Contemporary Dancers  and  has performed with Nafro Dance Productions, BOSS Dance Team, Winnipeg Blue Bomber Cheer and Dance Team, to name a few.

Victoria later on  ventured into musical theatre upon the influence of her husband Robin Jordan.  She then  started taking voice lessons under  Joy Lazo, a  local singer and  respected  voice coach in the community.

“I did a reading for Joseph the  Musical and  Mabuhay three years ago.   That was the turning point of my performance career.  Since that reading,  I got interested in pursuing  arts more seriously but  the pandemic happened.”

Maria and the Mennos  has  an all Manitoba casting and like Victoria, most  casts are having their oncam  acting debut.

Theatre performers  Erna Peters and  Chuck Fetchak were casted as Maria’s  Mennonite  in-laws Sarah and Chuck Friesen.    Aside from Victoria,  other Fil-Can actors in the casts include Joseph Sevillo  who plays Angelo,  Maria’s brother.  A  theatre actor/singer/dancer and teacher,    Joseph  has  performed in professional musicals across North America.