Julianna Rose Mauriello was born in Irvington, New York on a glorious spring morning, May 26, 1991. Always singing, she appeared as a child in Party Scene of The Nutcracker at SUNY Purchase, asleep under the Christmas tree. Her fascination with performing continued to grow as she first watched her sisters and brother participate in Pleasantville High School’s musical theater productions, and later joined them on stage as one of the Snow children in a performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. A summer at French Woods Performing Arts Festival cemented her affection for the stage, leading to an introduction to prominent theatrical agent, Nancy Carson, and her first professional role as Li’l Titch in the 2002 revival of another Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, Oklahoma!.
To be closer to her work, she and the family moved into Manhattan. Julianna began attending Professional Performing Arts School where she is currently an honor student. Following her first professional stage experience, further appearances included Gypsy: A Musical Fable with Bernadette Peters, understudying several roles including Baby June, and New York City Center Encores!®, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. In addition to her stage work, she made commercials and specialty films, working for Volvo, Wendy’s, AstraZeneca (Nexium), and Disney Entertainment.
In a twist worthy of entertainment lore, the original girl cast to star in a new Nickelodeon TV show declined to continue with the project. As a result, her agent put Julianna up for the role of ‘Stephanie’ in LazyTown, a fresh, funny show blending music, movement and healthful messages for young children, now a mainstay of Nick Jr.’s pre-school programming. The show’s creator, Icelander Magnus Scheving, selected Julianna for her unique mix of talent and energy as an ideal nucleus for the show’s positive messages. In connection with her work on LazyTown, Ms. Mauriello relocated to Iceland to shoot episodes for three seasons, learning Icelandic in the process; appeared as a presenter on Iceland’s Edda Awards; and has made live and/or broadcast appearances in 70 countries on 5 continents.
In 2006, she was selected by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences as a nominee for its Daytime Emmy Award, “Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Series”. The world continues to reward LazyTown’s upbeat message with many accolades and awards, the most recent being a nomination in the ‘International’ category by the British Academy of Film & Television Arts for its upcoming 2006 Children’s’ BAFTA.
