(March 11, 2022) - "This is a new role," said actress Marita de Lara about her current role on ABC's "General Hospital" where she previously had a role. "This is a different role from the one I had in 2017 (which ran until 2021); she was the head of Pediatrics."

The Baltimore native plays Dr. Maria Fleming, a neonatologist, in the soap-opera "General Hospital" which is about life in upstate New York in a town called Port Charles. De Lara said growing up with a mother who was an OB/GYN doctor helped her prepare for her medical roles.

"It was 5 or 6 episodes. It was fun to do. I love it, a great group of people," she said about her experience on the "General Hospital" set.

Currently residing in Los Angeles Marita is an in-demand actress whose credits are long and include "Hawaii Five-O," "The Shield," "This is Us," NBC's "Days of Our Lives," CBS' "Bold and the Beautiful," and ABC's "Port Charles."

"I have a role on ‘Now and Then' on Apple TV+. I shot it in Miami. It was a bi-lingual set, the director is Spanish, so I had to listen really hard," she said lovingly. "It was nice."

A graduate of Syracuse University School of Drama, Marita is also trained in classical ballet at the Washington Ballet.

"I also have a role in a Hallmark project. I leave Sunday for Hawaii," de Lara added. "My bother just moved there! She is a wedding planner. It's happy and light."

I am also a native Baltimorean like Marita that resides in Los Angeles County so we talked about our hometown.

"You went to Morgan right? I grew up near Morgan," she informed me. "I was into dance, a storyteller of dance. I didn't know then it was acting. But when I saw West Side Story on TV I said I want to do that!"

So she set out to do just that. As most actors she started with extra roles. Marita said someone told her go to New York because extras get bumped up.

"So I did," she said. "I had one to two liners...It was nice. In New York for background actors, they are treated like actors."

An extra role in a Spike Lee Joint was one of her first extra roles once she made the move to New York.

"One of my first roles was an extra in Girl 6, with Spike Lee. He picked me," Marita added proudly. "It was three months of steady work. He was sweet and funny. Denzel Washington even stopped by the set. I said, ‘It's Denzel Washington!'...I couldn't breath." www.MaritadeLara.com