Mia Martinez wears many artistic hats, but for simplicity she calls herself a performer-choreographer. A true Minnesotan lake gal, she grew up in Detroit Lakes, MN and has had a lifelong love for telling stories through live performance. She attended the University of Minnesota — Duluth, fell head over heels in love with Lake Superior, and graduated with departmental honors in the spring of 2021, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with a minor in Applied Dance and a Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Psychology. She has since found her home in the beautiful city of Minneapolis where she currently lives & thrives.

Mia works both on-screen and onstage (with most of her work being done within the magic of live theatre and dance). She is especially drawn to pieces that advocate for a greater cause, new works, and all things musical theatre. She is also the co-founder of Budding Heads, a Minneapolis-based artistic production company started by Mia and her partner in life and work, Wesley Tilford.

While Mia feels most at home in the spotlight, throughout her career, she’s found a great thrill in expanding her all-around skillset as a theatre artist, and has also dabbled in choreography, dance education, movement direction, staging facilitation, dramaturgy, theatre marketing, scenic design, costuming, makeup design, props design, and set construction — the usual gamut run when one operates a growing production company.

In her very rare free time, Mia can be found practicing yoga, playing the piano, nose deep in a good book, or showering her cats — Hermes, Frank, & Floyd — with her love and affection.