Who is Marla Sokoloff?
A singer and actress with over 60 credits to her name, Marla Sokoloff rose to prominence thanks to her role as Lucy Hatcher in the drama series “The Practice”, which brought her and the rest of the cast three award nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
Besides the aforementioned role, Marla has been seen acting in numerous popular series, including “Desperate Housewives”, “Full House”, and “Fuller House”, among others.
Early life and education
Marla Lynne Sokoloff was born in 1980, she celebrates her birthday on 19 December, and if you wondered about her zodiac sign, it’s Sagittarius. She was born and raised in San Francisco, California USA; her citizenship is American, while her ethnicity is of mixed German and Russian-Jewish descent.
Marla was raised alongside her brother Jared, by their father Doctor Howard Sokoloff, and their mother, Cindi Sussman, who was a caterer.
Being interested in performing from an early age, Marla moved to Los Angeles, California, and there she attended Los Angeles County High School of the Arts. She studied music and theatre, and her first love was singing and playing guitar. Marla was the lead vocal and guitarist for the band called Smittin, and subsequently began performing in Los Angeles clubs under her name.
Speaking of her educational background, after she matriculated from high school in 1998, she didn’t go to college but decided to pursue her music and acting career.
Roles in movies
Marla was noticed by a talent-agent during her elementary school days, however, her mother thought that she was too young to choose that path in her life, so Marla made her acting debut aged 13, in the romantic comedy “So I Married an Axe Murderer”, although her role was uncredited.
However, two years later, Marla was cast to play Rachel French in the TV movie “Freaky Friday”, followed by her role as Vicki Giordano in “True Crime”, also starring Kevin Dillon, Alicia Silverstone, and Bill Nunn. Next, in the same year, Marla was seen as Cokie Mason in “The Baby-Sitters Club”.
In 1997, Marla was cast to play Leslie Himes in “A Hero’s Climb”, while her next role came in 2000 when she starred as Maggie in “Whatever It Takes”. She followed with her role as Wilma in “Dude, Where’s My Car”, which is her most notable movie role to date. This science-fiction mystery comedy starring Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner, and Seann William Scott has six award nominations.
Later, during the early 2000s, she mostly had supporting roles in movies, such as “Freshman Orientation” (2004), “Crazy Love” (2005), and “Play the Game” (2009).
In 2011, Marla was cast to play the lead role of Marianne Dashwood in “Scents and Sensibility” – although the movie had no nominations, it was well rated by the public. In the same year, she was seen starring as Wendy in the romantic drama “The Chateau Meroux”, opposite Barry Watson.
Next, Marla starred in the 2012 TV movie “A Christmas Wedding Date”, followed by her role in “Do You Take This Man”, which followed the story of a gay couple who went through real drama on the evening before their wedding day. The movie was nominated for Cleveland International Film Festival Award for Best American Independent Feature Film, in 2017.
Marla’s most recent movie roles were in “A Happening of Monumental Proportions” (2017), “The Road Home for Christmas” (2019), and “Home, But Not Alone”, a short drama written and directed by herself, released in 2020.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=785890761855641&paipv=0&eav=AfaGQQSIylLWDbD3sP4jtikk8FnSr9xY5F-PfFHP2161CZ8hCmKsYH0Ds4Fc7UZBe-Q
Roles in series
Marla made her first television appearance portraying Paige in the 1993 series “Boy Meets World” – although she was originally cast to play Topanga, the part was given to Danielle Fisher. However, Marla landed the part of Gia in the popular sitcom “Full House”, a recurring role from 1993 until 1995.
In 1995 and 1996, she was seen as Jody Lynch in “Party of Five”, concurrently playing guest roles in “3rd Rock from the Sun” and “Home Improvement” in 1995.
In 1997, Marla was cast to play Gwen Martin in 11 episodes of “Over the Top”, followed by her role as Lucy Hatcher in “The Practice” from 1998 until 2004, appearing in 113 episodes. The series followed the story of cases of attorneys who served at a Boston law firm; it had 117 award nominations and won 58, including 15 Primetime Emmys; the stars of the series were Dylan McDermott, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Kelli Williams.
Marla guest-starred as Claire in three episodes of the series “Desperate Housewives” during 2004 and 2005, then was seen as Alice in 12 episodes of “Big Day” (2006-2007), and concurrently made an appearance as Molly Clark in “Modern Men”(2006).
In the following years, she was seen in the TV mini-series “Meteor” and “Maneater” in 2009, and then Marla co-starred in “The Fosters” in 2014. She had a guest role in the series “Grey’s Anatomy” (2015) before she reprised her role as Gia in the spin-off from “Full House”, entitled “Fuller House” from 2016 until 2020.
Wishing Marla Sokoloff (Gia on Full House and Fuller House) a Happy Birthday 🎈🎂🎉 today!#fullhouse #marlasokoloff #giamahann #fullerhouse #happybirthday pic.twitter.com/bGsZ7EzE54
— OMHCFullHouse/FullerHousePodcast (@omhcfullhouse) December 19, 2020
Love life and marriage
Being a celebrity means that almost every aspect of your life is under the spotlight, and speaking of Marla, she’s managed to keep her personal life under wraps. We do know that she is married and that before she met her future husband, she was in a long-term relationship with the famous actor, James Franco. The two met on the set for the 2000 movie “Whatever It Takes“, and their relationship lasted until 2004.
Marla hasn’t shared much details about how and when she met her future husband, Alec Puro, however, it’s known that they married on 8 November 2009. Alec is an American musician, known best as the drummer of the band Deadsy.
They became parents for the first time on 8 February 2012, when Marla gave birth to their daughter, Elliote Anne, and their second daughter, Olive Mae was born on 13 March 2015. We’re happy to share a piece of great news with Marla’s fans who wondered what happened to her, and why she withdrew from public life. Well, Marla was pregnant, and gave birth to their third daughter named Harper Bea on 6 February 2022.
Judging by her Instagram account, it seems that Marla devotes her time to raising her daughters.
Age, measurements, and net worth
Marla’s age is 41, and her trademark is her long brown hair and piercing blue eyes; currently, her weight is unknown (since she recently gave birth), however, what we know is that she stands at the height of 5ft 2ins (1.57m) and that her vital statistics were 36-26-36.
If you wondered about Marla’s net worth, authoritative sources report that it has been estimated at over $500,000.
