Wanda Maria Howell is an American actress and also a singer. Maria was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and graduated from Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Howell worked as a jazz singer and made her film debut in The Color Purple. She lived in Okinawa, Japan, from 1995-2001. She made guest appearances on the television series Drop Dead Diva, Army Wives, The Game, Necessary Roughness, and The Vampire Diaries, and as well as co-starred in films that include Daddy's ...