Walsh was born in Seattle, Washington[1] to a Brazilian mother and an American father.[2] Her family moved to São Paulo, Brazil when she was one year old[3] where Portuguese became her first language. Walsh has said she was bullied as a child. After a few years, they moved back to Seattle where Maiara took an interest in music and the arts, diving into every musical and play offered by her school. At 11, she moved to Simi Valley, California, to pursue her acting career and graduated from Royal High School.[4][5]
Walsh was the female lead in the television series Zombieland as Wichita, taking over the role from Emma Stone.[6] After the pilot episode, the series was not picked up.
Walsh had a recurring part starting in 2012 as Simone Sinclair, a former friend of Bay Kennish, a one-night stand with Emmett Bledsoe, friend / ex-girlfriend of Toby Kennish, and ex-girlfriend of Wilkie, in Switched at Birth.
In 2019, Walsh starred in the Lifetime film Identity Theft of a Cheerleader as Vicky Patterson, a woman in her 30’s who pretends to be a high school student to have a second chance at education and becoming a Cheerleader. Walsh’s character was modeled after the real-life case of Wendy Brown.[7] In 2020, she starred in Lifetime original movie Killer Dream Home alongside John DeLuca.[8]
