From Bethesda Magazine: An actor from Rockville appears on ‘The Pitt’

Mara Klein played a patient on the HBO Max hit series

May 11, 2026 11:22 a.m.

Mara Klein on the set of HBO Max’s hit series 'The Pitt.' Photo credit: Courtesy Mara Klein

Mara Klein spent a lot of her time on the set of HBO Max’s hit series The Pitt in the special effects makeup room dubbed “The Sanctuary.” Her character, Debbie Cohen, was suffering from severe pain, and in one scene, Dr. Robby, played by Noah Wyle, slices into her inflamed leg. But it’s a prosthetic leg, custom made for Klein, on the gurney while her real leg hangs through a hole in the bed. Klein appeared in three episodes of The Pitt, and in other scenes she had her leg painted pink to indicate an infection that had quickly become more serious.

Klein’s previous acting gigs hadn’t included special effects makeup. “[For other shows] you spend some time in the makeup trailer, you do your hair, you go to set, but getting to be part of [The Sanctuary]—and that is such a big part of that show. A lot of the other actors who are also dealing with special effects makeup are also in that room,” she says.

Growing up in Rockville, Klein took classes at Round House Theatre in Bethesda and Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo, eventually becoming a counselor and teacher at Adventure Theatre. She performed in shows at school, graduating from Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. “I was the kid who was like, ‘I want to be an actor,’ ” Klein says. “I never had anything else I wanted to be in my life.”

After majoring in drama at New York University, Klein moved to Los Angeles and started waiting tables, taking acting classes, going on auditions and interning at a casting office.

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She landed her first television credit in 2014, on the ABC show Suburgatory, playing a restaurant hostess and delivering one line. She started acting in local theater and also got a role as the young version of actor Michaela Watkins on the Hulu series Casual in 2017.

Each time Klein got a role, she was hopeful her career would really take off. “It is like I have this momentum, and just because of it, it doesn’t lead to where you thought it was going to lead. But you’re still at it, and I’m still at it today,” she says.

Klein started an audition coaching business in 2018 and continued to pursue acting, landing small roles on Netflix’s The Upshaws and NBC’s Suits LA.

“The audition I ended up booking on The Pitt was my fifth audition for the show,” Klein says. “It felt like a life-changing booking, because it’s my first time getting to do multiple episodes. … I knew it was such an amazing caliber of acting that I was going to be a part of.”

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine