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Who is Tristin Mays?
Her journey in the entertainment industry began at a young age, and she’s since established herself as a versatile and respected performer. Tristin Mays is an actress with over 30 acting credits to her name, and has delivered impressive performances in various roles throughout her career, however, it was her portrayal of Riley Davis in the hit TV series “MacGyver” that truly catapulted her into the spotlight.
Movie lovers will probably recognize her as Charlotte in the movie “Breathe”, which earned her the FirstGlance Film Fest Hollywood Award for Best Actress (Short). Fans and industry insiders continue to watch her career with interest to see what new and exciting roles she will take on in the future. We are here to tell you all about her life, her career, and what she’s doing now.
Early life, family, and education
Born Tristin Michelle Mays under the zodiac sign of Gemini on 10 June 1990, in New Orleans, Louisiana USA, she holds American nationality and comes from a family of Native American and African-American descent. Raised by her parents Viveca and Michael, alongside her elder sister Jeryn, who is also an actress, their father was in the military, so the family often moved. They lived in New York City until Tristin was 13 years old, and then moved to Moreno Valley, California.
While living in New York City, Tristin began modeling with the Ford Modeling Agency, and was one of the top child models, appearing in several national commercials, including for Hershey’s and McDonald’s. She made her stage debut performing as Young Nala in a Broadway production of Disney’s “The Lion King”.
When it comes to Tristin’s educational background, she attended Vista del Lago High School, and upon matriculating in 2008, she didn’t go to college but pursued her acting career.
Roles in movies
Tristin made her first movie appearance playing Angel in the critically acclaimed TV movie “Harambee!” in 1996. Her next movie role came in 2011 when she was seen in the short drama “Hot Dog Water”. In the following year, Tristin made her big-screen debut playing Isabel in the family comedy “Thunderstruck”, also starring Kevin Durant, Jim Belushi and Taylor Gray.
Later in 2012, Tristin landed her first lead role in the comedy-drama “She Is Not My Sister”, which followed the story of a high school girl whose life changed after her single father returned from a vacation married to the mother of her high school enemy. Although the movie had no nominations, it was well accepted and rated by the audience (7.9/10).
Tristin was next seen as a Cute Bridesmaid in the 2015 comedy “The Wedding Ringer”, starring Kevin Hart, Kaley Cuoco and Josh Gad, followed by her role as Rosalyn in the TV movie “Night of the Wild”, later that year.
She starred opposite Erik Palladino and Vanessa Lengies in the 2016 horror comedy “Happy Birthday” before her role as Charlotte in the 2019 short drama “Breathe”, which followed the story of a woman battling with her inner demons. According to critics, Tristin’s performance in this movie ‘gets the tears flowing’, and has also showcased her range as an actress.
Most recently, she was seen in the 2020 TV movie “The Christmas Sitters”, and as promised, her future projects include Tristin being back on the big screen with the movie entitled “The Comic Shop”, which is currently in development and set to be released late in 2023.
Roles in series
Tristin made her first TV series appearance playing Shaina in the 1997 series “Gullah, Gullah Island”, and was seen in 16 episodes of this family show, which was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Series.
Tristin’s next TV series roles came in 2001 when she landed the recurring role as Robin Dixon in “Alias”, in five episodes between 2001 and 2004. She followed with guest roles in “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide” (2006) and “Everybody Hates Chris” (2008) before she was cast to play Taylor Bell in the series “Private”, making an appearance in 12 episodes in 2009.
'MacGyver' Star Tristin Mays Teases Season Finale: 'My Character Gets Very Bloody' (Video) https://t.co/80iWTvuSwn pic.twitter.com/V14qidptgI
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) April 14, 2017
In the following years, Tristin had recurring roles in various TV shows, including “The Vampire Diaries” and “Supergirl”. Her appearances in these popular series helped solidify her reputation as a talented actress in the industry.
Tristin’s most notable role, to date, came when she was cast to play Riley Davis in the re-boot of the classic TV series “MacGyver”, which aired from 2016 to 2021. In the series, she portrayed a computer hacker and field agent, a member of the Department of External Services, starring opposite Lucas Till and Justin Hires. Tristin was seen in all 94 episodes of this action-adventure drama, which had eight award nominations (one for Primetime Emmy) and won five, including the Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Show: Action.
Love life and husband
Tristin keeps her personal life relatively private, so there is limited information available about her relationships, however, she once stated that she’s bisexual. The rumors about her being married seem to be false; Tristin hasn’t confirmed speculations about her husband.
She was romantically linked to an American professional soccer player DeAndre Yedlin, who plays for the Major League Soccer club, Inter Miami. There have been rumors saying that the two are dating, which started after their joint photo began circulating the internet, however, neither Tristin nor DeAndre spoke about these assumptions. The rumors stopped when Deandre married Crystal Ann Rodriguez in January 2023.
We visited Tristin’s Instagram to try to find more info about her love life, however, we didn’t have much luck. She mostly posts about her work.
As of September 2023, it seems that Tristin is single.
Age, height, and net worth
This 33-year-old actress is known for her petite figure – Tristin is 5ft 4ins (1.62m) tall and weighs around 115lbs (52kgs) with vital statistics of 34-25-35.
According to sources, while acting in the series “MacGyver”, Tristin’s salary was around $30,000 per month, and as of September 2023, her net worth has been estimated at $1 million.
