María Luisa Garita
Biography
María Luisa "Lulú" Garita is a Costa Rican actress, performance artist, and educator. Selected for Berlinale Talents 2025, Garita stars as Vilma in Bye Bye, Paraíso (2026), directed by Kim Elizondo Navarro, which premiered in the Official Selection of the Málaga Film Festival. The film marks her first leading role in a feature-length motion picture. Since beginning her stage career in 2006, Garita has appeared in more than thirty theatre productions while developing a parallel practice in performance art and voice work. She holds degrees in Dramatic Arts and Political Science from the University of Costa Rica, as well as a Master's degree in Cultural Project Management and Entrepreneurship, and teaches acting at the University's School of Dramatic Arts.
Known For & Full Filmography5 Titles
Movie - 2019, 2h 15m • as Magdalena
This beautifully integrated, multi-threaded narrative seamlessly interweaves six stories set in radically different locations across Central America, ranging from the tropical forests of Guatemala to the skyscrapers of Panama City. When a solar storm leaves the region without power, myriad dramas unfold over the course of five days during which all conveniences of modernity are stripped away. In Costa Rica, a pastor and his daughter worry for the future of their church, while in El Salvador, a grandmother and grandson make an arduous journey into the city. A husband and wife reconnect in Honduras, as a young couple nurses a mysterious stranger back to health in Guatemala. Meanwhile, in Nicaragua, a young woman prepares for her quinceañera and in Panama, a housekeeper grows exasperated with her demanding employer.
Movie - 2019, 2h 15m • as Verónica
A modern dancer must learn to juggle love, family, and her career while she auditions for a prestigious foreign dance company.
Movie - 2013, 2h 15m • as Maestra
The Nicaraguan border in the eighties. Eleven-year-old Claudia and her younger sister experience the street fighting at first hand outside their car window. Their parents are Sandinista activists and, although the family is now escaping to neighbouring Costa Rica, the struggle continues. Their parents fire off terse commands and the girls are packed off to their relatives. The film focuses on the point of view of the two sisters, who are very close, as they learn more than they are able to cope with, but too little really to understand. A revolutionary struggle, seen through the eyes of children.
Movie - 2010, 2h 15m • as Lulú
A group of friends decide to make a documentary about the ghosts that are supposed to be haunting The Sanatorium in Costa Rica, things get creepy when the arrive to the place.
Movie - 2010, 2h 15m • as Anita
Surprised by an unexpected witness, robbers murder a woman who curses them. Little do they know of her connection with a treacherous sect indeed. Their chosen location to hide the loot turns out to be an adventure lodge where the owners are offered a talisman that supposedly grants wishes. Naively, they wish for a sum of money. Next day their beloved son unexpectedly dies. The exact sum they wished for is offered in accident insurance. Coincidence, or fate? The event lures the couple into a downward spiral. Meanwhile, the robbers are drawn to members of the sect who succeed in seducing and hideously murdering two of them, but one escapes. The owner comes upon the loot. It is again the exact same amount that he has rejected from the insurance company. Now convinced of the power of this amulet and incapable of escaping the consequences of their wish, the mother, gone mad, forces her husband to make a final wish: to bring their son back to life.