When Mary Votava puts on a monkey suit, it’s more than just a euphemism.
The 28-year-old Kirkland native’s brown-and-yellow outfit is complete with bananas on her belt that turn into weapons that regularly save the world. It’s what “Monkey Woman” does.
Votava is one of the finalists on the Sci-Fi Channel’s upcoming reality competition, “Who Wants to be a Superhero?” Legendary comic book writer Stan Lee is on board with the project and is promising to make a comic book based on the winner of the competition. Some of Monkey Woman’s competition includes “Major Victory,” “Fat Momma” and “Nitrog,” who each impressed the judges enough to move into the thousands-deep group that battles for the grand prize.
You can see more about the show here: http://www.scifi.com/superhero/
Votava, whose true profession is in the investing world, is an aspiring actress and singer, but that isn’t what drove her to don her outfit in hopes of becoming the next action hero.
“All my life, I’ve always been a tomboy, climbing trees. I loved playing outside,” she said. “Somewhere along the line I developed this fantastic ability to imitate animal sounds. The monkey was just the beginning. I do a fantastic goat, sheep, cow, whale, peacock, you name it.”
Although she moved to Los Angeles a year and a half ago, her Pacific Northwest memories come easily to mind as she reminisces about the development of her character.
“My parents used to have this really tall tree in the front yard,” she said. “I used to climb so high that I could see across the lake and see the city (of Seattle).”
At this point, the question of whether “Superhero” becomes her big break is irrelevent.
“It doesn’t really have a lot to do with acting because it’s a reality show, but publicity is never a bad thing,” she said. “It wasn’t really a question for me, because I’m so thrilled with the idea of being a superhero. If it works out (and I win), great. But I could care less because I’m just having so much fun.”
“Who Wants to be a Superhero” premieres at 9 p.m. on July 27 on Sci-Fi.
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