Maria and Peggy Lark: A Magical Mother and Daughter Team that Rock!

Written by Elyse Wilk

This extraordinary story begins ten years ago when Peggy Lark, a successful behind the scenes TV executive and part-time actress decided to fulfill her life’s dream and become a mother. She traveled over seas to acquire her beautiful, blue eyed, curly blond haired, cherubic baby girl and bring her back to her new home in New York City.

From the time Maria was an infant Peggy knew that there was something exceptional about her daughter. At the age of two Maria was already speaking in full sentences and had logical discussions with her mother about where she would prefer to dine that evening; this was while Peggy was pushing Maria in her baby stroller. Peggy was even asked by passersby if Maria was a thirty-year-old in a baby’s body. At five, Maria was scholastically tested for entrance to private school and her superior intellect and articulate verbal skills were reconfirmed by her high scores. Maria began her elementary education at the fiercely competitive Trinity School in Manhattan.

The rest of the story about Peggy and Maria is almost too unbelievable to be believed but I swear to you, it is all true. First ask yourself this, do you believe in serendipity? A talent manager called Peggy in New York about Maria, he had seen an audition tape she had made earlier for another project on the East Coast and was looking for someone for a new show he was doing on the west coast. He complained to Peggy, “If only I could find a child in LA just like your daughter Maria, I’d be all set. She’d be perfect!”

Peggy carefully weighed the pros and cons before reluctantly consenting to her daughter’s involvement in the TV pilot. Well, that TV pilot turned out to be the hit show Medium on NBC. Maria is the character Bridgett, who is the middle child of the based on real life detective-clairvoyant Allison Dubois (Patricia Arquette). Maria has also met with the real life Allison Dubois and she was extremely impressed.

Peggy wisely does not allow the sparkle of stardom to cast a hex upon her daughter who remains incredibly grounded and unaffected by her successful career. I sat down with mother and daughter to find out what makes this team work so well.

When asked if her friends know how famous she is, Maria shrugged her shoulders and said, “No not really, most of them go to bed around 9:00 and the show doesn’t go on until 10:00.” Then we finished a snack together of really excellent chocolate chip cookies and milk while her mother finished putting away the groceries. About five minutes after the cookies were consumed it was obvious to me that we needed to continue the interview outside in the yard because Maria’s energy level had just shot-up exponentially. Maria presented me with a replica of the light-saber from Star Wars that had been given to her as a gift by Patricia Arquette. We battled with the light-sabers for about fifteen minutes, at which point I had to concede the match to my opponent. It was not due to my lack of skill but rather that I was exhausted and couldn’t keep up with Maria’s energy and needed to catch my breath.

Maria put away the light-sabers and brought out her razor scooter from the garage. She immediately impressed me with her skill and balance as she glided by us in fast tight circles on the driveway. Just then the UPS truck pulled up and the driver delivered a small package to Peggy who was still sitting on the front steps with us. The UPS driver waved to Maria while she ran a circle around him and he said, “Hey Maria, you were awesome Monday on The View!” Maria just made her second appearance on The View as its youngest guest co-host in the TV show’s history. Maria smiled bashfully and said, “Thanks”. Then she rode away at lightning speed down the street and was back in the blink of an eye.

Although the TV show and Maria’s career are both doing extremely well, Peggy’s roots are still planted back east but for the time being they both happily consider TV land as their new home. Recently, Maria made her fourth appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Maria’s life is truly magical, as all she did was mention to Jay Leno during an earlier interview with him that she is in love with Orlando Bloom and voila he brings her back on the show to meet Orlando Bloom. If at the age of ten you’ve already elbow rubbed with George Clooney and were old friends with Barbara Walters and Jay Leno who would you be really impressed to have had the good fortune to run into? The answer is of course, “Bindi Sue Irwin!”

It would be difficult not to recognize the fact that Maria is a very happy old soul living in the body of a ten year old. She went on to elaborate that she has her eye on one particular Ivy League school and told me that my alma mater, Wellesley is completely off her list because it’s “all girls.” She’s ten! But for the moment her greatest desire is that her mother would agree to adopt or buy her a hypoallergenic dog-she loves dogs! And that someday she could see herself doing something with animals.

One of Peggy’s many goals in life is to see that her deceased mother’s songbook filled with wonderful music from an era long gone, will be eventually published and then performed on Broadway. Peggy finished the script of a full length musical featuring her favorite compositions from her mother’s repertoire. She said, “They just don’t write music anymore the way the used to.”

I can feel a strong premonition coming on and my prediction is that it won’t be long from now before Peggy’s musical will make its grand debut on the stage and become a great big hit!

Photos by: Karen Ray
To contact her go to http://www.karenrayphotography.com