Full Bio

Monika M. Milani is a Filipino and Persian American Voice Actor, Singer, and Theater Artist. She has been active in the Portland Theater community since she moved in 2023, with an ongoing emphasis on new musical works. Soon after graduating with her Theater Arts B.A. at UC Santa Cruz, she moved to Portland to serve as an Acting Apprentice at Portland Playhouse. Monika combined her academic studies in History, Anthropology, Spirituality and Sound Design with her love of all things performance-related in her devised solo piece, These Grains of Rice, where she explores and honors the stories that created the generational lessons passed on by her ancestors, in all its glory and complexity. 

Her biggest performance strengths are her expressive and dynamic voice, grounded and strong stage presence, an innate knack for comedic timing [sometimes. usually. :)], and range that can span from gospel-singing ex-convict man (Mitch Mahoney - 25th APCSB), to heartbroken and hopeful divorcee (Cathy - TL5Y), to a 12-year-old ghost child from the 30's. 

Monika has been an active part of the Anime and Video Game con-going (and cosplay) community since 2011, where she goes by the pen name ‘munkalanii’. She recently fulfilled a longtime goal of participating in a performance competition at a beloved convention, and won the Grand Prize for Anime Los Angeles 21’s Next Top Star contest singing Tot Musica by Ado. Academically, Monika has a history of organizing collaborative groups to produce performances from the ground up to encourage expression through art, and continues to enthusiastically jump into every collaborative artistic opportunity with the same gusto. With this, she intends to produce cosplay-concerts, where amateurs and professionals can collaborate in bringing performances, as beloved anime-related characters, to life.