After being cast as Carly Tenney Snyder in As the World Turns in 1995, Maura West rocketed to popularity. The part not only launched the actress’s acting career, but also gave birth to her current family.
Maura West received his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Boston University. Through a college play in Boston, she attracted the casting director’s notice for As the World Turns.
She married director Jonathan Knight the same year she was cast in the program. Their marriage lasted four years, and their son Benjamin Crawford West Knight was born in June 1996.
Relationship Status
As the World Turns was known for having co-stars who frequently fell in love. Colleen Zenk Pinter and Mark Pinter, Kelley Menighan Hensley, and Jon Hensley were all cast members who met through the play.
West, who was separated from Knight in 1999, had the same thing. The actress married Scott DeFreitas, who plays Andy Dixon on the program, on January 22, 2000. Because she is a major admirer of the New York Yankees, DeFreitas proposed to her at Yankee Stadium.
On March 29, 2000, she gave birth to her first child with DeFreitas, son Joseph Peter DeFreitas (Joe West), just a few months after they married. Katherine Marie, her second child and first daughter with DeFreitas, was born on January 9, 2002, just days before her and DeFreitas’ second anniversary.
West and her actor husband added two additional children to their family: boy Basil John DeFreitas (born January 30, 2007) and daughter Birdie DeFreitas (born January 30, 2008). (born June 16, 2009).
Basil, Maura West’s son, suffers from autism
For a long time, West has been a strong supporter of people with autism. Basil John DeFreitas, her son, also has autism, and she frequently uses social media to express her love for him.
On April 2, 2021, she celebrated World Autism Awareness Day by posting two photos of Basil on Twitter and referring to him as her hero.
Two young actors are pursuing their dreams of becoming actors. Two of her children, son Joe West and daughter Katherine, are also interested in performing.
Joe debuted as a professional actor in 2013 when he was cast in NBC’s Sound of Music. It was a three-hour production based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway version of The Sound of Music from 1959. Joe was cast with Carrie Underwood and Stephen Moyer, along with six other young performers. The seven young actors portrayed the children of Captain Georg von Trapp (Moyer), who are being cared for by a young governess named Maria (Underwood).
Joe has also appeared in films such as The Crazy Ones (2014), Boychoir (2014), and Ruff-Ruff Tweet and Dave (2015). Katherine is pursuing a BFA in acting at the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Theatre Arts. West shared the happy news on Instagram and expressed her enthusiasm for her daughter’s future plans.
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