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Who Plays Alec Mercer's Ex-Wife in The Irrational? All About Maahra Hill
Maahra Hill plays FBI Agent Marisa Clark in The Irrational, and there's a good chance you've seen her in some big-name shows.
As the old saying goes, behind every good man is a great woman, which was once (and perhaps still is) the case for The Irrational’s Alec Mercer.
Who is Marisa Clark?
Maahra Hill plays FBI Agent Marisa Clark, the sound and grounded ex-wife to the show’s main character, behavioral psychology professor Alec Mercer (Jesse L. Martin). Despite a budding romance between Marisa and the cool and collected FBI Agent Jace Richards (Brian King), she is still the anchor to Alec as he navigates his personal life and his cases.
In September, Hill spoke with NBC Insider about what initially appealed to Marisa about Alec.
“The thing that intrigued her about Alec — his brilliance and his understanding of human behavior, the things that are intricate details about what could solve a case, his charming nature, his ability to captivate an audience, were all very captivating to her,” said Hill. “But when you live with it in close quarters for a long period of time and what you need really is more emotional availability from a person who’s been traumatized and not really able to get to that part of themselves, it becomes difficult.”
Although Alec, as of Season 1, Episode 9, is pursuing a relationship with Rose Dinshaw (Karen David), Hill previously said that the exes share “a special connection” throughout the series.
What to Know About Actress Maahra Hill
Hill is best known for starring as the titular character in Delilah, a legal drama that ran in 2021 for eight episodes. Hill played southern attorney Delilah Connelly in the series, alongside co-stars Jill Marie Jones, Susan Heyward, and Ozioma Akagha.
Delilah had Greenleaf creator Craig Wright at the helm, with Oprah Winfrey as executive producer.
Over the years, Hill has had guest appearances on some big-name shows. In 2019, she appeared on How to Get Away with Murder and Black-ish. In 2020, Hill snagged a guest role in The L Word: Generation Q.
With dozens of acting credits to her name, Hill’s onscreen history dates back to the early 2000s, per her IMDB page, and has included minor roles in Modern Family, Jane the Virgin, and Beyond the Shield.
Playing FBI Agent Marisa Clark in The Irrational is Hill’s latest role, and one of her biggest to date. With co-star Travina Springer, who plays Alec Mercer’s sister, Kylie, Hill discussed her part in The Irrational when speaking with Perception Magazine’s Michael Cox in January 2024.
“There’s this real human aspect about the series,” Hill admitted. “And I think there’s just this curiosity.”
Of playing Marisa, Hill said The Irrational’s showrunner Arika Lisanne Mittman and the other writers “did a great job with [Marisa Clark] this season, of introducing her and unpeeling the layers more and more as you go,” per the Perception Magazine interview.
What can fans expect from Maahra Hill in the future?
On January 29, 2024, the Give Me My Remote blog published an interview with Hill and Springer. The cast members teased fans about what to expect in the final episodes of The Irrational, some of which involved the mystery surrounding Alec’s bombing.
The incident continues to be a major storyline in The Irrational, when a church bombing from 20 years earlier claimed the lives of 13 people and left burns on over 60 percent of Alec’s body. It also marked Marisa Clark’s first case as an FBI agent and the event that brought her and Alec together in the first place.
“Getting some closure and some justice in that regard is really important to the both of them,” said Hill. “So, we’ll see where it goes. It’s getting pretty exciting toward the end with that particular case.”
So far, there’s no word on what’s to come in Hill’s acting career, but we’re sure the future is bright.
Watch all-new episodes of The Irrational Mondays at 10/9c on NBC and streaming the next day on Peacock.
