Facts
Full Name: Marina Annette Thurlow
Date of Birth: August 19th, 1988
First Appearance: 1.01 "Call Me Home"
Current Occupation: Co-Editorial Editor, Stone Creek Ledger
Stockholder, Thurlow Lumber Mill Enterprises
Previous: Staff Writer, Stone Creek Ledger
Personal Assistant - Seth Keeler, Stone Creek Ledger
Hometown: Stone Creek
Current Residence: 2634 W. Parker St., Stone Creek. [Callahan Condos #15]
Previous: 505 Auburn Rd., Stone Creek. [Thurlow Cottage]
Relations
Parents: James Thurlow & Helen Tyree Sutton
Siblings: Kirsten Sutton & Emmet Thurlow
Children: None
Significant Other(s): Ryan Bauer; Dating since Winter 2012
Previous: Ian Kiefer, dated in 2011; broke-up in 2012
Ryan Bauer, dated in 2008; broke-up in 2010
Others: Anita Thurlow [Grandmother]
Henry Thurlow [Grandfather; Deceased]
Emmet Thurlow [Uncle; Deceased]
Shannon Jurado [Aunt; Deceased]
Aidan Jurado [Cousin]
Imogene Jurado [Cousin]
Caitlyn Thurlow [Step-Mother]
Danielle Crenshaw/Emily Roscoe [Step-Sister; Deceased]
Charlie Sutton [Brother-In-Law]
Megan Sutton [Niece]
Dr. David Schmidt [Former Step-Father]
Gail Schmidt [Former Step-Sister]
History
Marina Thurlow was born on August 19th, 1988 to James Thurlow and Helen Tyree Thurlow, the third child and the second daughter she was able to spend a lot of time doing extra-curricular activities and was shielded from her parents crumbling marriage. With her father in control of Thurlow Lumber Mill Enterprises, he spent a lot of time traveling the world and would take both Kirsten and Emmet with him during some of these trips, but because Marina was too busy with Beauty Pageants and Cheerleading and often stayed behind.
Unlike her older sister, Kirsten Thurlow, who was on the Volleyball and Soccer teams, Marina spent most of her time in Gymnastics and Cheerleading before she picked up writing for the Stone Creek High Newspaper in her Junior Year. She grew up close to Bentley Wilkinson and Olivia Joplin -- although her friendship with Olivia grew strained after the older girl left for college. Marina was mildly popular in High School, but never had to put-up with peer pressure from her friends, she spent many hours keeping up with her academic schedule and never had much time for drinking at parties, which wasn’t to say she was completely innocent either. After graduation, Marina was able to secure a personal assistant job with Seth Keeler -- it was her mother’s attempt to win her back after the divorce.
Marina Thurlow moved into her own place in the Callahan Condo’s where she became close friends with her roommate, Cassie Lakhani and urged the other woman to become a model for her mother’s magazine, HEAT. The following year, in 2007, her boss asked Marina to take over for a Staff Writer who made a move to New York after he read a couple of proposal’s she had written. Although she had still stayed close to Bentley after he graduated from Stone Creek High, she had never met his roommate until 2008. Things sparked between Marina and Ryan Bauer and they began dating later that year, she would eventually lose her virginity to Ryan. Her success in a Journalism career led to Marina putting her job before her friends and family on many different occasions and led to cracks in her relationship to Ryan.
Start of the Series...
While jogging in 2010 she met a mysterious stranger who claimed he was new to Stone Creek, so Marina decided to show him around Sage Gardens and later invited him for coffee at her sister’s Cafe. The stranger’s name was revealed to be Ian Kiefer and he would end up being a wedge between herself and Ryan. Her pull towards the fresh and intriguing man meant that Ryan was left for Natalie Marlowe to dig her claws into. Although Natalie and Marina had a couple confrontations previously -- Marina throwing an alcoholic beverage on Natalie at one point -- it was their connection to Ian Kiefer that sent Natalie over the edge. Getting closer to Ian meant that Marina would eventually find out that he shared a father with Natalie and that she was the main reason he ended up in Stone Creek. After Natalie saw both Marina and Ian getting cozy, she confronted Ryan at the Founder’s Ball and revealed Marina’s infatuation with Ian -- the man that was now his boss at the Gym -- Ryan would later break-up with Marina and leave Stone Creek to figure himself out. This meant that Marina was finally able to confront her own feelings for Ian, she chose to take things slow.
She would later lean on Ian when she alienated her family and wrote an article for the Editorial page at The Stone Creek Ledger upon her boss’ insistence that she would get compensation for it. They finally had sex and began to explore their relationship further. With her attention split between work at The Ledger, her best friend Cassie’s pregnancy and insisting that Ian tell Jared Marlowe the truth as to why he was in Stone Creek; he was the man’s illegitimate child. But because Jared was the Mayor of Stone Creek, Ian wanted to keep his parentage secret and although it felt like the two had finally made waves in their relationship it was the return of Ryan Bauer and an offer she couldn’t refuse that began to unravel everything they worked so hard to build. Ryan began forcing himself into Marina’s life in an attempt to win her trust again so that she could help him sabotage Jared Marlowe’s re-election of Mayor. Although she wrote the article that revealed Jared as Ian’s father, Marina decided not to print it. However, it didn’t matter as the article was printed anyways and although Marina was praised for the honesty and detective work on Marina’s part -- she was even offered a promotion from Seth -- it was her relationship with Ian that suffered a blow.
A bold move on Marina’s part, she declined the job promotion from Seth in hopes that Ian would take her back as she wanted to make their relationship work. They got back together in late 2011 and Ian convinced Marina to accept the promotion but Seth had already given it to someone else. When a gift from Ryan brought back memories of their first meeting, she reconsidered her relationship with Ian. Her love for Ian couldn’t last and finally he broke-up with Marina, and after packing his things, Ian left town. Although she was devastated it gave Marina the perfect opportunity to renew her relationship with Ryan.
Seth Keeler revealed to Marina that she was co-editorial editor with Leia Joplin, who was revealed to be settling back into Stone Creek. But their first meetings seemed forced and eventually, Marina developed a dislike for the other woman that seemed to stem from High School. Leia continued to get the better stories and she felt that Seth would make excuses as to why he assigned them to Leia. In 2012, Marina went to her mother, Helen, for help on how to deal with Leia and the thought of her ‘stealing her career’ and of course, Helen insisted that Marina find a secret from the woman’s past. Together, they learned of Leia’s abusive marriage and Marina went to work on finding a way to incorporate it into their work lives to get Leia to quit her job and leave Marina alone. Marina insisted the duo go ‘undercover’ to a battered women’s shelter and Seth agreed that it would be a great idea to expose a real issue. The plan backfired on Marina, however, when the women at the shelter bonded better with Leia and she was able to take credit for most of the article when they published it.
Meanwhile, Marina’s relationship with Ryan was beginning to blossom into a more adult relationship as they promised to tell each other everything. Before the ‘undercover’ mission, the duo celebrated with a couple of friends and eventually branched off on their own, finding a boat on the dock of Cuttlebone Lake and finally making love for the first time since they first broke things off. They got back together in the Winter of 2012.
Portrayed by: Leighton Meester [2010-Present]
