Theresa Wayman

Theresa Wayman
Theresa Wayman performing in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Theresa Becker Wayman
Born	(1980-06-23) June 23, 1980 (age 36) Eugene, Oregon, U.S.
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Indie rock, art rock, dream pop
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter, actress
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, drums
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Manimal, Rough Trade
Associated acts	Warpaint, Vincent Gallo
Notable instruments
Fender Mustang

Theresa Becker Wayman (born June 23, 1980) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and occasional actress, best known as guitarist and vocalist of the indie rock band Warpaint.

Theresa was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon. She became interested in music at 9 years old when she started "jamming along with [her] dad" on guitar. At age 10, her mother encouraged her to learn piano. Wayman has said that she "dabbled in guitar as a teen; then got really serious about guitar and drums when [she] was about 21." Wayman's musical influences from her childhood and adolescence include Talking Heads, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, Jimmy Page and Björk. During her adolescence, Wayman became close friends with Emily Kokal, with whom she would later form Warpaint. Both traveled through Europe together in their late teenage years and lived together in New York, Los Angeles and California.

Wayman has one son, who was born in 2005. She has said that since becoming a mother she is "more inspired, and my life is more rich in a certain sense. Because you see the value of human life, and just how fast time moves along. All of a sudden your son is five years old, and you see just how much has happened in that time. It's a good perspective."

After relocating to Los Angeles, Wayman formed Warpaint on Valentine's Day 2004 with Emily Kokal and sisters Jenny Lee Lindberg and Shannyn Sossamon. The band spent four years performing around Los Angeles and composing original material before self-releasing its debut EP, Exquisite Corpse, in August 2008. Following a number of lineup changes in 2009—which included Wayman recruiting drummer Stella Mozgawa—Warpaint released its debut studio album, The Fool, in October 2010 on Rough Trade Records. The album was well received by critics, peaked at number 176 on the Billboard 200, and charted in the United Kingdom and Ireland.