Maya Erskine family consists of a Japanese mother and an American father. Maya was born to her parents Mutsuko Nigatawa and Peter Erskine in 1987.

The actress grew up with her older brother Shuji Erskin. She was born as the second child of Mutsuko and Peter.

Father Peter Erskine

Peter is an American from New Jersey. Peter was a member of the famous jazz-fusion group Step Ahead and Weather Report.

Erskine has been playing drums since four and has been recognized for his talents, especially for being able to work within multiple musical contexts. The musician has crafted music for more than 700 albums and scores which in turn has brought him an honorary doctorate from Berkley and two Grammy Awards.

As Co-leader or in his name fifty albums have been released. He has played with different bands and people including Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson Big Bands, Steps Ahead, Steely Dan, Kenny Wheeler, The Yellowjackets, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, and John Scofield.

In 2017 by the readers of Modern Drummer magazine, he has been recommended for Best Jazz Drummer of the Year ten times and was appointed into the magazine’s Hall of Fame. 

He has identified albums including As It Is, Time Being, You Never Know, and many more.

He has a Twitter account with 27.5K followers and over fifteen hundred tweets. His bio reads as he is a drummer, author, owner of an app and record company named Fuzzy Music, and professor at USC. 

Mother Mutsuko Nigatawa

Mutusuko is Japanese from Tokyo. Mutusuko also plays the role of her characters' mother on PEN15. 

Maya requested her mother to perform in the series PEN15 where she would be playing a satirical version of herself in the Pilot. The mother was understandably surprised.

Mutsuko approved since she admires her daughter and wants to assist her in her professional enterprise. She was part of the contract when the show was picked up, which she assumed was a one-time occurrence.

She is active on Twitter with more than a hundred followers and over twenty tweets.