[2] In 1969, at the age of one and a half years, Shukshina starred in the segment "Brother" in the anthology film of Vasily Shukshin Strange people.

[2] In the same year Shukshina played a similar role in the film What a Wonderful Game by Pyotr Todorovsky where Maria appeared as a beautiful student who, without hesitation, hands over her classmates to state security agencies.

[2] In the early 2000s in Alla Surikova's comedy television series Perfect Couple the actress played a brief role of a journalist who interviews Armen Dzhigarkhanyan.

[2] Maria had a lead role in Vsevolod Shilovsky's television series People and Shadows: The Secrets of the Puppet Theater (2001).

[2] In the 2004 television series Dear Masha Berezina played Katya, who independently tries to make a career in the modeling business.

In the film the son of Polina Ivanova becomes a cripple through the fault of an influential businessman, and her husband dies in jail.

[2] In the drama Bury Me Behind the Baseboard, shot by director Sergei Snezhkin based on the self-titled autobiographical novel by Pavel Sanayev, Shukshina played the role of Olga, the weak-willed mother of the main hero Sasha.

His arrest and ensuing sentencing followed a statement he made about Russian aggression in Ukraine during a council meeting on 15 March 2022.