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Johanna is known for her work in Greek (2007), Video Game High School (2012) and Paranormal Activity 3 (2011). Born in Atlanta, Georgia, she began her career in the arts, working with The Atlanta Workshop Players, a performing arts company. Classically-trained singer Braddy initially planned to pursue a career in opera. After booking recurring roles on Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005) and The Riches (2007), Braddy made the move out to Los Angeles.

Ellary Porterfield was born June 5, 1989 in Bend, Oregon to Walt and Traci Porterfield. Ellary splits her time between Bend, which she declares "is the best place in the world to live" and Los Angeles, California. Ellary and her brother, Harlan, attend High School in Bend. Ellary was discovered at a talent competition in Los Angeles in 2001. Since then she has filmed 3 pilots for NBC and CBS and starred in a Dreamworks major motion picture, _The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005)_. She recently booked a starring role on a new NBC Pilot, _Baraboo 2010 (2006)_. Ellary has enjoyed the rare pleasure of working with such accomplished directors as Brett Ratner and 'Jane Anderson'.

Elysia Rotaru was born on 9 November 1984 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She is an actress and producer, known for Arrow (2012), Dead Again in Tombstone (2017) and Homeworld 3 (2024).

Cynthia Addai-Robinson is an English-born actress. She was born in London; her mother is from Ghana and her father is a United States citizen. She moved to US when she was four, and was raised by her mother in a suburb of Washington, DC. She is a graduate of Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, MD, and studied at the Tisch School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater. In addition, she trained at Lee Strasberg Theater Institute and in dance forms ballet, jazz, tap. She received Navy Seal and New Zealand Special Forces training during the filming of Spartacus: War of the Damned.

Summer is a native of San Antonio, Texas. She's been a ballerina most of her life. Her debut was in various commercials and a guest appearance on the WB's Angel (1999). She has gone on to star on the TV series Firefly (2002) as well as its follow-up movie Serenity (2005) and the TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008).

Bex Taylor-Klaus (they/them) is a very queer and very kind multi-hyphenate industry professional, absolutely oozing with humility. They've been on such smash hit projects as That Thing You Probably Didn't Watch and That Other Thing That Got Taken Off Streaming And Honestly Might Be A Fever Dream!

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Bex is genuinely a pillar in the recent queer history of the entertainment industry. their first professional role was as the iconic street kid Bullet in season 3 of AMC's "The Killing," which was highlighted as a stand-out role by the New York Times.

Bex's performances of note include voicing Pidge on Dreamwork's highly-acclaimed reboot of "Voltron: Legendary Defender" and Keo Venzee in "Star Wars: Squadron," as well as live-action roles like Sin on CW's "Arrow," Audrey on MTV's "Scream," and Deputy Bishop on Fox's "Deputy." In films, they've gained acclaim as Hannah in "Dumplin'" and Chris in "Blackbird.

Annie Ngosi Ilonzeh was born in Grapevine, Texas, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Peppermint (2018), Person of Interest (2011) and He's Just Not That Into You (2009).

Los Angeles-based actress Amy Gumenick grew up in the competitive dance and theater world, where she discovered her love for performance at a very early age. Though the performing arts were constant in her upbringing, she formally cultivated her passion for acting at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she earned a BFA in theater, graduating with honors and distinction. Just weeks after graduating from college, Gumenick landed recurring television roles on Greek (2007) (ABC Family), Supernatural (2005) (the CW), and the title role in Lifetime's Natalee Holloway (2009), and has been working in film, on television, and on stage every since. Most recently, Gumenick has played recurring roles on AMC's TURN: Washington's Spies (2014) as American actress-turned-spy Philomena, and supervillain Cupid on the CW's Arrow (2012). When not on screen, Gumenick is an active member of the dance/theater educational community and believes strongly in the healing power of the arts.

Katherine McNamara, named one of Vanity Fair's "Breakout Bunch," is a sought after accomplished actor, dancer, singer/songwriter. She is most recently known as the titular lead role of "Abby Walker" in Walker: Independence (2022), the prequel to CW's Walker (2021). In 2023, Katherine was nominated for the Critics Choice Association's Super Award for Best Actress in an Action Series. Before she went West, she was cast as "MIa Smoak Queen" as the beloved badass daughter of "Felicity Smoak" and "Oliver Queen" (a true amalgamation of her parents - tough, smart, and takes no shit) and was to follow in her father's footsteps to become the next "Green Arrow" in "Green Arrow and the Canaries." Kat masterfully created the daughter, Mia, a tough street fighter, in the CW series Arrow (2012) with Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards.

Katherine has amassed a large audience from her leading roles of Abby, Mia, and "Clary Fray" in the Freeform series, Shadowhunters (2016) ; a book-to-screen adaptation of the bestselling "The Mortal Instruments." Katherine received many nominations and awards for her portrayal of Clary including winning the The E! People's Choice Awards (2018) for Top Female Television Actress as well as two Teen Choice Award wins for Choice TV Actress: Fantasy/ Sci-fi and Choice Ship with Dominic Sherwood Kat was nominated twice for other Teen Choice Awards and won the The E! People's Choice Awards (2018) with Shadowhunters (2016) for Favorite Sci-fi/Fantasy Show. The series premiered to stellar ratings, being the #1 series debut in more than two years, and helped launch the re-brand of the channel alongside fan favorite Pretty Little Liars (2010). In 2015, McNamara closed out a lightning year, portraying another fierce female role as 'Sonya' in the second installment of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) trilogy, Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) alongside Dylan O'Brien and Kaya Scodelario.

McNamara began her professional career on Broadway, at the age of 13, as the principle character "Fredrika Armfeldt" in Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music", starring opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury. She was fortunate to continue on as "Fredrika" with the second ALNM Broadway cast of Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch. Her other theater roles include "Esther Jane" in the per-Broadway world premiere of "A Christmas Story, the Musical!", as well as "To Kill a Mockingbird", "The Crucible", "Inherit the Wind", "Annie", "The Secret Garden" and "Galileo". She has also been cast in a number of Equity workshops/readings, including "Little Dancer" and "Pan" (aka "Fly") with Laura Osnes, which was created by the "In the Heights" creative team - Jeffrey Seller, Alex Lacamoire, and Andy Blankenbuehler.

McNamara's love for acting stretches beyond the stage, with credits in television and film productions. Television credits include Katherine's portrayal of Julie Lawry, the erratic Tinkerbell of the apocalypse in Stephen King 's newest adaptation of The Stand (2020) directed by Josh Boone starring Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgård, and James Marsden. Additional television credits include 30 Rock (2006), Glee (2009), Happy Together (2018), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), Drop Dead Diva (2009), Love, Classified (2022) , Late Show with David Letterman (1993), Good Morning America (1975) and PBS's Sondheim! The Birthday Concert (2010) . McNamara starred in Disney Channel's Girl Vs. Monster (2012) with Olivia Holt which attracted more than 5 million viewers and had recurring roles on Jessie (2011) as "Bryn Breitbart" and on Kickin' It (2011) as the mean girl from Swathmore Academy, "Claire". She filmed the much anticipated Disney pilot, Madison High (2012), where she portrayed "Cherri O'Keefe", resident fashionista and creator of Madison High's popular gossip blog. She can also be seen in the highly acclaimed Freeform series, The Fosters (2013).

McNamara made her big screen debut film in Warner Brothers picture New Year's Eve (2011), where she portrays "Lily Bowman". Besides the Maze Runner series, Kat also starred in Universal's R.L.Stein's film R.L. Stine's Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls (2015) opposite Dove Cameron as well as the independent bullying film, Contest (2013) with Kenton Duty . The film dives into the dark world of high school bullying and found a home on Cartoon Network as part of their anti-bullying initiative. Other film projects include Katherine starring as "Becky Thatcher" in the re-make of Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn (2014), alongside Joel Courtney and Jake T. Austin, which was released in 2013, Disney's family-friendly Little Savages (2016), A Sort of Homecoming (2015) opposite Laura Marano, Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? (2016) with Cloris Leachman, Natural Selection (2016) with Anthony Michael Hall, A Wife's Nightmare (2014) with Jennifer Beals and Indiscretion (2016) with Mira Sorvino, Christopher Backus and Cary Elwes. She recently finished filming a cameo in the new Charlie Day comedy, Fool's Paradise (2023).

Besides working on music, McNamara wants to expand her creative repertoire to include producing and directing. Katherine is also an advocate for education. At the age of 14, McNamara graduated with top honors from high school and then quickly graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Business (emphasis in Finance) from Drexel University's Le Bow School of Business at the age of 17. She is now pursuing a Master of Science in Literature at Johns Hopkins University as part of their Advanced Academics Graduate Degree program.

McNamara is an award winning dancer and has a passion for all forms including ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, waltz and even hula. She was a member of the Actors Equity Young Performers Committee and is a reader for the Blank Theater's New Play Development Reading Committee and recurring performer in their Living Room Series. Katherine is committed to giving back to the community as well. She is an ambassador for Girl Up, the United Nation's girl empowerment organization, a spokesperson for Stomp Out Bullying, an avid supporter of the MS Society, a member of the Lollipop Theater Network, a lifetime Girl Scout and a volunteer for the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. She also supports Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle, Eric Stonestreet, David Koechner and Heidi Gardner 's Big Slick charity benefiting Kansas City Children's Hospital, and Michelle Obama 's Global Girls' Alliance, an organization that helps young women around the world achieved their potential. She currently resides in Los Angeles and her hometown is Kansas City, Missouri.

Toronto native Alexandra Doig was born on June 8th, to Filipina mother Gloria and Irish-Scottish father David. Her parents held season tickets to their local theater, and Lexa was inspired to begin acting after seeing a production of "Porgy and Bess" at the age of nine. She dropped out of high school in grade 13, did modeling and commercial work, and hosted YTV's Video & Arcade Top 10 (1991) with friend Gordon Michael Woolvett.

Her first professional job came at the age of 19, when she was cast opposite William Shatner and Greg Evigan in "TekWar". She went on to appear in several projects for both the big and small screens, including CI5: The New Professionals (1998), Jungleground (1995) and No Alibi (2000), before landing a lead role in Jason X (2001), the 10th installment in the Friday the 13th series. Shortly after, she captured the title role in Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda (2000) starring as the Andromeda Ascendant's sophisticated artificial intelligence system. She has also completed guest stints on several popular television shows, including Traders (1996), Earth: Final Conflict (1997), The Chris Isaak Show (2001). Theatre credits include "Arsenic and Old Lace" and "Romeo and Juliet".

In her spare time, Lexa enjoys reading, roller-blading and playing RPG video games, "Dungeons and Dragons" being her favorite. She currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia with husband Michael Shanks, children Mia and Samuel and two cats.

Danielle Nicole Panabaker was born in Augusta, Georgia. Her younger sister, actress Kay Panabaker, starred in the TV series Summerland (2004)(WB, 2004-05). Panabaker started acting at a summer camp before joining community theater productions when she was 10 years old. Panabaker moved to Naperville, IL, where she was a member of the Neuqua Valley High School speech team. At the age of 14, while most students her age were barely starting their high school careers, she graduated.

Panabaker followed her initial appearances in commercials with roles in television, including a part in the series The Guardian (2001) (for which she won a Young Artist Award), as well as other television series, including Malcolm in the Middle (2000), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), Medium (2005), Summerland (2004), and the Disney Channel original movie Stuck in the Suburbs (2004). She also appeared in the Lifetime Television productions Sex & the Single Mom (2003) and Mom at Sixteen (2005), as well as the well-reviewed miniseries Empire Falls (2005). She considers "Empire Falls" to be her big break, as it gave her the confidence to pursue her career. In addition, Panabaker appeared in stage productions, with roles in musical theater, including "West Side Story," Pippin,":"Once Upon a Time," and "Beauty Lou and the Country Beast." In 2004, she starred in the ABC film Searching for David's Heart (2004), alongside former co-Disney star Raviv Ullman. In 2005, Panabaker co-starred in two widely-released theatrical films, Sky High (2005) and Yours, Mine & Ours (2005). Her next role was in the film Home of the Giants (2007), opposite Ryan Merriman and Haley Joel Osment. She also had a supporting role in the film Mr. Brooks (2007), opposite Kevin Costner. In the Disney Channel original movie Read It and Weep (2006), she plays Is, an alternate version of Jamie, who was played by her real-life sister, Kay Panabaker.

Janina Zione Gavankar (born November 29, 1980) is an American actress and musician. Gavankar is also trained as a pianist, vocalist, and orchestral percussionist. She majored in Theatre Performance at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Gavankar's roles include Papi, a lesbian lothario in The L Word; Leigh Turner, a police officer on The Gates; Ms. Dewey, the personification of a Microsoft branded search engine who commented on the user's searches; Shiva, the namesake of the sought-after trophy on The League; shapeshifter Luna Garza on HBO's True Blood; McKenna Hall on The CW's Arrow; and Meredith Bose on NBC's The Mysteries of Laura. She also played Diana Thomas on FOX's supernatural drama Sleepy Hollow.

Gavankar was born in Joliet, Illinois, to Peter Ganesh Gavankar, an engineer from Mumbai, who first traveled to the U.S. to pursue a master's degree, and Mohra Gavankar, from Pune, Maharashtra, who also emigrated to the U.S. from India. Her mother is half-Indian and half-Dutch.

Gavankar has acted in theatre, film, television, and online. Her most notable roles include Iden Versio, canon Star Wars character, and protagonist of Star Wars: Battlefront II, shapeshifter Luna Garza in True Blood, lesbian lothario Papi in The L Word; Ms. Dewey, the personification of a Microsoft live search engine; and Shiva, the namesake of the sought after trophy on The League. She regularly appears in Funny or Die shorts.

In 2006 she joined the cast of The L Word as a series regular, and shot all of the clips used for Ms. Dewey. In 2007, she landed a lead in CW pilot Dash 4 Cash. In 2008, Gavankar appeared in TV series Stargate Atlantis, Grey's Anatomy and NCIS, My Boys, and Factory. In 2009, she appeared in the TV shows The Cleaner, Dollhouse, Three Rivers, and The League, as well as indie movies Men, Interrupted, Indian Gangster, and Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey. Gavankar played the voice of Nikki in Quantum Quest. She landed a lead role in The Gates, since cancelled, on ABC. She appears on CW's Arrow as a vice squad police officer and brief girlfriend to Oliver Queen.

Gavankar is an admitted gamer and has appeared on, as well as co-hosted, G4 TV's Attack of the Show!, Epileptic Gaming's Up All Night, where she helped review Rock Band, Burnout Paradise, and Army of Two.

In 2011 Gavankar became a series regular in HBO's True Blood as a public school teacher and shapeshifter, Luna Garza, who gets romantically involved with one of the main characters of the series.

Her indie movie, Satellite of Love, premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival in 2012, and her 2012 indie I'm Afraid of Virginia Wolf is in post-production. On December 20, 2012, Gavankar was the last person interviewed for the now cancelled Attack of the Show! which aired on G4 TV.

On August 3, 2013, Gavankar landed a role as a witch named Qetsiyah in the fifth season of The Vampire Diaries. She guest starred in the third season of Husbands.

In 2014, she starred as Amita in the video game, Far Cry 4. She also played Detective Meredith Bose on The Mysteries of Laura from 2014 to 2016.

She starred as Iden Versio, the main character in the campaign mode of the 2017 Electronic Arts video game Star Wars Battlefront II.

In 2018, she has two films releasing. Blindspotting is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, and The Vanishing of Sidney Hall is being distributed by A24.

Gavankar returned to music with a cover of Kanye West's "Love Lockdown". Gavankar's former all female singing group, Endera, was signed to Cash Money Records Universal Records.

She collaborated on a project for a song called "Tell Me What" in India with Pratichee Mohapatra of Viva, Deep, and Navraaz. She has had songs licensed to movies and television, and has sung and played marimba on film scores. Gavankar was featured in Russian artist Ella Leya's music video for "Wish I Could", in the music video by San Francisco-based band Recliner for their single "Float Away", as well as the music video for Manu Narayan's band Darunam.

In August 2012, she released the single for her upcoming EP, entitled Waiting for Godot, and in November, Billboard premiered the official music video. It went on to win numerous film festival awards.

While in high school, Gavankar auditioned for the front ensemble of the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps of Rockford, Illinois. Before hearing whether she had made the corps, she was accepted for the Yale School of Drama's summer camp, and went there. "I fell in love with drum corps when I was 13 years old", Gavankar has stated, and remains a strong fan of the activity. When she heard the Martin Garrix/Usher collaboration, "Don't Look Down", she had the idea of performing it as marching music. With assistance from Drum Corps International, she contacted the Jersey Surf Drum and Bugle Corps and arranger Colin Bell. She went into the studios in New York with fifty members of Jersey Surf and recorded the music video "Don't Look Down- #JustAddDrumCorps Edition" that was released in April 2015.

On May 20, 2015, Gavankar performed a percussion duet at Carnegie Hall with Questlove for the Best Buddies charity benefit.

Jessica De Gouw is an Australian actress. She is known for her role as Helena Bertinelli/The Huntress in the television series Arrow, as Mina Murray in the NBC TV series Dracula, and as Elizabeth Hawkes in the WGN series Underground.

Jessica grew up in Lesmurdie, an eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia, where she attended Lesmurdie Senior High School. She appeared in an episode of The Sleepover Club, as well as a short film. In 2010, she graduated from Curtin University at the age of 22, majoring in performance studies. She also appeared in another short film the same year.

De Gouw moved to Sydney in order to have a greater opportunity for acting roles. She appeared in a number of TV series, mostly in guest starring roles. In 2012, she debuted in the film Kath & Kimderella as Isabella, Kath and Kim's maid. She moved to Los Angeles later that year and landed the recurring role of the Helena Bertinelli/The Huntress in the action-adventure series, Arrow. In 2013, De Gouw was cast in the NBC series Dracula as Mina Murray alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Oliver Jackson-Cohen. The series lasted only 10 episodes, and NBC announced on 9 May 2014 that the show would not be renewed for another season. In 2016, De Gouw was cast as fictional abolitionist Elizabeth Hawkes in the WGN series, Underground. She played the lead role Ren Amari in the 2017 feature film OtherLife based on the novel Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge.

Taraji Penda Henson is an American actress and singer. She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in Baby Boy (2001). She played a prostitute in Hustle & Flow (2005), for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture nomination; and a single mother of a disabled child in David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), for which she received Academy Award, SAG Award and Critics Choice Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. In 2010, she appeared in the action comedy Date Night, and co-starred in the remake of The Karate Kid.

Serayah was born on 20 June 1995 in Encinitas, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Empire (2015), Takeover and The Sound of Christmas (2022).

Grace Byers (born Grace Lillis Gealey) was born in Butler, PA and moved to the Cayman Islands at Age 2. She moved back to America to attend the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she received a B.A. in Theater Arts. Upon graduating from college, Byers was accepted into the University of California Irvine's graduate program and obtained her M.F.A in Acting. A successful showcase took her from Los Angeles to New York City, where Byers performed professionally. Several theater productions, short films and national commercials led her to Chicago, where she was cast as Anika Calhoun in Fox's Empire. This marked Byers' network television debut.

AzMarie Livingston was born on 28 December 1986 in San Fernando, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Precious (2009), Empire (2015) and The Purge (2018).

Kaitlin Doubleday was born on 19 July 1984 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Catch Me If You Can (2002), Waiting... (2005) and Empire (2015). She has been married to Devin Lucien since 6 May 2016. They have one child.

Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe is an American actress and model. She made her screen debut with a leading role in the critically acclaimed independent film The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995) and went on to appear in Boogie Nights (1997), directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Parker has starred in a number of movies, including Blue Streak (1999), Remember the Titans (2000), Brown Sugar (2002), Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008), Black Dynamite (2009), and Almost Christmas (2016). On television, Parker starred in the short-lived UPN romantic comedy Second Time Around (2004-05) and the ABC drama Time After Time (2017). In 2017, she joined the cast of Fox's prime-time soap opera Empire playing Giselle Barker. She appears as a recurring character in Chicago P.D. as Deputy Superintendent Samantha Miller and in And Just Like That... as Lisa Todd Wexley.

Tyra Ferrell was born on 28 January 1962 in Houston, Texas, USA. She is an actress, known for White Men Can't Jump (1992), Boyz n the Hood (1991) and Poetic Justice (1993). She has been married to Don Carlos Jackson since 9 April 1992. They have one child.

Regina King was born in Los Angeles, California, to Gloria, a special education teacher, and Thomas King, an electrician. She began her career in the television show 227 (1985), followed by a role in Boyz n the Hood (1991). She began to be recognized by a mainstream audience after her role as Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character's wife in Jerry Maguire (1996). She co-starred in Enemy of the State (1998) as Will Smith's character's wife.

Arija Bareikis was born on 21 July 1966 in Bloomington, Indiana. She attended Bloomington High School South from 1980-1984.

After graduating from Stanford University in 1988, she moved to Southern California to take care of horses for a brief period of time. Next, Arija moved to New York City first working as a paralegal while contemplating which direction to take her life in. Originally, she had dreamed of becoming a dancer, which has been reflected in some of her roles on the stage.

She eventually decided to become an actress, so she took acting lessons in New York in her free time and then migrated into recurring soap opera roles.

She has appeared in stage plays, TV shows and numerous movies such as Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999).

Emily Bergl was born on 25 April 1975 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999), Taken (2002) and Blue Jasmine (2013).

Born to immigrants in New York City, Lucy Liu has always tried to balance an interest in her cultural heritage with a desire to move beyond a strictly Asian-American experience. Her mother, Cecilia, a biochemist, is from Beijing & her father, Tom Liu, a civil engineer, is from Shanghai. Once relegated to "ethnic" parts, the energetic actress is finally earning her stripes as an across-the-board leading lady.

She graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1986 & enrolled in NYU. However, she was discouraged by the dark and sarcastic atmosphere, so she transferred to the University of Michigan after her freshman year. She graduated w/ a degree in Asian Languages & Cultures, managing to squeeze in some additional training in dance, voice, fine arts & acting. During her senior year, she auditioned for a small part in a production of Alice in Wonderland and walked away with the lead. Encouraged by the experience, she decided to take the plunge into professional acting. She moved to L.A., splitting her time between auditions & food service day jobs. She eventually scored a guest appearance as a waitress on Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990). That performance led to more walk-on parts in shows like NYPD Blue (1993), ER (1994) & The X-Files (1993). In 1996, she was cast as an ambitious college student on Rhea Perlman's ephemeral sitcom Pearl (1996).

She first appeared on the big screen as an ex-girlfriend in Jerry Maguire (1996) (she had previously filmed a scene in the indie Bang (1995), but it was shelved for 2 years). She then waded through a series of supporting parts in small films before landing her big break on Ally McBeal (1997). She initially auditioned for the role of Nelle Porter, which went to Portia de Rossi. However, writer-producer David E. Kelley was so impressed w/ her that he promised to write a part for her in an upcoming episode. The part turned out to be that of growling, ill-tempered lawyer Ling Woo, which she filled w/ such aplomb that she was signed on as a regular cast member.

The "Ally" win gave her film career a much-needed boost-in 1999, she was cast as a dominatrix in the Mel Gibson action flick Payback (1999) & as a hitchhiker in the ill-received boxing saga Play It to the Bone (1999). The following year brought even larger roles: first as the kidnapped Princess Pei Pei in Jackie Chan's western Shanghai Noon (2000), then as one-third of the comely crime-fighting trio in Charlie's Angels (2000).

When she's not hissing at clients or throwing well-coiffed punches, she keeps busy w/ an eclectic mix of off-screen hobbies. She practices the martial art of Kali-Eskrima-Silat (knife-and-stick fighting), skis, rock climbs, rides horses &plays the accordion. In 1993, she exhibited a collection of multimedia art pieces at the Cast Iron Gallery in SoHo (New York), after which she won a grant to study & create art in China. Her hectic schedule doesn't leave much time for romantic intrigue, but she says she prefers to keep that side of her life uncluttered.

Jenny Gago is one of Hollywood's most versatile and respected Latina actresses. Her powerful portrayal of the matriarch Maria Sanchez in Gregory Nava's hit film, My Family (1995), was a critically acclaimed contribution to what she describes as "an honorable and poignant script."

Gago has starred in many feature films, including Coach Carter (2005) with Samuel L. Jackson, The Tie That Binds (1995), Blood In, Blood Out (1993), Under Fire (1983) and Nurse Betty (2000) with Renée Zellweger. She was honored with the Golden Eagle Award for her performance as Garduna in the film Old Gringo (1989) in which she starred with Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda. Her television films include Grand Avenue (1996), Nowhere to Hide (1994) and Sweet 15 (1990). Series regular roles include DEA (1990), Dangerous Minds (1996), Alien Nation (1989), and Freddie (2005). Gago was also a member of the esteemed cast of the recent Golden Globe-nominated mini-series, American Family (2002), on PBS. Some of her more recent guest starring roles include Crossing Jordan (2001), 24 (2001), The West Wing (1999), The Agency (2001), Alias (2001), Jack & Bobby (2004), Without a Trace (2002), and Lost (2004).

Gago earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater Arts from UCLA. She was then personally awarded a scholarship by Lee Strasberg to attend his Institute.

Honored by such prestigious organizations as the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans, the Image Awards, the National Council of La Raza, the TELACU Education Foundation, The Hispanic Women's Network of Texas, the BRAVO Awards and the Alma Awards, Gago has also received awards from the County of Los Angeles and El Centro. The U.S. House of Representatives recently acknowledged her for "her talents and portrayal of Latino characters in the film and television industry, as well as her dedication and drive to pursue nontraditional roles to pave the way for other Latinos."

Gago's passion is her 13-year-old son, Sean. She loves family, friends, music and dancing (especially salsa), and believes in the spiritual evolution of man towards one human family on earth. She volunteers regularly in schools to support the importance of education.