Joanna García
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Joanna Garcia | |
Birth name | Joanna Leanna Garcia |
Born | August 10, 1979 (age 27) Tampa, Florida, USA |
Notable roles | Reba as Cheyenne Hart-Montgomery |
Joanna Leanna García (born August 10, 1979, in Tampa, Florida) is a Cuban American television and film actress.
García, is best known for her portrayal of "Cheyenne Hart-Montgomery", Reba's (Reba McEntire) oldest daughter on The CW sitcom Reba (2001-2007). She previously played "Vicki Appleby," a recurring character on the short-lived NBC dramedy Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000). She also guest starred in a controversial role as student "Susan Potter" in a 2000 episode of Boston Public. The character she played on Boston Public was caught performing oral sex in the school hallway in an effort to influence a school election. She was also in the ABC Family original movie The Initiation of Sarah, which premiered in October 2006.
Born and raised in Tampa, Florida, García first started performing at the age of 10 when she auditioned for a local theater production and landed the lead. While she caught the bug immediately, her parents put school first and she continued to feed her passion by acting in local plays. She was the homecoming queen at Florida's Tampa Catholic High School.
In high school, she was discovered by Nickelodeon and starred for two seasons on Are You Afraid of the Dark?, after which she attended Florida State University for a year before pursuing acting full-time. Joanna is a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority.
Soon after her arrival in Los Angeles, she was cast in a recurring role on the acclaimed drama series Party of Five, playing Claudia's (Lacy Chabert) friend at boarding school. Her recurring role on Freaks and Geeks was Vicki Appleby, the popular freshman cheerleader who spent 7 minutes in heaven with the ultimate geek, Bill (Martin Starr). She has also appeared on Family Law, Providence, Dawson's Creek and, while guest-starring on Opposite Sex, became close friends with Allison Mack, who later would star on The CW's Smallville. On the big screen, García was seen in the feature comedy sequel American Pie 2 and the comedy spoof Not Another Teen Movie. She has also appeared in the original television movies From the Earth to the Moon and Love's Deadly Triangle: The Texas Cadet Murder.
García speaks Spanish fluently. When she's not working, García volunteers teaching English as a second language to pre-school-aged children in Los Angeles. Her dad Jay is a gynecologist, mom Loraine is a homemaker and brother Michael is a medical school student.