| Francia Raisa | |
|---|---|
| Born | Francia Raisa Almendárez July 26, 1988 Los Angeles, California U.S. |
| Other names | Francia Almendárez |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2004–present |
Francia Raisa Almendárez (born July 26, 1988) is an American actress. She is sometimes credited as Francia Almendárez. Raisa is most notable for her roles in Bring It On: All or Nothing, where she plays a tough Latina cheerleader named Leti, The Secret Life of the American Teenager as Adrian Lee, or The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream[1] as Alejandra "Alex" Delgado and reprising her role in The Cutting Edge: Fire & Ice.
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Raisa was born and raised in Southern California to Renan Almendarez Coello and Virginia Almendarez. She is of Honduran and Mexican ethnicity and has two younger sisters, Italia and Irlanda. A few years after Raisa was born her father came up with the Latin radio personality "El Cucuy". She attended Bishop Alemany High School for a while.
At the early age of five, Raisa began taking dance lessons excelling in tap, jazz, acrobatics, hip hop, and Polynesian dance. She also explored karate and ice skating.
Raisa began to book acting jobs in her junior year of high school, modeling for print ads and appearing in commercials. She guest-starred in the sitcoms American Family: Journey of Dreams and Over There. Just a month into her senior year, she booked one of her first lead roles, starring opposite Hayden Panettiere in Bring It On: All or Nothing. She co-starred in the Nickelodeon movie Shredderman Rules, where she portrayed Isabel and in The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream, as Alejandra Delgado. She currently plays the role of Adrian Lee in the hit ABC Family drama, The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
Raisa appeared in Lil' Romeo's music video "My Girlfriend" as Tamy in 2004.
In 2009, Raisa guest-starred on the USA network's TV series "In Plain Sight" and she reprised her role as the lead for the sequel to MGM's The Cutting Edge: Fire & Ice in spring 2010.
She has also co-starred in a short film directed by David Henrie called Boo, which aired recently on YouTube.
Francia recently appeared in a music video for pop duo Savvy & Mandy, and also appeared in Iyaz's music video "So Big".
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 2006 | Bring It On: All or Nothing | Leti | Direct-to-DVD |
| 2007 | Shredderman Rules | Isabel | TV Movie |
| 2008 | ASD. Alma sin dueño | Unknown Role | |
| The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream | Alejandra 'Alex' Delgado | TV Movie | |
| 2009 | Fired Up | Marly | |
| 2010 | Bulletface | Maria | |
| The Cutting Edge: Fire & Ice | Alejandra 'Alex' Delgado | TV Movie | |
| 2012 | Chastity Bites | Katharine Garcia | Filming |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2004 | American Family: Journey of Dreams | Karina | |
| 2005 | Over There | Sawa | Episode: "The Prisoner" |
| 2009 | In Plain Sight | Olivia Morales | Episode: "Jailbait" |
| 2008–present | The Secret Life of the American Teenager | Adrian Lee | Lead Role |
| Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Award | Category | Nominated Work |
| 2011 | Nominated | ALMA Awards | Favorite TV Actress: Leading Role in a Drama | The Secret Life of the American Teenager |
| Won | Gracie Allen Awards | Outstanding Female Rising Star in a Drama Series or Special | ||