Tia Texada

Tia Texada (born Tia Nicole Tucker; December 14, 1971) is an American actress and singer. She is probably best known for portraying the role of Sgt. Maritza Cruz from the American television show Third Watch and for her role as Shay on ABC Family's Huge. Texada has a secondary career as a voice-over actor, which includes announcements on CBS's The NFL Today,^[1] and has done some modeling.

Personal life

Texada was born in Louisiana to a reflexologist mother and an insurance agent father.^[2] She has been acting since she was young.

Career

Texada's appearances include guest starring roles in episodes of In Plain Sight, Chuck ("Chuck Versus the Coup d'Etat"), Saving Grace, Everybody Hates Chris, The Unit, and Criminal Minds.^[3] She played Sgt. Maritza Cruz in the NBC Drama Third Watch in the last three of its six seasons.

She also has appeared in movies such as From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Paulie (1998), Nurse Betty (2000), Bait (2000), Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001), Glitter (2001), Phone Booth (2003), and Spartan (2004).

Texada also has a singing career, and her songs have been featured on shows such as Dawson's Creek. She also played at the Lilith Fair tour in 1998.^[4][5]

She played the voice of Isabel Vasquez in the TV movie Firebreather. Texada has lent her voice to the animated series, The Wild Thornberrys, and Static Shock as well as television commercials. She is currently the voice of Elena Validus on the animated show Ben 10: Ultimate Alien as Alyssa Diaz's voice double.

Texada has also done layouts for magazines and has been featured in the men's magazines FHM and Maxim.^[6]

She appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man, where she is (accidentally) stripped out of her top by Peter Parker.

References

External links

• Tia Texada at the Internet Movie Database