Francia Raisa

Francia Raisa
Raisa at the 27th Annual Imagen Awards, Red Carpet In August 2012.
Born	Francia Raisa Almendárez (1988-07-26) July 26, 1988 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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 as Alejandra "Alex" Delgado and reprising her role in The Cutting Edge: Fire & Ice.

Early life

Raisa was born and raised in Los Angeles, California to Renan Almendarez Coello and Virginia Almendarez. She is of Honduran and Mexican descent 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 where she was a cheerleader.

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.

Career

Raisa began to take 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 played the role of Adrian Lee in the hit ABC Family drama, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, from its beginning in July 2008, until the series finale in early June 2013.

Raisa appeared in Lil' Romeo's music video "My Girlfriend" as Tamy in 2004 and in Iyaz's music video "So Big".

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.

Raisa appeared in a music video for pop duo Savvy & Mandy and also guest starred in Degrassi: Next Generation: Season 2.

In 2013, Raisa starred in the Christmas movie, Christmas Bounty, alongside Mike "The Miz" Mizanin

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Bring It On: All or Nothing	Leti	Direct-to-video
2007	Shredderman Rules	Isabel	TV film
2008	ASD. Alma sin dueño	Unknown Role
2008	The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream	Alejandra 'Alex' Delgado	TV film
2009	Fired Up!	Marly	Cameo
2010	Bulletface	Maria
2010	The Cutting Edge: Fire & Ice	Alejandra 'Alex' Delgado	TV film
2012	Chastity Bites	Katharine Garcia	Post-production
2013	Christmas Bounty	Tory	TV film
2013	A Snowglobe Christmas	Penny	TV film
2014	Beyond Paradise	Shahrzad

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	American Family: Journey of Dreams	Karina
2005	Over There	Sawa	"The Prisoner" (season 1: episode 3)
2008–2013	The Secret Life of the American Teenager	Adrian Lee	Main role
2009	In Plain Sight	Olivia Morales	"Jailbait" (season 2: episode 11)
2012	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Erin Vickler	"Trends with Benefits" (season 12: episode 17)
2013	The Mindy Project	Katie	"Frat Party" (season 1: episode 23)
2013	WWE Raw	Herself

Awards

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
2012	Nominated	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Scene Stealer: Female
	Nominated	Imagen Awards	Best Young Actress in a Television Series

References

• http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20130422fox05/

External links

• Francia Raisa at IMDb