Francia Raisa

Birthday: 26 July 1988

Height: 5' 3" (1.60 m)

Biography

As a Gracie Award and La Femme Film Festival Rising Star Award recipient, 2012 Teen Choice, IMAGEN and an ALMA award nominee for her portrayal of 'Adrian Lee' on ABC Family's critically acclaimed series "The Secret Life of an American Teenager," Francia Raisa continues to prove herself as a star on the rise. Francia was featured on the August cover of Backstage magazine as one of Young Hollywood's top Latinos in American TV and Film, further proving she is the one to watch.

Francia was born and raised in Southern California to mother Virginia Almendarez of Mexico and father Maximo Renan Almendarez Coello of Honduras, (one of the most recognized radio personalities and #1 Latino DJs in Los Angeles). At the age of five, Francia began taking dance lessons to learn all styles from tap to jazz, acrobatics, hip- hop and Polynesian. In addition to dance, she trained in karate and ice-skating. Looking to expand her talents her junior year of high school, Francia decided to study both acting and modeling. She started to get noticed, and soon began to model for print ads and national commercials. A month into her senior year of high school, Francia booked her first lead role, starring opposite Hayden Panettiere in "Bring it On: All or Nothing."

Not long after wrapping "Bring it On," Francia booked the lead female role of MGM's TV movie for ABC Family "The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream," before ultimately landing her breakout role as 'Adrian Lee,' a series regular ABC Family's award-winning "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." Created by Brenda Hampton ('7th Heaven'), the program broke all records for an original series on the network, including taking the #1 spot in its time slot for cable TV when it premiered in summer of 2008. The show is currently on its fifth season, and continues to be one of the most popular teen TV shows.

In addition to her success on television, Francia will soon make her return to the big screen. She recently finished production on "Chastity Bites," a horror film set to release later this year. Additionally, Francia has been cast as the lead in the highly anticipated indie film, "Beyond Paradise" alongside Ryan Guzman.

Francia currently resides in Los Angeles and continues to stay true to her dancing roots with weekly advanced classes at a dance studio in Hollywood. Francia strives to be a role model for all her female fans. On her spare time, she works to raise awareness on important causes such as hunger, domestic violence, sex trafficking and female empowerment 

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.^[2]
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 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 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.
Raisa appeared 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.
Francia recently appeared in a music video for pop duo Savvy & Mandy.
She is a close friend of singer and actress Selena Gomez.
She also guest starred in Degrassi: Next Generation: Season 2.

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
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)

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
	Pending	Imagen Awards	Best Young Actress in a Television Series