Elegant Beauty Francia Raisa

Date of Birth
26 July 1988

Height
5' 3" (1.60 m)

Mini Biography

For a girl who was born into Latin radio royalty, 2009 ALMA Award nominee actress Francia Raisa is certainly one of the most gracious rising stars in Hollywood. Born on July 26, 1988, Francia was born and raised in Southern California. Her mother Virginia Almendarez, born in Mexico, and her father Maximo Renan Almendarez Coello, born in Honduras, worked extremely hard to give Francia and her two sisters a wholesome life in the high-paced city of angels. In fact, a few years after Francia was born, her father came up with the winning Latin radio personality "El Cucuy," and since then he has been the number one disc jockey in Los Angeles on 97.9 FM, La Raza.

Like many strong talents, at the early age of five, Francia began taking dance lessons - excelling in tap, jazz, acrobatics, hip-hop, and Polynesian dance. Not only did she dance, but she also explored karate and ice skating. These lessons became a stepping stool to stardom as each experience added to Francia' s abilities as an actress.

Francia began to book acting jobs in her junior year of high school. She started to model for print ads, star in commercials, and even dabbled in the world of sitcoms. 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.

After shooting Bring it On: All or Nothing, Francia broke into a new level of stardom after starring as the lead female role of MGM's ABC Family TV movie The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream alongside actor Matt Lanter.

Now, Francia plays "Adrian Lee," a series regular on the hit ABC Family TV show "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." The series, created by Brenda Hampton (7th Heaven) premiered in the summer 2008 - breaking all records for an original ABC Family drama series and debuting in the No. 1 spot in its time slot on all of cable television. The show has gone on to win the 2008 Teen Choice Award for "Choice Summer TV Show," and was nominated once again in 2009, catapulting Francia and her cast into teen stardom. Season two returns from hiatus in January 2010.

Additionally, Francia guest-starred on the USA network's TV series "In Plain Sight" this past summer and she will be reprising her role as the lead for the sequel to MGM's The Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice in spring 2010. It is safe to say that she has become one of the most watched young Hollywood stars in the industry today.