Paula Garcés (born March 20, 1974) is an American actress. She has been in films such as Clockstoppers, Man of the House and the Harold & Kumar series, and on TV shows such as CSI: Miami, On My Block, The Shield, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Sopranos, Oz, Devious Maids, Guiding Light, and All My Children.

Paula Garcés
Garcés in 2008
Born (1974-03-20) March 20, 1974 (age 50)
Medellín, Colombia
Citizenship
  • United States
  • Colombia
OccupationActress
Years active1991–present
Spouse
Antonio Hernandez
(m. 2002)
[1]
Children2
Websitepaulagarces.com

Early life

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Paula Garcés was born on March 20, 1974, in Medellín, Colombia. At a very early age she moved to East Harlem in New York City.[citation needed][2][3][4]

Career

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Acting

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Garcés played Alvina in 1995's Dangerous Minds with Michelle Pfeiffer. Garcés has also co-starred on Guiding Light as Pilar Santos.

She co-starred in Paramount Pictures' 2002 teen sci-fi adventure Clockstoppers, starring opposite Jesse Bradford. She was then cast in Richard Benjamin's hip-hop comedy Marci X opposite Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans. Garcés was next seen opposite Academy Award-winner Tommy Lee Jones in the Revolution Studios feature Man of the House. In 2004, she starred in National Lampoon's Pledge This!. She was featured on CSI: Miami and starred in a four episode arc on NBC's Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as guest spots on HBO's hit series The Sopranos and Oz.

Garcés landed a role as a cast member on The Shield. She appeared in New Line Cinema's 2004 feature film Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, its 2008 sequel Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and the 2011 sequel A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, as Maria, the love interest and later wife of John Cho's character.

Garcés was a series regular on the ABC drama series Defying Gravity, playing documentarian Paula Morales during its single 2009 season. She had a recurring role as Dr. Kelly Hernandez in the Syfy TV series Warehouse 13. She was also featured in the video "Imagínate" with Wisin & Yandel, and rapper T-Pain. In May 2011, Garcés appeared in "Off the Beaten Path", the 11th episode of season one of Breakout Kings. In February 2013, Garcés appeared on the CBS series Elementary, playing villainous police officer Paula Reyes in season one's episode "Details".

Garcés played Ruby's mom in On My Block, a Netflix series, and reprised the role in its spinoff Freeridge.

Aluna Comics

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While attending a Comic-Con to promote one of the Harold & Kumar films, Garcés noted the sizeable Latino audience for superheroes, despite the low number of Latino characters in the genre.[5][6] She created Further Lane Productions to issue a limited run comic book featuring the Latina superhero Aluna, later working with S2 Games to create, and voice, Aluna as a 2011 playable hero added to Heroes of Newerth, S2's multiplayer online battle arena video game.[5][7][8][9] In time for the 2014 Comic-Con, she worked with sekretagent Productions and Allegory Media to produce a four issue Aluna comic book series.[7][10][11] In 2019, Aluna was developed into an action RPG.[12]

Personal life

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Garcés is a naturalized United States citizen.[13] Her first child, a daughter, was born in 1992.[14] Garcés married entrepreneur and producer Antonio Hernandez in 2002.[15] The couple have a son, born in 2013.[15][16][17]

Filmography

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Garcés with Julissa Bermudez in March 2011

Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1991 Hangin' with the Homeboys Harassed Sister
1993 Life with Mikey Janice
1995 Dangerous Minds Alvina
1998 Harvest Mina Fuentes
2002 Clockstoppers Francesca
2003 The Station Agent Cashier
2003 Marci X Yolanda Quinones
2003 Spin Francesca
2004 Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle Maria
2005 Che Guevara Aleida
2005 The Shore Tina
2005 Man of the House Teresa
2006 National Lampoon's Pledge This! Gloria Torrez
2008 Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay Maria
2008 Harold & Kumar Go to Amsterdam[dubiousdiscuss] Maria Short film[citation needed]
2011 A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas Maria
2011 Deception Katrina Mendoza
2013 The Maid's Room Drina
2014 Adult Beginners Blanca
2021 Aftermath Claudia

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1991 Law & Order Lucy Rivers Season 1 Episode 18: "The Secret Sharers"
1994 New York Undercover Aria Nuriez Season 1 Episode 1: "School Ties"
1999 Oz Isabella (1) Season 3 Episode 1: "The Truth and Nothing But..."
(2) Season 3 Episode 2: "Napoleon's Boney Parts" (uncredited)[citation needed]
1999–2001 Guiding Light Pilar Santos Regular role (7 episodes)
2002 The Brothers García Milagros Season 3 Episode 4: "West Side Stories"
2003-2007 CSI: Miami (1) Carmen Abregon
(2) (3) Anna Sivarro
(1) Season 1 Episode 17: "Simple Man" (2003)
(2) Season 5 Episode 17: "A Grizzly Murder" (2007)
(3) Season 5 Episode 19: "Bloodline" (2007)
2004 The Sopranos Felicia Galan Season 5 Episode 9: "Unidentified Black Males"
2005 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit CSU Tech Millie Vizcarrondo (1) Season 7 Episode 5: "Strain"
(2) Season 7 Episode 6: "Raw"
(3) Season 7 Episode 7: "Name"
(4) Season 7 Episode 11: "Alien"
2006–2008 The Shield Officer Tina Hanlon Recurring role (Seasons 5–6); Main role (Season 7) (28 episodes)
2008 Knight Rider Kelli Haddigan Season 1 Episode 1: "A Knight in Shining Armor"
2009 Defying Gravity Paula Morales Main role (13 episodes)
2010 Chase Tia Archer Season 1 Episode 11: "Betrayed"
2010–2014 Warehouse 13 Dr. Kelly Hernandez (1) Season 2 Episode 3: "Beyond Our Control" (2010)
(2) Season 2 Episode 7: "For the Team" (2010)
(3) Season 2 Episode 8: "Merge with Caution" (2010)
(4) Season 2 Episode 11: ""Buried" (2010)
(5) Season 2 Episode 12: "Reset" (2010)
(6) Season 5 Episode 4: "Savage Seduction" (2014)
2011 The Good Wife Aida Rios Season 2 Episode 20: "Foreign Affairs"
2011 Breakout Kings Debbie Myera Season 1 Episode 11: "Off the Beaten Path"
2013 Elementary Paula Reyes Season 1 Episode 16: "Details"
2013 All My Children Lea Marquez Recurring role (34 episodes)
2013 Devious Maids Flora Hernandez (1) Season 1 Episode 1: "Pilot"
(2) Season 1 Episode 3: "Wiping Away the Past"
(3) Season 1 Episode 5: "Taking Out the Trash"
(4) Season 1 Episode 9: "Scrambling the Eggs"
(5) Season 1 Episode 12: "Getting Out the Blood"
(6) Season 1 Episode 13: "Totally Clean"
2016 King of LA Valerie TV movie / Unsold television pilot
2017 Major Crimes Alexa Diaz (1) Season 6 Episode 1: "Sanctuary City: Part 1"
(2) Season 6 Episode 2: "Sanctuary City: Part 2"
(3) Season 6 Episode 3: "Sanctuary City: Part 3"
(4) Season 6 Episode 4: "Sanctuary City: Part 4"
(5) Season 6 Episode 5: "Sanctuary City: Part 5"
2018–2021 On My Block Geny Martinez Recurring role (16 episodes)
2022 Chicago Med Gia Lindahl Season 7 Episode 14: "All the Things That Could Have Been"
2023 Freeridge Geny Martinez (1) Season 1 Episode 1: "The Box"
(2) Season 1 Episode 2: "Cake"
(3) Season 1 Episode 4: "Dead Mom"
(4) Season 1 Episode 8: "Thanksgiving"

References

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  1. ^ "AMC Star Pregnant". Soap Opera Digest. June 21, 2013.
  2. ^ "Today's history on this day". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. March 20, 2012, Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  3. ^ Valeria, Andrea (2011). El poder de tu cumpleaños: 366 Dias de Revealciones Astrologicas y Astronomicas. Penguin Group US. ISBN 9780983139010
  4. ^ Garcés, Paula (May 9, 2013). "Paula Garces's Blog: Meet Me and My Family!" People.
  5. ^ a b Moreno, Carolina (July 9, 2013). "Paula Garces Creates Aluna, A Latina Superhero, To Represent Latinos". Huffington Post. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  6. ^ "Hometown superhero: Paula Garces' new comic book series 'Aluna'". April 15, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Garcés, Paula (September 5, 2013). "Meet Me and My Family!". Sekretagent Productions. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  8. ^ "Aluna Comes to Life". HofN Newsletter Vol7. S2 Games. 2011. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  9. ^ Callaham, John (February 25, 2011). "Interview: Actress Paula Garces talks about bringing Aluna to Heroes of Newerth". BigDownload.com. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  10. ^ alunathecomic (July 23, 2014). "Aluna 2014 San Diego Comic Con". Aluna Comics. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  11. ^ "Actress Paula Garces Co-Creator of ALUNA, Latina Superhero Comic Book Series, at San Diego Comic Con 2017".
  12. ^ "How a Hollywood Actress Created a Latina Superhero for Comics & Games". November 2, 2019.
  13. ^ @therealpaulagarces (June 23, 2020). "#vote I just voted I walked to 2 locations but I didn't give up so don't you #itsyourright #votolatino #ijustvoted". Retrieved December 9, 2022 – via Instagram.
  14. ^ Castillo, Amaris (June 26, 2013). "'Devious Maids' Star Paula Garces is Expecting!". Latina. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  15. ^ a b Leonard, Elizabeth (June 26, 2013). "Paula Garces Expecting Second Child". People. Archived from the original on July 2, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  16. ^ WENN Staff (June 27, 2013). "Paula Garces: 'My Pregnancy Is A Miracle'". Contactmusic.com. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  17. ^ Hernandez, Lee (November 20, 2013). "Paula Garces Welcomes Son Antonio Andres". People. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
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