Lana Parrilla (pronounced PA-REE-AH) plays the Evil Queen and Regina on ABC’s Once Upon a Time. At times, her character seems quite rough around the edges, but sometimes she surprises us with a heartwarming story.
Beyond her character we have grown to love (or hate), who is Ms. Parrilla?
Lana Parrilla is exactly where she is supposed to be. Whether watching her on the big screen, television or a simple YouTube video, she has so much charisma oozing out of her pours. Her bright smile and laughter, can light a room within seconds.
Lana grew up in Brooklyn, New York. With her childhood home, creativity and following dreams was strongly encouraged. Starting very young, she was always filming home movies with her family and it was apparent the desire to become an amazing actress. When she graduated high school, Lana moved to Los Angeles.
From there, she began studying, acting and honoring her talent in local theatre productions. One of her earlier on-camera appearances was playing in the pilot for “Semper Fi.” This was before her casting on ABC’s hit comedy series, “Spin City.”
In addition to her amazing career, she received an Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actress for the critically acclaimed show, “Boomtown.”
We have also seen this famous beauty on other fantastic television shows. She was in “24” and “Swingtown.” She had guest appearances on “NYPD Blue,” “Six Feet Under” and (are you ready for this?) “LOST.”
PERSONAL INFORMATION
HOMETOWN Brooklyn, NY
BIRTHDATE July 15, 1977
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Very Mean Men | Teresa | |
| Spiders | Marci Eyre | ||
| 2001 | Replicant | Marci | Uncredited |
| 2003 | Frozen Stars | Lisa Vasquez | |
| 2005 | One Last Ride | Antoinette | |
| 2008 | The Double Life of Eleanor Kendall | Nellie |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Grown Ups | Waitress | 2 episodes |
| 2000–2001 | Spin City | Angie Ordonez | 21 episodes; Main cast |
| 2002 | JAG | Lt. Stephanie Donato | 1 episode |
| The Shield | Sedona Tellez | 1 episode | |
| 2002–2003 | Boomtown | Teresa Ortiz | 24 episodes; Main cast
Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 2004 | NYPD Blue | Officer Janet Grafton | 3 episodes |
| Six Feet Under | Maile | 2 episodes | |
| 2005 | 24 | Sarah Gavin | 12 episodes; Recurring, later bumped up to Main cast |
| 2006 | Windfall | Nina Schaefer | 13 episodes; Main cast |
| Lost | Greta | 2 episodes | |
| 2008 | Swingtown | Trina Decker | 13 episodes
Nominated – ALMA Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Television Series |
| 2010 | Miami Medical | Dr. Eva Zambrano | 13 episodes; Main cast |
| Covert Affairs | Julia Suarez | 1 episode | |
| Medium | Lydia Halstrom | 1 episode | |
| The Defenders | Betty | 1 episode | |
| 2011 | Chase | Isabella | 1 episode |
| 2011 on | Once Upon a Time | The Evil Queen/Regina Mills | TV series; Main cast
TV Guide Awards for Favorite Villain (2012) Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television (2012) Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Favorite Villain (2012) Nominated – ALMA Awards for Outstanding TV Actress—Drama (2012) |
This was so beautiful!!! Love the way y teach us how to pronounce her surname. I Love Lana Parrilla! The best actress I ever seen!
I’m a big fan of Lana!! She is amazing! I love her laughter so much!. She has a very beautiful contagious laughter !!