As a sassy single mom/sister to the title character on the campy dramedy
Ugly Betty, this Hispanic actress finally found her breakthrough role after a decade in showbiz. Although she pursued ballet in her youth, she traded her dancing shoes for singing lessons due to the pain of being on pointe. A vocal major at New York's
Fame school, the LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts, Ortiz switched her focus to acting in college, and honed her skills on the regional theater scene in both classical and contemporary plays. She made her TV debut with a bit part in
Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman: The Movie, then began landing guest spots on various series (
ER,
Everybody Loves Raymond), usually, to her dismay, playing Latina stereotypes. Even more depressing, she signed on to three successive shows — the sitcoms
Kristin and
A.U.S.A. and the critically hailed but low-rated Iraq War drama
Over There — that didn't make it past their freshman seasons. Around the time of her multi-episode arc as a sultry ADA on
Boston Legal, she auditioned for
Ugly Betty. Although she initially read for the title heroine — a role Ortiz herself has said she was completely wrong and much too old for — the producers asked her back for the big-sis spot, a dream part that allowed her to be sexy, acerbic and street-smart simultaneously.
Ana Ortiz Fast Facts:
- Father, Angel Ortiz, was the first Latino elected to Philadelphia's City Council in 1984. He served for 19 years .
- As a member of New York's off-Broadway LAByrinth Theatre Company, she appeared in 1999's In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.
- Father planned her wedding to fiancé Noah Lebenzon, guitarist for the indie rock group Everything is Energy, because she was too busy filming Ugly Betty.
- Ana Ortiz Relationships:
- Angel Omar Ortiz - Brother
- Angel Ortiz - Father
- Lydia E. Hernandez-Velez - Stepmother
- Lydia Pilar Ortiz - Sister
- Noah Lebenzon - Husband
- Paloma Louise Lebenzon - Daughter
- College:
- University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
