Maria Canals-Barrera

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Maria Canals-Barrera
Canals-Barrera at the 2010 Imagen Foundation Awards
Born	Maria Canals (1966-09-28) September 28, 1966 (age 54) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Other names	Maria Canals Barrera
Alma mater	University of Miami (Florida)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1990–present
Spouse(s)	David Barrera ​ (m. 1999)​
Children	2

Maria Canals-Barrera (née Canals; born September 28, 1966) is an American actress. Over the course of her acting career, Canals-Barrera co-starred in a number of sitcoms and has appeared in several films.

She is best known for her role as Theresa Russo in the Disney Channel family sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place (2007–2013). She also played the role of Connie Torres in Camp Rock (2008) and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010), and co-starred as Lala Pinedo in Larry Crowne (2011). From 2014–15, Canals-Barrera starred as Daniela in the ABC comedy series Cristela.

She is known as the voice of Shayera Hol/Hawkgirl in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. She also voiced Sunset Boulevardez in the Disney Channel show The Proud Family and Paulina in the Nickelodeon show Danny Phantom.

Early life[]

Canals-Barrera was born and raised in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents of Catalan descent.^[1] Canals-Barrera also speaks Spanish and took drama classes in junior high.^[2]

Career[]

Canals-Barrera in 2007

In her early years, Canals-Barrera worked extensively in theater in both Miami and Los Angeles. In 1992, she began starring on Telemundo Spanish-language telenovela Marielena. She later had the recurring role in the short-lived 1993 Fox comedy-drama series, Key West. During the 1990s, Canals-Barrera also guest starred in a number of television series, such as 21 Jump Street, Murder, She Wrote, Almost Perfect, and Caroline in the City. Her first regular role was on the short-lived NBC sitcom The Tony Danza Show in 1997. In early 2000s, Canals-Barrera had supporting roles in films America's Sweethearts, The Master of Disguise and Imagining Argentina. She has gained much recognition with comic book fans in recent years for her role as Hawkgirl/Shayera Hol on Bruce Timm's Justice League animated series (2001–04) and Justice League Unlimited (2005–06). She also had a recurring role in Static Shock as news reporter Shelly Sandoval, and in Danny Phantom as Paulina, the title character's high school crush. She also performed the voice of Mercedes "Meche" Colomar in the 1998 video game Grim Fandango. Canals-Barrera also played incidental characters in two episodes on the TV series The Boondocks ("Grandad's Fight" and "Home Alone").

From 2007 to 2012, Canals-Barrera co-starred as Theresa Russo, the mother of lead character Alex Russo (played by Selena Gomez), in the Disney Channel family sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place. She also co-starred in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, a 2009 Disney Channel Original movie based on series. Canals-Barrera also appeared in the Disney Channel Original Movies Camp Rock (2008) and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010) as Connie Torres, the mother of Demi Lovato's character. In 2011, she appeared opposite Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy film Larry Crowne.

In 2014, Canals-Barrera was cast as Hilda, the house manager of the country club where most of the action takes place, in the ABC soapy comedy-drama series Members Only created by Susannah Grant.^[3] However, it got cancelled by the network before its premiere. Later in that year she joined the cast of ABC comedy series Cristela, as Cristela Alonzo's character sister.^[4]

On August 27, 2018, it was revealed by TVLine that Canals-Barrera was cast as the mother of Fernando Hernandez-Guerrero-Fernandez-Guerrero on the Netflix series Fuller House.^[5]

Personal life[]

Barrera has been married to actor David Barrera since 1999, with whom she has two daughters.^[6]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Television[]

Video games[]

Awards and nominations[]

This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (March 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maria Canals-Barrera.

• Maria Canals-Barrera at IMDb
• Maria Canals-Barrera on Twitter