Emeraude Toubia (born March 1, 1989) is a Canadian-born American actress and model, who portrayed

Isabelle Lightwood This is a list of the main characters from ''The Mortal Instruments'' series by Cassandra Clare, including the novels '' City of Bones'', '' City of Ashes'', '' City of Glass'', ''City of Fallen Angels'', '' City of Lost Souls'', and '' City of ...

on the Freeform fantasy series ''

Shadowhunters ''Shadowhunters'', also known as ''Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments'', is an American supernatural drama television series developed by Ed Decter, based on the book series ''The Mortal Instruments'' written by Cassandra Clare. It premiered ...

''. Of Mexican and Lebanese descent, she previously appeared on the

Venevisión Venevisión () is a Venezuelan free-to-air television channel and one of Venezuela's largest television networks, owned by the Cisneros Media division of Grupo Cisneros. History The company's roots date back to June 1, 1953, with the establish ...

telenovelas '' Cosita linda'' as Dulce Rincón and ''

Voltea pa' que te enamores ''Voltea pa' que te enamores'' is a Venezuelan telenovela written by Monica Montañez and produced by Venevisión between 2006 and 2007. The series was distributed internationally by Venevisión International. Daniela Alvarado and Jonathan Monte ...

'' as Stephanie Karam.

Early life

Toubia was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. She was raised in

Brownsville, Texas Brownsville () is a city in Cameron County in the U.S. state of Texas. It is on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the border with Matamoros, Mexico. The city covers , and has a population of 186,738 as of the 2020 census. It ...

as an only child. Her mother, Mirta Sonia (née Solis), was born and raised in

Ciudad Victoria Ciudad Victoria () is the seat of the Municipality of Victoria, and the capital of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located in the northeast of Mexico at the foot of the Sierra Madre Oriental. It borders the municipality of Güémez to ...

, Mexico, and her father was Lebanese-American. Her paternal grandparents were from the

Koura District Koura District ( ar, ٱلْكُورَة, from gr, χώρα, lit=country) is a district in the North Governorate, Lebanon. Koura is one of the 26 districts of Lebanon, particularly known for its olive tree cultivation and olive oil production ...

, Lebanon. As a child, she was professionally trained in

classical ballet Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known for its aesthetics and rigorous technique (such as pointe work, turnout of the legs, and high extensions), its ...

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

belly dance Belly dance (Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different f ...

, and

lyrical dance Lyrical dance is a dance style that embodies various aspects of ballet, jazz, acrobatics, and modern dance. The style combines ballet technique with the freedom and musicality of jazz and contemporary. According to Jennifer Fisher, lyrical dance is ...

. Toubia attended

Homer Hanna High School Hanna High School is a 6A public high school in Brownsville, Texas, United States. It is the successor of Brownsville High School. It is one of six high schools operated by the Brownsville Independent School District. In 2015, the school was ra ...

in Brownsville for her secondary education. Since the age of fifteen, Toubia had competed in several

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

s; she was crowned Miss South Texas, Miss Rio Grande Valley America, and Miss Teen Brownsville.

Career

In 1999, at the age of ten, Toubia made her first television appearance on

Televisa Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...

's children's program ''El Mundo de los Niños''. She became widely known in 2008, when she was selected to participate on the second season of the

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...

beauty pageant series ''

Nuestra Belleza Latina ''Nuestra Belleza Latina'' (English: ''Our Latin beauty'') is an American reality television beauty pageant that has been broadcast on Univision from 2007 through 2016, 2018, and 2021. Reunion specials have been conducted in the years 2010, 2016, ...

'', where the participants were trained rigorously in acting, presenting, dancing and other activities; Toubia was voted first runner-up. Since then, she has been featured in advertisements for brands such as

Maybelline Maybelline New York (formerly The Maybelline Company and Mabelline and Co.), trading as Maybelline ( ), is an American multinational cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company, based in New York City. It was founded in Chicago ...

, J. C. Penney,

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

Garnier Garnier () is a mass market cosmetics brand of French cosmetics company L'Oréal. It produces hair care and skin care products. Launch ''Laboratoires Garnier'' was founded in France in 1904 by Alfred Amour Garnier. The company's first produc ...

, and

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

. In 2009, she joined the second season of '' Model Latina'', finishing in fifth place. She was then a semifinalist in Miss Texas USA 2010. From 2011 to 2013, Toubia served as a presenter for several NBC Universo music and entertainment shows, including ''The Arena'', ''18 & Over'', and ''mun2POP''. She co-hosted the mun2 red carpet special for the 2013

Billboard Latin Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards grew out of the ''Billboard'' Music Awards program from ''Billboard'' magazine, an industry publication charting the sales and radio airplay success of musical recordings. The ''Billboard'' awards are the La ...

. In 2013, Toubia made her acting debut as Elizabeth on the Nickelodeon Latin America youth telenovela '' 11-11: En mi cuadra nada cuadra'', for which she was coached by

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominated actress

Adriana Barraza Adriana Barraza González (born 5 March 1956) is a Mexican actress, acting teacher, and director. In 1999 director Alejandro González Iñárritu cast her as the mother of Gael García Bernal's character in '' Amores perros'', which was nomin ...

. In 2014, she appeared as Dulce Rincón on

's telenovela '' Cosita linda''. The following year, Toubia portrayed Stephanie Karam on the Univision-Venevisión telenovela ''

''. In 2016, Toubia began portraying the half-human, half-angel warrior

on Freeform's fantasy series ''

'', based on ''

The Mortal Instruments ''The Mortal Instruments'' is a series of six young adult fantasy novels written by American author Cassandra Clare, the last of which was published on May 27, 2014. ''The Mortal Instruments'' is chronologically the third series of a planned fi ...

'' book series by

Cassandra Clare Judith Lewis (née Rumelt; born July 27, 1973), better known by her pen name Cassandra Clare, is an American author of young adult fiction, best known for her bestselling series The Mortal Instruments (series), ''The Mortal Instruments''.'' Per ...

. That same month, she appeared alongside

Prince Royce Geoffrey Royce Rojas (born May 11, 1989), known professionally as Prince Royce, is an American singer. At an early age, Royce took an interest in music, and in his teenage years began experimenting with music and writing poetry. By age nineteen ...

in the music video for his single " Culpa al Corazón".

Personal life

Toubia began dating musician

in 2011. They were married in

San Miguel de Allende San Miguel de Allende () is the principal city in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the city lies from Mexico City, 86 km (53 mi) from Queré ...

, Mexico on November 30, 2018. The couple own a home in

Studio City, Los Angeles Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...

. They announced plans to divorce in March 2022. Toubia supports the Get Schooled non-profit organization; on May 26, 2016, she visited Middle College High School in

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...

to meet students and act as their "celebrity principal" for the day.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Toubia, Emeraude 1989 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Texas Actresses from Montreal American actresses of Mexican descent American beauty pageant winners American people of Lebanese descent American telenovela actresses American television actresses Canadian emigrants to the United States Female models from Texas Hispanic and Latino American actresses Hispanic and Latino American female models Living people Models from Montreal People from Brownsville, Texas