Juani Feliz (born January 3, 1989) is a Dominican-American actress. She is best known for playing Isabela Benitez-Santiago in Tracy Oliver's Amazon comedy series ''Harlem'', Carmen in

Ava DuVernay Ava Marie DuVernay (; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker, television producer and former film publicist. She is a recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a NAACP Image Award, a BAFTA Film Award and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee ...

's HBO Max series ''DMZ'', and Alejandra Lopez in FX's ''

Fleishman Is In Trouble ''Fleishman Is in Trouble '' is a 2019 novel by American writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner. The debut novel was published on 18 June 2019 by Penguin Random House. It tells the story of a Manhattan couple undergoing a bitter divorce. Brodesser-Akner a ...

''. In 2022, Feliz was named one of

People en Español ''People en Español'' is a Spanish-language American magazine published by Dotdash Meredith that debuted in 1996, originally as the Spanish-language edition of its publication ''People''. As of 2009, it is the Spanish-language magazine with the l ...

's ''50 Más Bellos'' ("50 Most Beautiful") of 2022.

Early life

Feliz was born in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

and raised in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. She started acting at the age of 14 after getting involved in her first school play. She landed her first TV role at the age of 15 on ''

Law & Order: Criminal Intent ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' is an American police procedural Drama (film and television), drama television series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, p ...

''. Her acting career took a backseat when she graduated high school and studied biomedical engineering at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. After college, Feliz worked at the

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering (pronounced "veese") is a cross-disciplinary research institute at Harvard University focused on bridging the gap between academia and industry (translational medicine) by drawing inspirat ...

in Boston, where she worked on a clinical trial for a melanoma cancer vaccine and helped develop biomaterials and drug delivery systems. During this time she also completed a master's degree at Harvard. Despite her career in bioengineering, Feliz made her return to acting in 2016.

Career

Upon her return to acting, Feliz made her big screen debut in '' The Purge: Election Year''. Between 2016 and 2018, she guest starred on various TV series including '' Blue Bloods,

Power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

Shades of Blue Varieties of the color blue may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation, intensity, or colorfulness), or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and sha ...

, One Dollar'' and had a major supporting role in the film '' Canal Street''. In 2017, she was one of the 12 actors chosen to be part of the ''ABC Discovers Talent Showcase''. In 2019, she filmed her first network pilot as a series regular on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

romantic drama ''Until The Wedding'' and filmed for a major supporting role in the upcoming feature film ''Quiet In My Town''. In 2020, Feliz won Best Supporting Actress at the Utah Film Festival for her performance in the indie short ''Below The Belt''. In 2021, she played Isabela Benitez-Santiago in Amazon's comedy series ''Harlem'', from

Tracy Oliver Tracy Y. Oliver is an American film and television writer, producer, director, and actress. Oliver originally starred in the web series '' The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl,'' before serving as a staff writer on ABC's '' The Neighbors'' an ...

and

Amy Poehler Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy trou ...

. In 2022, she played Carmen in the

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

limited series ''DMZ'', from

and Roberto Patino. Later that year, she played Alejandra Lopez in the FX limited series ''

,''

Taffy Brodesser-Akner Taffy Brodesser-Akner (born Stephanie Akner) is an American journalist and author. She has worked freelance and as a contributor for '' GQ'' and ''The New York Times'', where she is now a staff writer. Her profiles of celebrities have won her th ...

's screen adaption of her 2019 NYT best-selling novel. More recently, Feliz reprised her role as Isabela Benitez-Santiago in the second season of ''

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

'' and guest starred in episodes of '' The Rookie: Feds,'' ''NCIS: Hawaii'' and '' The Good Doctor''. She will next be seen in

Alex Garland Alexander Medawar Garland (born 26 May 1970) is an English writer and filmmaker. He rose to prominence as a novelist in the late 1990s with his novel '' The Beach'', which led some critics to call Garland a key voice of Generation X. He subsequ ...

's action epic ''

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

'' for

A24 A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City. A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Pr ...

Personal life

Feliz is a member of the

LGBTQ community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and social ...

. She married her wife, a

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

executive, in September 2021 in New York City.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Feliz, Juani LGBT actresses Dominican-American culture Harvard College alumni Living people Actresses from the Bronx Nationality missing 1989 births Dominican Republic emigrants to the United States