Kiele Michelle Sanchez ( ; born October 13, 1977) is an American actress who starred in the

A&E Network A&E is an American basic cable network, the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, television drama, dramas, and ...

drama '' The Glades''. Previously, she had starred as Anne Sorelli in

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

comedy-drama ''

Related ''Related'' is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on The WB from October 5, 2005, to March 20, 2006. It revolves around the lives of four close-knit sisters of Italian descent, raised in Brooklyn and living in Manhattan. The ...

'' and as Nikki Fernandez on the main cast in the third season of 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 ...

television drama series ''

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''. She also starred in the

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...

drama series ''

Kingdom Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

'' on the

Audience Network Audience Network (also known as Audience from 2016 until 2020) was an American pay television channel that was owned by AT&T. It featured a mix of original and acquired series, specials, and feature films. The network operated as a commercial-fre ...

Early life and education

Sanchez was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Her father, Oscar Sanchez, is a racetrack jockey agent. She is one of four children, and is of Puerto Rican and French descent. Sanchez began her acting career at

Glenbard North High School Glenbard North High School, or GBN, and locally referred to as "Glenbard" or "North", is a public closed campus four-year high school located at the corner of Kuhn Road and Lies Road in Carol Stream, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, ...

Carol Stream, Illinois Carol Stream is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. Carol Stream was incorporated on January 5, 1959, and named after its founder's daughter. Per the 2020 census, the population was 39,854. History In ...

, when she performed in a school production of ''

The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize ...

''. Her performance helped her overcome her

stage fright Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, real or imagined, whether actually or potentially (for example, when perf ...

, with which she struggled at the time.

Career

In 2000, Sanchez auditioned for

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Wanna Be a VJ ''Wanna Be a VJ'' was a show and contest on MTV in the United States. Contestants were selected from the crowd around MTV's Times Square office, and narrowed down via challenges testing the applicants' music knowledge and personality. Once narro ...

contest in New York. She was selected as one of the five finalists, but did not win the competition. However, an agent who had seen her on MTV expressed interest in representing her. After her agent recommended a move to Los Angeles, Sanchez auditioned and landed roles in the short-lived drama series ''

That Was Then ''That Was Then'' is an American drama television series that was broadcast on ABC September 27 to October 4, 2002. It was cancelled after only two episodes had aired. Synopsis The series starred James Bulliard as Travis Glass, a 30-year-old w ...

'' and the sitcom ''

Married to the Kellys ''Married to the Kellys'' is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 2003 to April 23, 2004 with a run of 22 episodes. Set in a Kansas suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, the series stars Breckin Meyer and Kiele Sanchez. The show was ...

''. In 2003, Sanchez appeared in the film '' Stuck on You''. She joined the cast of the hit ABC show ''

'' for the series' third season, as Nikki Fernandez, but due to fan responses to her character, she was killed off six episodes after her first appearance. She had a recurring role on the ABC show ''

Samantha Who? ''Samantha Who?'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC from October 15, 2007, to July 23, 2009. The series was created by Cecelia Ahern and Donald Todd, who also served as producers. Although highly rated during its first ...

''. She played a leading role in the 2008 film ''

Insanitarium ''Insanitarium '' is a 2008 American direct-to-video horror-thriller film starring Jesse Metcalfe, Kiele Sanchez, Kevin Sussman, Olivia Munn, Carla Gallo and Peter Stormare. The film is directed by Jeff Buhler. Plot The film follows a man, Ja ...

'' alongside

Jesse Metcalfe Jesse Eden Metcalfe (born December 9, 1978) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his portrayal of John Rowland on ''Desperate Housewives''. Metcalfe has also had notable roles on ''Passions'' and played the title role in '' John T ...

and co-starred in the 2009 thriller ''

A Perfect Getaway ''A Perfect Getaway'' is a 2009 American thriller film written and directed by David Twohy and starring Timothy Olyphant, Milla Jovovich, Kiele Sanchez, and Steve Zahn. Olyphant, Jovovich, Sanchez, and Zahn portray a group of vacationing coupl ...

'' as Gina, Nick's (

Timothy Olyphant Timothy David Olyphant ( ; born May 20, 1968) is an American actor. He made his acting debut in an off-Broadway theater in 1995, in ''The Monogamist'', and won the Theatre World Award for his performance, and then originated David Sedaris' ''Th ...

) girlfriend. Sanchez's character was famously seen

nude swimming Nude swimming is the practice of swimming without clothing, whether in natural bodies of water or in swimming pools. A colloquial term for nude swimming is ''skinny-dipping''. In both British and American English, to swim means "to move through ...

near a waterfall in her first scene. Sanchez starred in the 2010 film '' 30 Days of Night: Dark Days'', taking over the role of Stella Oleson from

Melissa George Melissa George (born 6 August 1976) is an Australian actress and entrepreneur. A former national artistic rollerskating champion and model, George began her acting career playing Angel Parrish in the Australian soap opera Home and Away (1993– ...

, who played her in the first film. Sanchez also starred in the

drama series ''

'' which premiered on the

in the fall of 2014. She also appears in The Glades which ran for four years. In February 2020, she was cast as Lorna (the ex-wife of Mickey) in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

series ''The Lincoln Lawyer'', which is based from the 2005 novel of the same name by

Michael Connelly Michael Joseph Connelly (born July 21, 1956) is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. Connelly is the bes ...

. In November 2022, Sanchez joined her husband Zach Gilford in a recurring role as Bridget Voit, the wife of Gilford's character Elias Voit in '' Criminal Minds: Evolution''.

Personal life

Sanchez was married to screenwriter and director

Zach Helm Zach Helm (born January 21, 1975) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He wrote the internationally-performed stage play ''Good Canary'', wrote and directed the film '' Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium'' (2007) and has staged ...

from 2001 to 2008. In 2010, Sanchez began dating actor

Zach Gilford Zachary Michael Gilford (born January 14, 1982) is an American actor, known for his role as Matt Saracen on the NBC sports drama series '' Friday Night Lights''. In 2021, he starred in the Netflix horror limited series ''Midnight Mass''. In 2022, ...

, with whom she co-starred in the ABC television pilot ''The Matadors''. The couple became engaged in November 2011, and married on December 29, 2012. The couple also co-starred in '' The Purge: Anarchy''. In August 2015, Sanchez announced that she and Gilford were expecting their first child, a son, that November. In October 2015, the couple announced that Sanchez had suffered a stillbirth. In November 2017, the couple had a daughter, born via surrogate.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
StuffMagazine.com Shoot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Kiele 1977 births Actresses from Chicago American film actresses American actresses of Puerto Rican descent American people of French descent American television actresses Living people 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses