Natalie Morales (actress)
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Natalie Morales (born February 15, 1985) is an American actress and director. She starred in the 2008
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series ''
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'' and had a main role in 2009 on the first season of the
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series '' White Collar''. In 2010, she appeared in the feature films '' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'' and '' Going the Distance''. Morales also had a starring role in the
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comedy series '' The Grinder'', the
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
sitcom ''
Abby's ''Abby's'' is an American sitcom television series created by Josh Malmuth that aired from March 28 to June 13, 2019, on NBC. The series stars Natalie Morales, Neil Flynn, Nelson Franklin, Jessica Chaffin, Leonard Ouzts, and Kimia Behpoornia. In ...
'', and recurring roles in the NBC sitcom ''
Parks and Recreation ''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 ...
'',
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's '' The Newsroom'' and the
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series ''Dead to Me''. Her directorial debut film, the teen comedy ''
Plan B Plan B typically refers to a contingency plan, a plan devised for an outcome other than in the expected plan. Plan B may also refer to: * Plan B, a brand name of levonorgestrel, an emergency contraception drug Film and television * Plan B En ...
'', was released May 28, 2021, on
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. She also directed '' Language Lessons'', a film she co-wrote with
Mark Duplass Mark David Duplass (born December 7, 1976) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and musician. With his brother Jay Duplass, he started the film production company Duplass Brothers Productions in 1996. Duplass has written and directed films, i ...
and stars in. It premiered at the
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and was released in September 2021.


Early life

A native of
Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, Morales is of
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
n descent. She attended St. Agatha Catholic School and Southwest Miami Senior High School. She participated in the
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...
's Dow Jones Minority High School Journalism Workshop.


Career


Acting

Morales had a guest appearance on ''
CSI: Miami ''CSI: Miami'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: Miami'') is an American police procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2002 until April 8, 2012 on CBS. Featuring David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Emily Procter as Dete ...
'' in 2006, and played a character in ''
Pimp My Ride ''Pimp My Ride'' is an American television series produced by MTV and hosted by rapper Xzibit, which ran for six seasons on MTV from 2004 to 2007. In each episode, a car in poor condition is both restored and customized. The work on the show w ...
'' that year, a video game version of the
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television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
. Her first major role was in ''
The Middleman ''The Middleman'' is a comic book series written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach with art by Les McClaine and published by Viper Comics. The series was initially intended to be a television pilot that went on to be published as a comic, before being ...
'', a
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dramedy Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
which aired on the
ABC Family The American cable television, cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and s ...
network for one season. She starred as Wendy Watson; the series was adapted from the comic book, ''
The Middleman ''The Middleman'' is a comic book series written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach with art by Les McClaine and published by Viper Comics. The series was initially intended to be a television pilot that went on to be published as a comic, before being ...
''. Morales also starred in and executive produced a
Web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...
, titled ''Quitters''. The series was an official selection of the 3rd annual
ITVFest (Independent Television Festival) Catalyst Story Institute & Content Festival, formerly the ITVFest (The Independent Television Festival), is an arts organization and an annual festival gathering of fans, artists and executives from around the world to celebrate outstanding indepen ...
in Los Angeles in August 2008. In 2009, Morales joined the cast of the
USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
television series '' White Collar'' for the first season. She portrayed Lauren Cruz, a junior
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
agent. In May 2010, after her dismissal from the ''White Collar'' cast, Morales began appearing as a regular in the
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
''
Parks and Recreation ''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 ...
,'' appearing as Lucy, girlfriend of
Aziz Ansari Aziz Ismail Ansari (; born February 23, 1983) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is known for his role as Tom Haverford on the NBC series ''Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015) and as creator and star of the Netflix series ''Master ...
's character
Tom Haverford Thomas Montgomery Haverford (born Darwish Sabir Ismail Ghani) is a fictional character on the NBC series ''Parks and Recreation''. He is a sarcastic, underachieving government official for the city of Pawnee who—in his own mind—is revered for ...
and bartender at The Snakehole Lounge. Morales appeared in
Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...
's 2010 film, '' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,'' a sequel to his 1987 film ''
Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
.'' She was cast as
Chelsea Handler Chelsea Joy Handler (born February 25, 1975) is an American comedian, actress, writer, television host, and producer. She hosted the late-night talk show ''Chelsea Lately'' on the E! network from 2007 to 2014 and released a documentary series, ...
's best friend in ''
Are You There, Chelsea? ''Are You There, Chelsea?'' (formerly known as ''Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea'') is an American television sitcom created by Dottie Zicklin and Julie Ann Larson for NBC. It is based on Chelsea Handler's 2008 best-selling book '' Are Y ...
'' She left the series when the cast was replaced for creative reasons. Morales also appeared on
Aaron Sorkin Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. Sorkin has earned an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime E ...
's
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drama, '' The Newsroom,'' guest-starring as Kaylee, the girlfriend of
Dev Patel Dev Patel (; born 23 April 1990) is a British actor. His breakthrough came in 2008 with the leading role of Jamal Malik in Danny Boyle's drama ''Slumdog Millionaire'', for which Patel was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leadin ...
’s character, Neal. In 2013, Morales joined the cast of ''
Trophy Wife A trophy wife is a wife who is regarded as a status symbol for the husband. The term is often used in a derogatory or disparaging way, implying that the wife in question has little personal merit besides her physical attractiveness, requires sub ...
'' as Meg, Kate's best friend. In 2015, she joined the cast of the Fox series '' The Grinder.'' In 2017, she appeared in some episodes of the NBC series '' Powerless.'' Morales appeared as Detective Anne Garcia in the
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
horror comedy series ''
Santa Clarita Diet ''Santa Clarita Diet'' is an American horror-comedy streaming television series created by Victor Fresco for the streaming service Netflix, starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant. Fresco serves as the showrunner, and is an executive prod ...
.'' Morales's most recent television series is the NBC multi-camera sitcom ''
Abby's ''Abby's'' is an American sitcom television series created by Josh Malmuth that aired from March 28 to June 13, 2019, on NBC. The series stars Natalie Morales, Neil Flynn, Nelson Franklin, Jessica Chaffin, Leonard Ouzts, and Kimia Behpoornia. In ...
,'' created by Josh Malmuth and executive produced by ''Parks and Recreation'' creator
Michael Schur Michael Herbert Schur (born 1975) is an American television producer, writer, director and actor. He was a producer and writer for the comedy series ''The Office'', and co-created ''Parks and Recreation'' with ''Office'' producer Greg Daniels. ...
. Their third series for the network, it premiered on March 28, 2019. Later that year, Morales was cast as Michelle in the second season of the Netflix black comedy series '' Dead to Me'' (2019).


Directing

In 2021, Morales directed teen comedy ''
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'' starring
Victoria Moroles Victoria Moroles (born September 4, 1996) is an American actress. She played Andie on the Disney Channel show ''Liv and Maddie''. She has also played Hayden Romero on MTV's ''Teen Wolf'' in seasons 5 and 6 (2015–2017). She also starred in the ...
and Kuhoo Verma. The story revolves around two teens looking for the plan b pill after a night of a regrettable first sexual encounter. The film earned critical acclaim with critics praising Morales' direction including
Linda Holmes Linda Holmes (born March 16, 1959) is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 42nd District since January 2007. The 42nd district includes all or parts of Aurora, Boulder Hill, Montgomery, Naperville, North Aurora and ...
of
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who wrote, "The creators and the cast deserve enormous credit for how deftly the broader comedy here is balanced with genuine fear and frustration, and how unexpectedly parts of the film unfold. A lot of it is somehow structurally familiar but specifically surprising." That same year she also directed the drama film '' Language Lessons'' (2021) which she co-wrote with writer-director
Mark Duplass Mark David Duplass (born December 7, 1976) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and musician. With his brother Jay Duplass, he started the film production company Duplass Brothers Productions in 1996. Duplass has written and directed films, i ...
. They both star in the feature, which they filmed during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The film is set over
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as a Spanish teacher (Morales) communicates with her student (Duplass). Katie Erbland, critic of ''
IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
'' praised Morales' work on the film writing "Morales’ winning ''Language Lessons'' offers one of the best uses of the format yet, a 'Zoom film' that utilizes its constraints to craft an intimate, expressive two-hander, no fatigue in sight". The film had its debut at the
71st Berlin International Film Festival The 71st annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 1 to 5 March 2021 as a virtual festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An in-person event has also been tentatively scheduled for June, pending the resolution of the COVID-19 issu ...
in March of 2021 to positive reviews, and was released in September 2021.


Personal life

On June 30, 2017, Morales stated on
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
that she identifies as
queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
. Morales uses she/they pronouns.


Filmography


References


External links

*
Natalie Morales
on
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morales, Natalie 1985 births Actresses from Miami American entertainers of Cuban descent American film actresses American television actresses Hispanic and Latino American actresses Living people American LGBT actors LGBT Hispanic and Latino American people LGBT people from Florida American queer actresses Queer women 21st-century American actresses People from Kendall, Florida