Ana Teresa Villafañe ( ; born June 5, 1989) is an American actress and singer from

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, best known for her portrayal of pop icon

Gloria Estefan Gloria Estefan (; born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García; born 1 September 1957) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has bee ...

in the Broadway musical ''

On Your Feet! ''On Your Feet!'' is a jukebox musical that played on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre. Based on the lives and music of 26-time Grammy Award-winning husband-and-wife team Gloria and Emilio Estefan, the musical has a book written by Alexander Dine ...

''.

Life and career

She was born on June 5, 1989, in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

. She graduated from

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. She is of Cuban and Salvadoran descent. Villafañe's film and television credits include: the award-winning '' Magic City Memoirs'' (executive producer

Andy Garcia Andy may refer to: People *Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds *Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and piano ...

) "Los Americans" created by Dennis Leoni ("

Resurrection Boulevard ''Resurrection Blvd.'' is an American dramatic series which aired on Showtime for three seasons from 2000 to 2002. Plot In East Los Angeles, California, the Santiago family has had three generations of boxers within the family. They continue the ...

") Hiding (Anchor Bay) the Hulu Original Series ''South Beach'' set in her native Miami, and the female lead in the superhero feature film ''

Max Steel Max Steel is a line of action figures produced and owned by the toy company Mattel since 1999. The original figures based on the first TV series were similar to the original 12-inch G.I. Joe toys, consisting almost entirely of different versi ...

'' (Mattel). In the fall of 2014,

and

Emilio Estefan Emilio Estefan Gómez (born March 4, 1953) is a Cuban-born American musician and producer. Estefan has won 19 Grammy Awards. He first came to prominence as a member of the Miami Sound Machine. He is the husband of singer Gloria Estefan, father ...

—alongside the producers and creative team of their biographical musical ''

''—launched an international casting search, dubbed "Reach Gloria" (#ReachGloria) which offered performers around the world a chance to audition for the cast of the musical. Thousands of Broadway hopefuls—from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, to Australia, to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

, to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

—auditioned for roles by submitting videos online, or attending one of tw
open casting calls
held in New York City and the Estefans’ home-city of Miami, Florida. A lifelong fan of Gloria Estefan – who even attended the same Miami high school as the pop star – Villafañe learned of the Miami open casting call and, although she was unable to attend, sent the casting office a video audition. Within three days, she was called to audition for the show's director, Jerry Mitchell, and the Estefans. On April 13, 2015, Villafañe and

Josh Segarra Josh Segarra (born June 3, 1986) is an American actor. He is known for his roles on the television series ''The Electric Company'', '' Sirens'', and ''Arrow'' as well as for originating the role of Emilio Estefan in the musical ''On Your Feet!''. ...

were announced on NBC's " Today Show" as the stars of the Broadway-bound musical. "I feel a very big responsibility to portray her in a real way", Villafañe said in a
exclusive interview
with

InStyle ''InStyle'' was an American monthly women's fashion magazine founded in 1994. It was published in the United States by Dotdash Meredith. In February 2022, it was announced that InStyle would cease print publications and move to a digital-only f ...

Magazine. "I don't think you can actually replicate Gloria Estefan—you can only do your best to tell her story and be true to the music. I grew up performing her music at talent shows, "Reach" was the first song i ever sang in public when i was 9 years old. That's what we would jam to on our way to school". Villafañe made her Broadway debut in the role on October 5, 2015, ahead of the show's official opening night at the Marquis Theatre on November 5, 2015. Both she and the show received rave reviews, and Villafañe was named one of ''The Hollywood Reporter''’s top "Broadway Breakout Stars of the Year" She won a

Theatre World Award The Theatre World Award is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or Off-Broadway. It was first awarded for the 1945–1946 theatre se ...

and was nominated for the

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newsp ...

Drama League Award The Drama League Awards, created in 1922, honor distinguished productions and performances both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, in addition to recognizing exemplary career achievements in theatre, musical theatre, and directing. Each May, the awards ...

and Astaire Awards. Villafañe joined multiple Latin artists on

Lin-Manuel Miranda Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, actor, playwright and filmmaker. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals ''Hamilton'' (2015) and '' In the Heights'' (2005), and the soundtracks for the Disney animat ...

's " Almost Like Praying" in 2017. All proceeds from the song went to help Puerto Rico after being devastated by

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the worst natural disaster in recorded history to affect ...

. In June 2021, Villafañe was cast as a lead in the NBC series '' Night Court'', the sequel to the classic sitcom, but she was replaced by India de Beaufort when the pilot was given a series order. From September 2021 until January 2022, she starred as Roxie Hart in the reopening of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

on Broadway.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villafane, Ana 1988 births Living people American stage actresses American television actresses American musical theatre actresses American people of Salvadoran descent Actresses from Miami American people of Cuban descent Loyola Marymount University alumni Theatre World Award winners 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Singers from Florida Musicians from Miami