Ana Teresa Villafañe ( ) is an American actress and singer from

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, best known for her portrayal of pop icon

Gloria Estefan Gloria María Milagrosa Estefan (; ; born September 1, 1957) is an American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is an eight-time Grammy Awards, Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been named one of t ...

in the Broadway musical '' On Your Feet!''.

Life and career

She was born in

. She graduated from

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. She is of Cuban and Salvadoran descent. Villafañe's film and television credits include: the award-winning '' Magic City Memoirs'' (executive producer Andy Garcia) "Los Americans" created by Dennis Leoni (" Resurrection Boulevard") 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 discontinued American media franchise produced and owned by the multinational company Mattel. Originally released as a line of action figures marketed from 1999 to 2022, the Max Steel name has expanded to live-action films, a ...

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

and

Emilio Estefan Emilio Estefan Gómez (born March 4, 1953) is a Cuban-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 of s ...

—alongside the producers and creative team of their biographical musical '' On Your Feet!''—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, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, to Australia, to

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, to

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

—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 fan of Gloria Estefan – she 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 Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer. Early life and education Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. Although he did not ...

, and the Estefans. On April 13, 2015, Villafañe and Josh Segarra were announced on NBC's "

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

" as the stars of the Broadway-bound musical. "I feel a very big responsibility to portray her in a real way", Villafañe said in an exclusive interview with

InStyle ''InStyle'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine founded in 1994. It was published in the United States by Dotdash Meredith, and started originally as a brand extension of ''People (magazine), People'' before carving out its own ide ...

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 news ...

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, singer, filmmaker, rapper, and librettist. He created the Broadway musicals '' In the Heights'' and ''Hamilton'', and the soundtracks for the animated films '' Moana' ...

'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 an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that affected the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths. It is the ...

. In June 2021, Villafañe was cast as a lead in the NBC series ''

Night Court ''Night Court'' is an American television sitcom that premiered on NBC on January 4, 1984, and ended on May 31, 1992, after nine seasons consisting of List of Night Court episodes, 193 episodes. The show is set in the night shift of a Manhattan ...

'', 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 Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

on Broadway. Although originally cast in '' Bad Monkey'', it was announced Natalie Martinez would replace her, after the character was rewritten to be older.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villafane, Ana Living people American stage actresses American television actresses American musical theatre actresses American people of Salvadoran descent Actresses from Miami American entertainers 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 Year of birth missing (living people)