# Paula Garcés

Paula Garcés (born March 20, 1974) is an American actress. She has appeared in films such as Clockstoppers, Man of the House and the Harold & Kumar series, and on TV series such as CSI: Miami, On My Block, The Shield, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Sopranos, Oz, Devious Maids, Guiding Light, and All My Children.

## Early life

Paula Garcés was born on March 20, 1974, in Medellín, Colombia. At a very early age she moved to East Harlem in New York City.

## Career
### Acting

Garcés played Alvina in 1995's Dangerous Minds with Michelle Pfeiffer. Garcés has also co-starred on Guiding Light as Pilar Santos.
She co-starred in Paramount Pictures' 2002 teen sci-fi adventure Clockstoppers, starring opposite Jesse Bradford. She was then cast in Richard Benjamin's hip-hop comedy Marci X opposite Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans. Garcés was next seen opposite Academy Award-winner Tommy Lee Jones in the Revolution Studios feature Man of the House. In 2004, she starred in National Lampoon's Pledge This!. She was featured on CSI: Miami and starred in a four episode arc on NBC's Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as guest spots on HBO's hit series The Sopranos and Oz.
Garcés landed a role as a cast member on The Shield. She appeared in New Line Cinema's 2004 feature film Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, its 2008 sequel Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and the 2011 sequel A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, as Maria, the love interest and later wife of John Cho's character.
Garcés was a series regular on the ABC drama series Defying Gravity, playing documentarian Paula Morales during its single 2009 season. She had a recurring role as Dr. Kelly Hernandez in the Syfy TV series Warehouse 13. She was also featured in the video "Imagínate" with Wisin & Yandel, and rapper T-Pain. In May 2011, Garcés appeared in "Off the Beaten Path", the 11th episode of season one of Breakout Kings. In February 2013, Garcés appeared on the CBS series Elementary, playing villainous police officer Paula Reyes in season one's episode "Details".
Garcés played Ruby's mom in On My Block, a Netflix series, and reprised the role in its spinoff Freeridge.

### Aluna Comics

While attending a Comic-Con to promote one of the Harold & Kumar films, Garcés noted the sizeable Latino audience for superheroes, despite the low number of Latino characters in the genre. She created Further Lane Productions to issue a limited run comic book featuring the Latina superhero Aluna, later working with S2 Games to create, and voice, Aluna as a 2011 playable hero added to Heroes of Newerth, S2's multiplayer online battle arena video game. In time for the 2014 Comic-Con, she worked with sekretagent Productions and Allegory Media to produce a four issue Aluna comic book series. In 2019, Aluna was developed into an action RPG.

## Personal life

Garcés is a naturalized United States citizen. Her first child, a daughter, was born in 1992 when Garcés was eighteen years old. Garcés married entrepreneur and producer Antonio Hernandez in 2002. The couple have a son, born in 2013.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1991 | Hangin' with the Homeboys | Harassed Sister | |
| 1993 | Life with Mikey | Janice | |
| 1995 | Dangerous Minds | Alvina | |
| 1998 | Harvest | Mina Fuentes | |
| 2002 | Clockstoppers | Francesca | |
| 2003 | The Station Agent | Cashier | |
| 2003 | Marci X | Yolanda Quinones | |
| 2003 | Spin | Francesca | |
| 2004 | Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle | Maria | |
| 2005 | Che Guevara | Aleida | |
| 2005 | The Shore | Tina | |
| 2005 | Man of the House | Teresa | |
| 2006 | National Lampoon's Pledge This! | Gloria Torrez | |
| 2008 | Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay | Maria | |
| 2008 | Harold & Kumar Go to Amsterdam | Maria | Short film |
| 2011 | A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas | Maria | |
| 2011 | Deception | Katrina Mendoza | |
| 2013 | The Maid's Room | Drina | |
| 2014 | Adult Beginners | Blanca | |
| 2021 | Aftermath | Claudia | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1991 | Law & Order | Lucy Rivers | Season 1 Episode 18: "The Secret Sharers" |
| 1994 | New York Undercover | Aria Nuriez | Season 1 Episode 1: "School Ties" |
| 1999 | Oz | Isabella | (1) Season 3 Episode 1: "The Truth and Nothing But..." (2) Season 3 Episode 2: "Napoleon's Boney Parts" (uncredited) |
| 1999–2001 | Guiding Light | Pilar Santos | Regular role (7 episodes) |
| 2002 | The Brothers García | Milagros | Season 3 Episode 4: "West Side Stories" |
| 2003-2007 | CSI: Miami | (1) Carmen Abregon (2) (3) Anna Sivarro | (1) Season 1 Episode 17: "Simple Man" (2003) (2) Season 5 Episode 17: "A Grizzly Murder" (2007) (3) Season 5 Episode 19: "Bloodline" (2007) |
| 2004 | The Sopranos | Felicia Galan | Season 5 Episode 9: "Unidentified Black Males" |
| 2005 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | CSU Tech Millie Vizcarrondo | (1) Season 7 Episode 5: "Strain" (2) Season 7 Episode 6: "Raw" (3) Season 7 Episode 7: "Name" (4) Season 7 Episode 11: "Alien" |
| 2006–2008 | The Shield | Officer Tina Hanlon | Recurring role (Seasons 5–6); Main role (Season 7) (28 episodes) |
| 2008 | Knight Rider | Kelli Haddigan | Season 1 Episode 1: "A Knight in Shining Armor" |
| 2009 | Defying Gravity | Paula Morales | Main role (13 episodes) |
| 2010 | Chase | Tia Archer | Season 1 Episode 11: "Betrayed" |
| 2010–2014 | Warehouse 13 | Dr. Kelly Hernandez | (1) Season 2 Episode 3: "Beyond Our Control" (2010) (2) Season 2 Episode 7: "For the Team" (2010) (3) Season 2 Episode 8: "Merge with Caution" (2010) (4) Season 2 Episode 11: ""Buried" (2010) (5) Season 2 Episode 12: "Reset" (2010) (6) Season 5 Episode 4: "Savage Seduction" (2014) |
| 2011 | The Good Wife | Aida Rios | Season 2 Episode 20: "Foreign Affairs" |
| 2011 | Breakout Kings | Debbie Myera | Season 1 Episode 11: "Off the Beaten Path" |
| 2013 | Elementary | Paula Reyes | Season 1 Episode 16: "Details" |
| 2013 | All My Children | Lea Marquez | Recurring role (34 episodes) |
| 2013 | Devious Maids | Flora Hernandez | (1) Season 1 Episode 1: "Pilot" (2) Season 1 Episode 3: "Wiping Away the Past" (3) Season 1 Episode 5: "Taking Out the Trash" (4) Season 1 Episode 9: "Scrambling the Eggs" (5) Season 1 Episode 12: "Getting Out the Blood" (6) Season 1 Episode 13: "Totally Clean" |
| 2016 | King of LA | Valerie | TV movie / Unsold television pilot |
| 2017 | Major Crimes | Alexa Diaz | (1) Season 6 Episode 1: "Sanctuary City: Part 1" (2) Season 6 Episode 2: "Sanctuary City: Part 2" (3) Season 6 Episode 3: "Sanctuary City: Part 3" (4) Season 6 Episode 4: "Sanctuary City: Part 4" (5) Season 6 Episode 5: "Sanctuary City: Part 5" |
| 2018–2021 | On My Block | Geny Martinez | Recurring role (16 episodes) |
| 2022 | Chicago Med | Gia Lindahl | Season 7 Episode 14: "All the Things That Could Have Been" |
| 2023 | Freeridge | Geny Martinez | (1) Season 1 Episode 1: "The Box" (2) Season 1 Episode 2: "Cake" (3) Season 1 Episode 4: "Dead Mom" (4) Season 1 Episode 8: "Thanksgiving" |