Daniella Alonso

**Daniella Alonso** is a main actress on The CW's *Dynasty*, portraying the role of Cristal Carrington, as well as Rita for six episodes in the fifth season.

## Biography

### Early life and work

Alonso was born in New York City and is of Puerto Rican, Peruvian, and Japanese heritage. She has stated that she "grew up in a pretty much all woman household in NYC", but added that her father, grandfather and uncles had "strong influences" in her life as well. Alonso has a brother.

Discovered by the Ford Modeling Agency, Alonso began booking jobs for teen magazines like *Seventeen*, *YM*, and *Teen*, which led to her booking commercials for Clairol, Cover girl, Clean and Clear, Kmart, Target, Footlocker, Volkswagen, and others. She has also done over thirty national commercials and at least twenty Spanish market advertisements.

### Career

In television, Alonso began her career with guest appearances on *Law & Order* and *As the World Turns*. She had her first break with a recurring role as Anna Taggaro in Season 2 of The WB drama series *One Tree Hill* (2004-05). She then began appearing in a number of horror movies, including *Hood of Horror* (2006), *The Hills Have Eyes 2* (2007), *Wrong Turn 2: Dead End* (2007), and *The Collector* (2009). She has also had guest appearances in *CSI: Crime Scene Investigation*, *Private Practice*, *Rizzoli & Isles*, and *Castle*.

In 2007, Alonso began a recurring role in the NBC drama series *Friday Night Lights* (2007-08) as Carlotta Alonso. In 2010, Alonso starred in the short-lived ABC drama series *My Generation*. From 2012 to 2013, she starred in the NBC post-apocalyptic series *Revolution* as Nora Clayton. Alonso later starred in the first season of another NBC series *The Night Shift* as Dr. Landry de la Cruz, that aired on the summer of 2014. In 2015, she had a recurring role in the BET drama series *Being Mary Jane*.

In 2015, Alonso starred in the horror film *Re-Kill* and the box office hit comedy *Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2*, opposite Kevin James. In 2016, Alonso starred in the first season of TNT crime drama *Animal Kingdom*. The following year, she went to star in the ABC drama pilot *Las Reinas*, but it not was picked up to series. Alonso later had recurring roles on *Criminal Minds* and *The Resident*.

In 2019, she joined the cast of The CW prime time soap opera *Dynasty* replacing Ana Brenda Contreras in the role of Cristal Jennings. Alonso remained as Cristal through the fifth and final season, which concluded in 2022. During the final season, Alonso portrayed the dual role of Rita for six episodes.

### Personal life

Alonso has participated in karate, in which she holds a fourth level green belt. She loves animals and supports PETA, posing in a 2013 advertising campaign that asked consumers to wear synthetic leather.

On November 5, 2020, Alonso said on a podcast that she was pregnant with her first child, fathered by her partner, Jeff Schine. She gave birth to a girl, Inara, in 2021.

## Trivia

* On July 29, 2019 she was announced as Ana Brenda Contreras's replacement for the role of her version of Cristal.
* When Daniella got the role, she was surprised because the producers had given her a fake character name. Daniella got the role on a Saturday, flew to Atlanta on a Sunday, and started filming the next day.
* Alonso previously worked alongside Geovanni Gopradi (Roberto Flores) in the 2015 film, *Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2*.
* Alonso has previously worked with Danny Trejo, who guest starred as himself in the episode *Robin Hood Rescues*, in the 2006 horror film *Hood of Horror*.
* Daniella was pregnant during the filming of Season 4, though the pregnancy was not written into the show. Instead, production did their best to cover the baby bump with purses, clothing bags, and camera angles.
	+ Daniella had given birth to her daughter, Inara sometime during the Season 4 filming holiday break.
* Alonso is the second series regular to play two roles simultaneously (Cristal and Rita), succeeding Elizabeth Gillies, who portrayed Fallon and Alexis for three episodes.
* Alonso worked with Daphne Zuniga (Sonya Jackson) in The CW's *One Tree Hill*.

## Gallery

### Images

* Season 3
* Season 4
* Season 5
* General

## External Links

* Daniella Alonso on Internet Movie Database
* Daniella Alonso on Wikipedia
* Daniella Alonso on Facebook
* Daniella Alonso on Instagram
* Daniella Alonso on Twitter

## References

1. ↑ https://tvline.com/2019/07/29/dynasty-recast-daniella-alonso-cristal-ana-brenda-contreras/
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=301prXA0QXs