Lana Parrilla

**Lana Parrilla** (born July 15, 1977)[1] is an American actress. She was a regular cast member in the fifth season of the ABC sitcom *Spin City* (2000–2001) and in the fourth season of *24* (2005), and starred in *Boomtown* (2002–2003), *Windfall* (2006), *Swingtown* (2008), and as Dr. Eva Zambrano in the short-lived medical drama *Miami Medical* (2010), and as The Evil Queen/Regina Mills in the ABC fantasy drama series *Once Upon a Time* (2011–2018). In 2016 Parrilla won a Teen Choice Award for Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress and many more awards. In 2021 she played the role of Rita in the Second Season of *Why Women Kill*. Parrilla was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City in 1977.[1] Her mother, Dolores Dee Azzara, is of Sicilian ancestry and her father was Sam Parrilla (1943–94), a Puerto Rico-born baseball player who played professionally for eleven seasons (1963–73), including with the Major League Philadelphia Phillies as an outfielder for one season (1970).[2] She is also the niece of Candice Azzara, the American Broadway and TV actress.[3]

She grew up in Boerum Hill and graduated from Fort Hamilton High School in Bay Ridge.[4]

Lana studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse in Los Angeles.[5]

## Lana Parrilla

### Portrays

Rita Castillo in Season 2 of Why Women Kill

## Career

### 1999–2010

In her early career, Parrilla appeared in several movies, including *Very Mean Men* (2000), *Spiders* (2000), and *Frozen Stars* (2003). She made her television debut in 1999, on the UPN sitcom *Grown Ups*. In 2000, she joined the cast of the ABC comedy series *Spin City*, playing Angie Ordonez for one season. She left the show in 2001. After that she joined Donnie Wahlberg and Neal McDonough in the short lived crime drama *Boomtown*, for which she received the Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actress,[6] for her portrayal of Teresa, a paramedic. Initially a success, *Boomtown* began to struggle, and Parrilla's character became a police academy rookie, to tie her more closely to the rest of the show. "Boomtown" was canceled just two episodes into its second season.

Parrilla in March 2012
Parrilla guest-starred in a number of television dramas, including *JAG*, *Six Feet Under*, *Covert Affairs*, *Medium*, *The Defenders* and *Chase*. She had a recurring role in 2004 as Officer Janet Grafton in *NYPD Blue*. In 2005, Parrilla took a recurring guest role on the fourth season of the Fox series *24* as Sarah Gavin, a Counter Terrorist Unit agent. After just six episodes, Lana was made a regular cast member; but in the thirteenth episode, her character was written out after she tried to thwart another character's promotion from temporary to permanent CTU head Michelle Dessler (Reiko Aylesworth).

In 2006, Parrilla starred in the NBC summer series *Windfall* alongside Luke Perry, fellow former *24* cast member Sarah Wynter, and Parilla's former *Boomtown* castmate Jason Gedrick. In 2007, she guest starred as Greta during the third season of ABC's *Lost* in the episodes "Greatest Hits" and "Through the Looking Glass" In 2008, she had a leading role in the Lifetime film *The Double Life of Eleanor Kendall*, in which she played Nellie, a divorcee whose identity has been stolen.[7] Also in 2008, she starred in the CBS summer series *Swingtown* as Trina Decker, a woman who is part of a swinging couple. In 2010, Parrilla had a female lead role in the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced *Miami Medical* on CBS, which had a short run towards the end of the 2009–10 television season before it was canceled in July 2010.[8] *Windfall*, *Swingtown* and *Miami Medical* were all canceled after 13 episodes.

### 2011–present

In February 2011, she was cast as Mayor Regina Mills/The Evil Queen, in the ABC adventure fantasy drama pilot, *Once Upon a Time* created by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.[9] The series debuted in October 2011.[6] The pilot episode was watched by 12.93 million viewers and achieved an adult 18–49 rating/share of 4.0/10 during the first season, receiving generally favorable reviews from critics.[10]Parrilla's performance also received positive reviews from critics. In 2012 and 2013, she was regarded as a promising contender for an Emmy Award in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category,[11][12][13][14][15][16] though she did not receive a nomination. She won the TV Guide Award for Favorite Villain and the ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series in 2012.[17][18] Parrilla also received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress on Television from the 38th Saturn Awards.[19]

## Personal life

Parrilla became engaged to Alfredo Di Blasio on April 28, 2013, while traveling in Israel.[20] They were married on July 5, 2014, in British Columbia.[21][22] They divorced on November 5, 2018,[23] which Parrilla revealed in an Instagram post dated April 13, 2019.[24] Parrilla also launched an online clothing company called *Keep It Regal*, formerly *Keepin' it Regal*, where she sells apparel inspired by her time on *Once Upon A Time*.[25] On April 30, 2021 Parrilla released a song with Glovibes called *It's Over Now.*