Alanna Ubach Biography

Alanna Noel Ubach (born October 3, 1975) is a Mexican-American actress, model, voice artist and singer of Puerto Rican and Mexican descent. She is known for her roles in Coco as Mama Imelda, the matriarch and female lead, in which she sings a haunting version of La Llorona, Legally Blonde as Serena McGuire, and Meet the Fockers as Isabel Villalobos.

She has provided voices for several characters in a number of animated television shows and movies, such as Liz Allan on The Spectacular Spider-Man, the title character on El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, Lola Boa on Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Strudel on Pound Puppies, and four characters in the Oscar-winning animated film Rango. She played the first female assistant, Josie, on Beakman's World. She also wrote and performed a one-woman show.

Early life

Ubach was born in Downey, California, the daughter of Sidna and Rodolfo Ubach. Her sister, Athena, is a therapist. Her father was from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and her mother, raised in Los Angeles, was from Sinaloa, Mexico.

Since the age of two, she showed a conscious artistic inclination, and by age seven, she had already made her TV acting debut on Romper Room and was studying acting and dance. At 14, she was traveling with an actor's company composed entirely of adults, yet she managed to gain critical acclaim from the New York Times for her role as a Jewish girl from Brooklyn in Club Soda. During this stage, she also landed a regular spot as Josie the assistant in the TV series, Beakman's World. Her early film roles include Airborne (1993), Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), Renaissance Man (1994), and The Brady Bunch Movie (1995).

At 17, she starred in the play Kindertransport at the Manhattan Theatre Club. As she matured, her new interest led her into a series of indie films, like Denise Calls Up (1995), in which she played the title character, the Sundance-acclaimed film Johns (1996), playing David Arquette's girlfriend, and with Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland in Freeway (1996), playing a Latina gang girl. During this time, she also played roles in more mainstream films like Clockwatchers (1997), alongside Toni Collette and Parker Posey. Her Hollywood credentials also include her role as Elle Woods's best friend Serena McGuire in the two Legally Blonde films.

Career

Ubach stars with Lisa Edelstein as a regular cast member on Bravo's first-ever scripted series, Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce. Ubach portrays Jo, who moves to Los Angeles to reinvent herself in the guest house of her just-divorced best friend from college, Abby. "Jo ditches the vegan bakery she owned in New York for a sugary one in LA, she's an outspoken New Yorker who rarely chooses her words wisely in public," explains Ubach. "Jo can be tough or tender, depending on what she has just ingested as food or drink"?or if she's fueled by her inner strength, anger or grit." Ubach describes the show as "fun and stylish, it's very relatable." The role of Jo was created following the exit of Janeane Garofalo, who played Lyla, a lawyer and one of Abby"?s best friends, for several of the show"?s earlier episodes.

Ubach starred in DirecTV's Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight as Grace, a gallery curator and very neurotic sex maniac. She also became a first-time feature film producer, in addition to her co-starring role, in the upcoming feature, August Falls. From 2012 to 2015, she played Amy Hobbs on Nickelodeon's See Dad Run with Scott Baio playing her husband. Despite countless glowing reviews of her varied on-screen and stage performances, Ubach is still best known for her roles in both Legally Blonde films, Meet the Fockers and "Hung. Ubach, a self-confessed "drama queen," had humble beginnings and used her work ethic to transform herself into a goal-oriented risk-taker and a constantly working actress since childhood.

In 2004, Ubach starred in the movie Waiting..., alongside Ryan Reynolds and Anna Faris, and after a long casting process, landed the role of a Latina maid/caterer in the star-filled sequel to Meet the Parents, Meet The Fockers (2004). She remains active on television, with appearances in Hung (2009), It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2011), and Californication (2013).

In January 2017, Glenn Howerton, star and executive producer of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, stated that he regretted killing Ubach"?s character, Roxie, in season seven because she was, "such a funny character." Complex ranked "Frank's Pretty Woman," the episode guest-starring Ubach as Roxie, as the sixth best episode of the entire It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia series.

Theater

In June 2008, Ubach starred in and narrated her ongoing one-woman show, "Patriotic Bitch,"? which ran at the Clurman Theatre in Theater Row. Reviewing "Patriotic Bitch," the New York Times stated that the show, "can"?t hold a candle to the very best of the genre," but nonetheless described it as, "entertaining one-act series of character monologues," and noted that Ubach was, "seriously talented."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	The Blue Men	Edith	Short
1993	Airborne	Gloria
1993	Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit	Maria
1994	Hits!	Angie
1994	Renaissance Man	Emily Rago
1995	The Brady Bunch Movie	Noreen
1995	Denise Calls Up	Denise Devaro
1996	Layin' Low	Manuela
1996	Freeway	Mesquita
1996	Love Is All There Is	Niccolina
1996	Just Your Luck	Angela	Direct-to-video
1996	Johns	Nikki
1997	Pink as the Day She Was Born	Cherry
1997	Clockwatchers	Jane
1997	Dead End: Do Me a Favor	Christy
1998	Enough Already	Val
1998	All of It	Amy Holbeck
1999	The Sterling Chase	Jenna Marino
2000	Slice & Dice	Ginger
2000	Blue Moon	Peggy
2000	Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday The 13th	Girl Student in Labor
2001	What They Wanted, What They Got	Berkely	Short
2001	Legally Blonde	Serena McGuire
2002	The Perfect You	Wendy
2003	Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde	Serena McGuire
2003	Wasabi Tuna	Emme
2003	Nobody Knows Anything	Sarah
2004	Meet the Fockers	Isabel Villalobos
2005	Herbie: Fully Loaded	Reporter
2005	Waiting...	Naomi
2006	Open Window	Kim
2006	Hard Scrambled	Crysta
2007	The Pre Nup	Cindy	Short
2007	Equal Opportunity	Peggy M. Smith
2007	Jekyll	Michelle Utterson
2008	Batman: Gotham Knight	Dander (voice)	Direct-to-video
2009	Stuntmen	Tovah Frieberg
2009	Still Waiting...	Naomi	Direct-to-video
2011	Bad Teacher	Angela
2011	Rango	Boo / Cletus / Fresca / Miss Daisy (voice)
2012	Envelope	Tanya	Short film
2013	A Haunted House	Jenny
2013	Garbage	Casey Siegel
2013	Being Us	Margaret
2017	To the Bone	Karen
2017	Coco	Mam Imelda (voice)

Television

1994 "Diagnosis Murder Episode: "Guardian Angel"? No. 9314 Melissa

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Moment of Truth: Why My Daughter?	April	Movie
1992-1993	Beakman's World	Josie	26 episodes
1994	ABC Afterschool Special	Cindy	"Boys Will Be Boys"
1995	ER	Terry's friend	Episode: "Long Day's Journey" S1 E14
1995, 1998	Touched by an Angel	Lydia / Cookie	2 episodes
1996	Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story	Shannon Johnson	Miniseries; 2 episodes
1996	Party of Five	Gina	2 episodes
1998	Tracey Takes On...	Actress
2001	Tikiville	Herself	Movie
2001	Gary & Mike	Various voices	Episode: "Washington D.C."
2002, 2003	Teamo Supremo	Brenda/Rope Girl / Hector Felip Corrio/Skate Lad (voice)	13 episodes
2002	Ozzy & Drix	Mayor Paul Spryman (voice)	15 episodes
2004	30 Days Until I'm Famous	Daisy Fresh	Movie
2004	Karroll's Christmas	Jodie	Movie
2004	Higglytown Heroes	Plunkie (voice)	Episode: "Shear Luck/Big Night Out"
2004	Monk	Jennie Silverman	Episode: "Mr. Monk and the Employee of the Month"
2004-06	Brandy & Mr. Whiskers	Lola Boa (voice)	35 episodes
2005	The Closer	Mrs. Pruitt	Episode: "Standards and Practices"
2005	House	Dr. Harper	Episode: "Spin"
2005	Uncommon Sense	Brenda	Movie
2007	Playing Chicken	Herself	Movie
2007	El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera	Manny Rivera / El Tigre / additional voices	26 episodes
2007	Friday Night Lights	Roberta "Bobbie" Roberts	2 episodes
2007	Random! Cartoons	Mrs. Abbott, Samantha (voice)	Episode: "The Infinite Goliath"
2008	Eli Stone	Cathy Borilla	3 episodes
2008-09	The Spectacular Spider-Man	Liz Allan / Helena / Trina (voice)	19 episodes
2009-11	Hung	Yael Kuntz	10 episodes
2009-11	Men of a Certain Age	Michelle	6 episodes
2010-13	Pound Puppies	Strudel / Mr. Nut Nut (voice)	65 episodes
2011	It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia	Roxy	Episode: "Frank's Pretty Woman"
2011	The Mentalist	Dr. Guidry	Episode: "Bloodstream"
2012	Ringer	Attorney	Episode: "It's Easy to Cry When This Much Cash is Involved"
2012-13	Kaijudo	Master Tiera (Normal Form) / Lucy / Portia / Queen Kalima (voice)	12 episodes
2012-15	See Dad Run	Amy Hobbs	50 episodes
2013	Californication	Trudy	3 episodes
2013	Mad	Annabel / Cat / Museum Daughter	Episode: "Papa / 1600 Finn"
2013	Revolution	Bonnie Webster	Episode: "Dead Man Walking"
2013-14	Ben 10: Omniverse	Rook Shar / Rook Ben / Additional Voices	3 episodes
2014-15	NCIS	NSA Senior Intelligence Analyst Sofia Martinez	2 episodes
2014	Sheriff Callie's Wild West	Polly May Porcupine (voice)	Episode: "The Prickly Pair"
2014	Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight	Grace	6 episodes
2015-present	Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce	Jo Hernandez-Frumpkis	Series regular
2017-present	Welcome to the Wayne	Ansi Molina (voice)	One of 3 main characters
2017	Puppy Dog Pals	Snowflake/Queen Kazoo	Episodes: Hissy's Kitty, A Seat at the Theatre

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera	El Tigre / Manny Rivera
2011	Rango	Cletus / Cletus's Mom	Credited as Alana Ubach
2012	Madagascar 3: The Video Game	Captain DuBois
2013	Marvel Heroes	Lady Deadpool	Uncredited
2013	Grand Theft Auto V	The Local Population

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1992	Young Artist Awards	Performer in a Children's Program	Beakman's World