Karla Souza Biography

Karla Olivares Souza (born December 11, 1985) is a Mexican-American actress. She is known for her role as Laurel Castillo on the ABC legal drama series, How to Get Away with Murder.

Early life and education

Karla Olivares Souza was born in Mexico City on December 11, 1985 to a Chilean-American father and a Mexican mother. Her grandmother, Elba Silva, was an assistant cook for the Rockefeller family for twenty years after immigrating to New York City from Chile in the 1960s. Having lived in Aspen, Colorado until she was eight years old, Souza credits her grandmother's immigration to the United States as the reason she has an American passport.

Souza first studied acting at Centro de Educacin Artstica, an acting school run by Televisa, in Mexico City. She also attended acting school in France and was part of a professional theatre company that toured throughout that country. While still in France, Souza auditioned and was selected to participate in the French reality TV show Star Academy, however, she turned down the offer after receiving an invitation to study at London's (Central School of Speech and Drama). She graduated from the school in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in acting. Near the end of her London studies, she received a CCP award, traditionally presented to the most promising actress in London. After being selected to go to Moscow, Russia, with Anatoly Smilianski for an acting intensive, she returned to Mexico City and began acting in television and film when she was 22.

Career

2009 saw her television debut in the Mexican telenovela Verano de amor, starring singer Dulce Maria. She later starred in Mexican sitcoms Los Hroes del Norte and La Clinica. Her film roles include From Prada to Nada; in 2013, she was also in two Mexican box office hits, Nosotros los Nobles and Instructions Not Included. In 2014, Souza moved to Los Angeles to pursue English-language film and television roles. She was cast as a series regular in the Shonda Rhimes-produced legal drama series How to Get Away with Murder as law student Laurel Castillo, opposite Viola Davis. In February 2015, Souza appeared on the cover of Women"?s Health.

Personal life

In December 2013, Souza became engaged to Marshall Trenkmann and the couple married in May 2014. Together they have a daughter, born in 2018.

Souza is multilingual and fluent in Spanish, English, and French. She claims Christianity as her religious faith.

Souza gave a TEDx talk in Leon, Guanajuato, on March 21, 2015, titled "Sweet are the Fruits of Adversity." It became the most-seen Spanish TEDx talk with more than a million views.

In February 2018, Souza appeared in Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui's show and revealed that she had been a victim of sexual assault. Souza stated that, when she was 22, she was raped by the director of a TV show she was working in; she did not name her attacker.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Aspen Extreme	Kimberly
2010	El efecto tequila	Ana Luisa
2011	From Prada to Nada	Lucy
2012	Suave patria	Roxana Robledo	ACE Award for Best New Actress
2013	31 das	Mayra
2013	Me Late Chocolate	Moni
2013	Nosotros los Nobles	Brbara Noble	Pantalla de Cristal Film Festival Award for Best Actress Diosas de Plata for Best Performance - Actress
2013	Instructions Not Included	Jackie
2014	El Crimen del Ccaro Gumaro	Supper Burrows Manager
2015	Sundown	Ashley Lopez
2016	Don't Blame the Kid
2016	Qu culpa tiene el nio?	Maru	Premios Luminus 2017 - Best Actress
2017	Everybody Loves Somebody	Clara Barron
2018	Jacob's Ladder	Annie/Angel
2018	The Jesuit	Collie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Terminales	Vanessa	Episode: "Espejismos"
2009	Verano de amor	Dana Villalba Duarte	Telenovela, 120 episodes
2010	Persons Unknown	Dosette	Episode: "And Then There Was One"
2010-2011	Los Hroes del Norte	Prisca	Series regular, 36 episodes
2011	Nio Santo	Lucia	Starring, 23 episodes
2012	La Clinica	Maripily Rivadeneyra	Series regular
2014-present	How to Get Away with Murder	Laurel Castillo	National Hispanic Media Coalition - 2017 Impact Award for Outstanding Performance in a Television Series Series regular (60 episodes)