Lina Esco Biography

Lina Esco is an American actress, producer, director and activist. She gained recognition in 2007 for portraying Jimmy Smits' character's daughter in the CBS television drama Cane. Esco has also performed in films, including London (2005), Kingshighway (2010), LOL (2012), and Free the Nipple (2013).

Early life

Lina Esco was born and raised in Miami, Florida.

Career

Acting

Esco was cast in her first television guest star role in 2006, as Angie Watson in series CSI: NY. In March, 2007 Esco joined the cast of the CBS drama Cane. In 2009, she guest starred in an episode of Drop Dead Diva series with Paula Abdul. Esco played a lingerie model who had been fired for going public about her breast cancer survival story.

In February 2011, Esco was slated to join the cast of Fox's pilot Exit Strategy. Described as a high octane procedural set in the world of CIA agents who are sent in to "fix" operations gone bad. The cast included Ethan Hawke, Megan Dodds and with Antoine Fuqua directing. Esco was to play Mia, an MIT graduate and computer expert from South Boston. In 2014 Esco was cast in Ryan Murphy's pilot for HBO alongside Michelle Monaghan, Wes Bentley, Scott Speedman and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Esco's film debut was in 2005 with London. She is a supporting character in the 2012 comedy LOL.

Producing and directing

On April 2010, Esco produced "My Friend is...", a public service announcement (PSA) for the Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove alongside Oscar-winning producer Fisher Stevens joined forces with celebrities: Jennifer Aniston, Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Hayden Panettiere, Paul Rudd, Naomi Watts, Courteney Cox, Mariska Hargitay, Woody Harrelson, Jason Mraz, James Gandolfini, John Leguizamo, Evan Handler, Rob Morrow, Tamlyn Tomita, Carrie Ann Inaba, Chris Tashima, Russell Simmons, James Kyson Lee and Richard Kind to bring awareness on the annual killing of dolphins in Taiji, Japan.

She directed "Kids Speak Out Against Dolphin Captivity", a 2012 public service announcement (PSA) for the The Cove . She directed Free the Nipple in a bid to circumvent female nipple censorship.

She directed and starred in Free the Nipple which was released in select theaters, video on demand (VOD) and on iTunes on December 12, 2014.

Other work

Esco has been showcased in various commercial, music videos, magazines and publications. In 2001, she was featured in the Sinad O'Connor music video "Jealous". She appears briefly in Moby's music video for "Southside" featuring Gwen Stefani. She was also an extra for a series of AXE commercials one including with Nick Lachey for the "Clix"? campaign in 2007. Esco also features in Halos's music video for "Amalgam" in 2010.

On January 12, 2011 it was reported that Lina would be showcased on the Louis Vuitton"?s jewelry collection for the Spring/Summer 2011. The campaign featured sixteen "It"? girls from around the globe that included Alexandra Richards, Annabelle Dexter Jones, Mary Charteris, Alka Balbir, Mohini Geisweiller, DJette Clara 3000, Charlotte Lebon, Hailey Gates, Nathalie Love and Rinko Kikuchi.

On May 16, 2011 Esco was featured in Ketel One ad campaign "Gentlemen, This is Vodka." directed by Academy Award Nominee, David O. Russell.

Esco is in a 2013 NFL Women's Apparel Collection TV advertisement.

In 2017, Esco was featured on the Audience network's Midnight Snack on Fullscreen (What's Underneath), where the guests remove their clothing on camera while talking about their life.

Activism and philanthropy

Esco has supported many foundations and organizations throughout her career, but has mainly focused on whales and dolphins.

Esco has been very involved in two organizations. The Dolphin Project, which has gained much support from many celebrities, is a campaign under the International Marine Mammal Project at the non-profit Earth Island Institute and aims to prevent dolphin slaughter and exploitation from occurring. On September 9, 2009, Esco held a private screening of The Cove in New York, alongside Russell Simmons and Fisher Stevens hosting the event to bring awareness on the film.

Esco may be best known for how involved she is in women's rights and the Free the Nipple campaign. The organization, as Esco states, is to promote sexual equality. Free the Nipple has attracted attention from numerous celebrities including Courtney Love, Cara Delevingne, and Miley Cyrus, who also has a song on the soundtrack of the Free the Nipple movie and continues to strongly support the organization.

Filmography

Actress

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	London	Kelly
2008	The Evening Journey	Marla	Short
2010	Kingshighway	Lena Capriolini
2010	Where the Road Meets the Sun	Natasha
2012	LOL	Janice
2011	Low Fidelity	TBA
2014	Free the Nipple	With	formerly Girlrillaz, also as director & writer
2016	Fairy Dust	Loma

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	CSI: NY	Angie Watson	"Live or Let Die" (Season 2, Episode 18)
2007	Cane	Katie Vega	13 episodes
2008	Heroes: Destiny	Elisa	4 episodes
2009	Drop Dead Diva	Lina Martinez	"Grayson Anatomy" (Season 1, Episode 13)
2009	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Angela Paulson	"Death and Maiden" (Season 10, Episode 6)
2011	Exit Strategy	Mia	Pilot
2016	Flaked	Kara	7 episodes
2016	Kingdom	Ava	8 episodes
2017-present	S.W.A.T.	Christina "Chris" Alonso

Producer

Year	Title	Notes
2014	Free the Nipple	formerly Girlrillaz, also as actor, director & writer