Natalie Morales (actress)

Natalie Morales
Morales in 2009
Born (1985-02-15) February 15, 1985
Kendall, Florida, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 2006–present

Natalie Morales (born February 15, 1985) is an American actress. She starred in the ABC Family series The Middleman and had a main role on the first season of the USA Network series White Collar. In 2010, she appeared in the feature films Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Going the Distance. Morales also had a starring role in the Fox comedy series The Grinder and a recurring role on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation.

Early life

A native of Kendall, Florida, Morales is of Cuban descent.[1][2] She attended St. Agatha Catholic School and Southwest Miami Senior High School. She participated in the University of Miami's Dow Jones Minority High School Journalism Workshop.[3]

Career

Morales had a guest appearance on CSI: Miami in 2006, and played a character in Pimp My Ride that year, a video game version of the MTV television series.[4] Her first major role was in The Middleman, a sci-fi dramedy which aired on the ABC Family network for one season. She starred as Wendy Watson; the series was adapted from the comic book, The Middleman. Morales also starred in and executive produced a Web series, titled Quitters. The series was an official selection of the 3rd annual ITVFest (Independent Television Festival) in Los Angeles in August 2008.[5]

In 2009, Morales joined the cast of the USA Network television series White Collar for the first season. She portrayed Lauren Cruz, a junior FBI agent.[6] In May 2010, after her dismissal from the White Collar cast, Morales began appearing in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, appearing as Lucy, girlfriend of Aziz Ansari's character Tom Haverford and bartender at The Snakehole Lounge.

Morales appeared in Oliver Stone's 2010 film, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, a sequel to his 1987 film Wall Street.[7] She was cast as Chelsea Handler's best friend in Are You There, Chelsea? However, she left the series when the cast was replaced for creative reasons.[8] Morales also appeared on Aaron Sorkin's HBO drama, The Newsroom, guest-starring as Kaylee, the girlfriend of Dev Patel’s character, Neal.[9] In 2013, Morales joined the cast of Trophy Wife as Meg, Kate's best friend.[10] In 2015, she joined the cast of the Fox series The Grinder. In 2017, she appeared in some episodes of the NBC series Powerless.[11] Morales appeared as Detective Anne Garcia in the Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet.[12] NBC has ordered Abby's, a multi-camera sitcom created by Mike Schur and starring Morales, for the 2018 season.[13]

Personal life

On June 30, 2017, Morales revealed to social media that she identified herself as queer.[14]

Filmography

Film performances
Year Title Role Notes
2010 The Time Machine Natalie Short film
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Churchill Schwartz Trader (Laura)
Going the Distance Brandy
2011 6 Month Rule Sophie
Freeloaders Red Dot Girl
2017 Battle of the Sexes Rosie Casals
2019 Stuber Filming
Television (and other media) performances
Year Title Role Notes
2006 CSI: Miami Anya Boa Vista Episode: "Darkroom"
Pimp My Ride Aiyana Video game
2008 Quitters Natalie Web series
The Middleman Wendy Watson Main role, 12 episodes
2009 Boldly Going Nowhere Ruby TV movie
Rockville CA Isabel Web series, episode: "Shoegazed"
2009–2010 White Collar Lauren Cruz Main role, 9 episodes
2010 The Subpranos Beatrice Ramirez Web series, episode: "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves"
2010–2015 Parks and Recreation Lucy Recurring role, 12 episodes
2011 The Cape Kia Episode: "The Lich (Part 1)"
2012 The Newsroom Kaylee 2 episodes
2012–2013 90210 Ashley Howard 5 episodes
2013–2014 Trophy Wife Meg Gomez Main role, 14 episodes
2014–2015 Girls Clementine 3 episodes
2015–2016 The Grinder Claire Lacoste Main role, 21 episodes
2017 Grace and Frankie Melissa Episode: "The Musical"
Powerless Green Fury 2 episodes
Crashing Stephanie Episode: "The Baptism"
Imaginary Mary Rebecca Episode: "In a World Where Worlds Collide"
Making History Mona Episode: "The Duel"
2017-2018 Santa Clarita Diet Anne Garcia 8 episodes
BoJack Horseman Yolanda Buenaventura (voice) 4 episodes
2018 Abby's Abby Main role

References

  1. ↑ Hernandez, Lee (March 25, 2010). "'White Collar' Fires Natalie Morales, 'Parks and Recreation' Hires Her!". Latina. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  2. ↑ "From Kidnap Victim to Kicking Butt". Miami Herald. June 23, 2008. p. 8a.
  3. ↑ "Miami Montage". Archived from the original on 2011-07-19.
  4. ↑ "Slice of SciFi Interview With "The Middleman" Star Natalie Morales".
  5. ↑ "Independent Television Festival 2008 : Quitters". Archived from the original on April 21, 2012. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  6. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (September 8, 2009). "Actress joins USA crime series". Reuters. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Who's that Girl? Natalie Morales Goes from TV to "Wall Street"".
  8. ↑ Ausiello, Michael (July 3, 2011). "Exclusive: Chelsea Handler's New NBC Sitcom Cuts Three Castmembers in Overhaul". TVLine. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  9. ↑ "White Collar Alum Joins Sorkin Show, X Factor Finale Beats The Voice and More!". TVLine. July 3, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
  10. ↑ "'White Collar' Alum Joins ABC Comedy Pilot 'Trophy Wife'". The Hollywood Reporter. November 26, 2012. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  11. ↑ Gerding, Stephen (February 2, 2017). "NBC’s Powerless Adds Justice League Member to Cast". CBR.com.
  12. ↑ Reiher, Andrea (February 9, 2017). "Deputy Anne brings the heat to Santa Clarita Diet". AV Club. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  13. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (May 8, 2018). "'Abby's' & "I Feel Bad' Comedies Picked Up To Series By NBC". Deadline. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Natalie Morales would like you to know nothing about her, except for one thing…". Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls. June 30, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
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