Majandra Delfino

Born in Venezuela and raised in Miami, actress Majandra Delfino's career was only briefly derailed by the initial disapproval of her non-showbiz parents and the reluctance of casting agents to see past her somewhat exotic looks. Already an accomplished performer by age 12, counting among her credits an opening slot at a Bee Gees concert, singing along with Samantha Gibb (daughter of the famed family trio's Maurice Gibb) as part of the pop quartet China Doll (and later forming a duo), Delfino was also featured in the Miami Ballet's production of "The Nutcracker", as well as several community theater musicals. She landed her first feature role in 1997, playing the elder daughter of a marine biologist (Kathleen Quinlan) in the children's feature "Zeus and Roxanne". Delfino quickly followed up with a regular role on the short-lived television sitcom "The Tony Danza Show" (1997). Here, the factors that helped her to land the role included both her developing acting skills and the uncommon looks that caused commercial casting agents to pass her by, as the attractive actress of Italian and American parentage's piercing eyes, full lips and blonde-streaked hair remarkably resembled Danza's real-life daughter. On the NBC series, Delfino portrayed Tina, the savvy, street-smart 16-year-old daughter of Danza's divorced sportswriter. While this role could have afforded the actress some enviable exposure, the disappointing five-episode run gave her little time to develop her character or build much audience recognition.

Delfino next took a recurring role on the similarly short-lived sitcom "Katie Joplin", aired on The WB in 1999. The network would host her breakthrough role later that year, portraying a straight-talking, levelheaded waitress and high school student on the sci-fi teen drama "Roswell". As Maria, Delfino played one of the more realistic and relatable characters on the program, at once skeptical of and alarmed by the admission of her best friend best friend Liz (Shiri Appleby) that the childhood friend who miraculously healed her gunshot wound is one of a trio of aliens who survived a 1947 UFO crash, living among the residents of Roswell, New Mexico in human form. The actress returned to the big screen with a role as Natalie, the sensitive and awkward star of the independent coming-of-age feature "The Secret Life of Girls", a 1999 comedy-drama co-starring Linda Hamilton and Eugene Levy as Natalie's parents, a dissatisfied hippie and a college professor dallying with students, respectively. That same year, Delfino also appeared in the festival screened drama "The Learning Curve" before landing a supporting role alongside Tiffani Thiessen and Coolio in Rhino Films entry into the horror spoof genre, "Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th" (USA Network, 2000) and a cameo in the acclaimed "Traffic" (also 2000).