Maria Canals Barrera (born Maria Pilar Canals; September 28, 1966) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Theresa Russo in Wizards Of Waverly Place and as Connie Torres in Camp Rock.

[edit] Personal life

She is of Cuban heritage from Spanish descent^{[citation needed]} and speaks fluent Spanish. She has two daughters she conceived with her husband, actor David Barrera.^[1] A predominant percentage of her family lives in either Puerto Rico or Miami, FL. She has one sister named Dora Canals and a brother named Ricardo Canals. She is currently stationed in Toronto, Canada since the filming of Camp Rock 2 is still underway. Although, she actually lives in South California.

[edit] Career

She received her theater degree from the University of Miami's drama school, and has worked extensively in theater in both Miami and Los Angeles. She made her network television debut in the 1993 TV series Key West and has appeared in the WB series Popular as a prostitute by the name of Candybox, as well as such films as America's Sweethearts and The Master of Disguise.

She has gained much recognition with comic book fans in recent years for her role as Hawkgirl/Shayera Hol on Bruce Timm's Justice League and Justice League Unlimited series. She also had a recurring role in Static Shock as Shelly Sandoval, a news reporter, and in Danny Phantom as Danny Fenton/Phantom's high school crush, Paulina. She also performed the voice of Mercedes "Meche" Colomar in the 1998 video game Grim Fandango. Canals also played incidental characters in two episodes on the TV series The Boondocks ("Grandad's Fight" and "Home Alone"). Canals has also starred in The George Lopez Show playing George's sister-in-law. She is the voice of Sunset Boulevardez on Proud Family. Her most recent project is portraying Theresa Russo on Disney Channel's Wizards of Waverly Place. And in 2010 she will also have the voice role of Mrs. Garcia - Shapiro on Disney Channel's Phineas and Ferb.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Maria Canals Barrera at the Internet Movie Database
• Maria Canals interview

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