Ana Ortiz

Ana Ortiz (born January 25, 1971) is an American actress and singer. Having pursued a career in ballet and singing from a young age, she eventually attended University of the Arts. Ortiz began her acting career in theatre, in early 2000s starred in the short-lived NBC sitcoms Kristin (2001) and A.U.S.A. (2003), and had recurring roles on Over There and Boston Legal. Ortiz garnered widespread attention for her role as Hilda Suarez in the ABC comedy-drama series Ugly Betty from 2006 to 2010. She also appeared in such films like Labor Pains (2009) and Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (2011), and starred in Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story (2008). From 2013 to 2016, Ortiz starred as Marisol Suarez in the Lifetime television comedy-drama series Devious Maids, for which she received the Imagen Award for Best Actress - Television. In 2020, Ortiz began starring in the Hulu series Love, Victor as Isabel Salazar, mother of the title character Victor Salazar.

Ortiz married musician Noah Lebenzon on June 7, 2007 in Rincón, Puerto Rico. Their daughter Paloma was born June 25, 2009. Their second child, son Rafael, was born on September 24, 2011.Ortiz is active in raising awareness against domestic abuse, citing her own experiences when she was in her 20s and involved in a romantic relationship that turned physically abusive. In an article for USA Today, Ortiz notes that the final scene from the Ugly Betty episode "How Betty Got Her Grieve Back", in which Hilda sat on her bed staring at the bathroom after realizing that Santos had died, was drawn from that experience: "I used some of that subconsciously ... It's something that is always with me".

Ortiz was born in New York City, and is the daughter of Angel Ortiz, a former Philadelphia City Council member of Puerto Rican descent, and an Irish-American mother, Kathleen Kuhlman. As a child, Ortiz studied ballet for eight years, until the pain of dancing en pointe forced her to pursue a different artistic discipline. Ortiz graduated from University of the Arts in Philadelphia.Switching to singing, Ortiz attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City and later the University of the Arts in Philadelphia before making her professional stage debut in a regional theater production of Dangerous Liaisons. Her additional stage credits include portraying Chrissy in a European touring production of Hair, regional theater productions such as Dog Lady and the Cuban Swimmer and in the South Coast Repertory Theater's production of References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot. After joining LAByrinth Theatre Company, she appeared Off-Broadway in In Arabia We'd All Be Kings, directed by Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and named one of the 10-best plays of 1999 by the magazine Time Out New York. Ortiz appeared in several television shows including “Seinfeld,” NYPD Blue, Everybody Loves Raymond, Commander In Chief, ER, and The New Adventures of Old Christine. She had her first series regular role in short-lived NBC comedy series Kristin (2001). She later starred in another short-lived sitcom, called A.U.S.A. in 2003, and later had recurring roles in the FX drama Over There, and ABC series Boston Legal.