Lana Parrilla

Lana Parrilla
Parrilla at the 2014 Comic-Con in San Diego.
Born	Lana Maria Parrilla (1977-07-15) July 15, 1977 (age 39) Brooklyn, New York, United States
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1999–present
Parent(s)	Sam Parrilla Dolores Dee Azzara
Relatives	Candice Azzara (aunt)
Awards	Alma Award, Imagen Award

Lana Maria Parrilla (born July 15, 1977) is an American actress. Parrilla is best known for her roles on television and radio. She was a regular cast member in the fifth season of the ABC sitcom Spin City from 2000 to 2001. She later starred in Boomtown (2002-2003), Windfall (2006), Swingtown (2008) and as Doctor Eva Zambrano in the short-lived medical drama Miami Medical (2010). She also played the role of Sarah Gavin during the fourth season of the Fox series 24 in 2005. In 2011, Parrilla began starring as The Evil Queen/Regina Mills in the ABC fantasy drama series, Once Upon a Time'. In 2016 Parrilla won a Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress: Fantasy/Sci-Fic.

Parrilla was born in Brooklyn. Her father, Sam Parrilla (1943–94), was a Puerto Rican-born baseball player who played professionally for 11 seasons (1963–73), including one season with the Major League Philadelphia Phillies in 1970 as an outfielder. Her mother is an American painter of Sicilian descent who works in banking. Parrilla has one older sister, Deena, and a nephew named Sammy. She is also the niece of character actress Candice Azzara. Parrilla's parents divorced when she was four years old. She spent her first ten years living with her mother, and then lived with her father. During the time she lived with her father, he was too protective to allow her to attend a performing arts school, which delayed her acting career. Parrilla lived with her father until his murder in 1994, when she was 16 and he was 50. Her father was shot once in the chest by a 15-year-old female assailant at point blank range and later died from the wound. After the death of her father, Parrilla moved in with her mother in Burbank, California. Parrilla visited Granada in 2007 to learn Spanish. After high school she moved to Los Angeles and attended Beverly Hills Playhouse to study acting. She also studied voice for ten years. Parrilla then began to be cast in small parts and later on, larger ones.