Cristela Alonzo
| Cristela Alonzo | |
|---|---|
Alonzo at the PaleyFest preview for Cristela
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| Born |
January 6, 1979 Hidalgo, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Stand-up comedian, actress, writer, producer |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Home town | San Juan, Texas, U.S. |
| Television | Cristela |
| Website | cristelaalonzo |
Cristela Alonzo (born January 6, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer and producer, who created and starred in the ABC sitcom Cristela. She is the first Mexican American woman to create, produce, write, and star in her own US network show.
Alonzo was born in Hidalgo, Texas, the youngest daughter (of four children) to mother Natalia Gonzalez, who worked double shifts at a Mexican restaurant for about 20 years, and father Adalberto Alonzo. When Alonzo's mother was pregnant with Alonzo, Alonzo's mother left her abusive husband and raised the four children alone. Alonzo said she never met her father, who died in 2009. Alonzo grew up in the U.S. town that happens to be close to the border of Mexico San Juan, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley.
She has three siblings, older sister Julisa Maria Alonzo and older brothers Eloy Eduardo Alonzo and Ruben G Alonzo. Alonzo's mother came from the small village of El Zancarron in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. And throughout her childhood, on her mother's weekly day off, Alonzo spent time with her paternal grandmother in Reynosa, Mexico, just across the border.
For the first eight years of Alonzo’s life, the family squatted in an abandoned diner, were homeless and destitute, even with her mother working double shifts at as a waitress. She often went hungry, and had problems with skin pigment due to a lack of nutrition. Alonzo said her mother often used humor to offset the abject poverty. Alonzo learned English from watching TV as her family spoke only Spanish at home; her mother never learned to speak English. Television was a way for the family to stay inside, avoiding the violence from drug trafficking in their neighborhood. Alonzo would translate American shows into Spanish and act them out for her mother. Alonzo and her mother were inseparable. Alonzo and her mother shared a bed until Alonzo turned 18.
Alonzo was raised in a very strict Catholic household. Because her older sister married young, she spent much of her childhood hanging out with her older brothers and became interested in comic books, trading playing cards, a lot of Star Trek: TNG, Dungeons and Dragons and metal music. She graduated from Pharr-San Juan-Alamo High School.
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