Francia Raisa

Francia Raisa Almendarez, born July 26, 1988 is an American actress. Raisa is best known for her roles as the American Teenager in Bring It On: All or Nothing.

Education and early life

Raisa was raised in Los Angeles by Virginia Almendarez (nee Pelayo), a Mexican mother and Renan Almendarez Colello, a radio personality from Honduran descent. Raisa’s father began using “El Cucuy”, his Latin radio personality, a few years after Raisa was birth.

Raisa was a cheerleader at Bishop Alemany High School, Mission Hills, California.

Career

Raisa started acting in her junior year of highschool, modeling for commercials and in print ads. She was a guest star in American Family: Journey of Dreams as well as Over There. Raisa was featured in Lil’ Romo’s music videos “My Girlfriend” and “So Big” in 2004. One month into her senior years, she was booked in one of her first leading roles. She starred opposite Hayden Panettiere’s Bring It On: Everything or Nothing. She starred as Isabel in Shredderman Rules on Nickelodeon, and Alexandra Delgado in The Cutting Edge: Chasing the Dream and The Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice. From its inception in July 2008 to the series finale, she played the role of Adrian Lee on ABC Family’s hit drama, The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

In Plain Sight, USA Network’s 2009 TV series, Raisa starred as a guest star alongside Mike “The Miz” Mizanin. She also starred in a short movie directed by David Henrie, called Boo. This film aired online. Raisa was a star in the Christmas movie Christmas Bounty, which featured Mike “The Miz” Mizanin.

From 2018 to 2022 Raisa starred on the Freeform series Grown-ish. Executive produced by Kenya Barris, creator of Black-ish, she was also an actor. She was a star in the first four seasons of the show, but she left after the character graduated at the end the fourth season. She also starred opposite Tyra Banks in Freeform’s 2018 television movie, Life-Size 2.

Raisa was cast as Raisa in the How I Met Your Mother spinoff series How I Met Your Father. It premiered on Hulu January 18, 2022. The series was renewed for a second season of 20 episodes in February 2022.

Personal life

Raisa was born Los Angeles. Raisa gave one of her kidneys to Selena Gomez (singer and actress) in the summer 2017.