Half-Filipino and half-Spanish/Dominican actress Lourdes Benedicto is best known to audiences for her recurring role as Gina Colon on NYPD Blue, but has been seen on several other shows. Born in Brooklyn on November 12, 1974, she graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a degree in theatre. The only girl in the family, she decided to pursue a career in acting and has appeared on numerous stage productions.
Lourdes Benedicto began her career in the 1990s, when she landed a role on the TV production titled Gryphon. She later joined the cast of the series NYPD Blue, and became widely known to audiences as the character Gina Colon. She immediately jumped into working on films, when she was cast in the biographical drama Permanent Midnight. She portrayed the character Vola alongside actors like Ben Stiller, Maria Bello, Elizabeth Hurley and Owen Wilson. Benedicto later found herself acting in the romantic comedy Drive Me Crazy, starring Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier. In 1999, she made an appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The next year, she was seen on Resurrection Blvd., and played the role of Samantha Sanchez in 13 episodes of Titans. She later got a recurring role on the series ER, and gained even more fame for appearing on Dawson’s Creek. In 2002, she starred in the TV movie The Locket, before working on the drama Two Days. She next got the part of Carrie Turner on the series 24, where she earned the off-screen nickname “Cop Car Carrie” because of a car collision with a police vehicle. Benedicto next appeared on the musical comedy The Fighting Temptations, and was soon seen on the series The Lyon’s Den and The Dead Zone. From 2006 to 2007, she rose to fame, playing the new teller at Fidelity Republic Bank, Eva, on the ABC series The Nine. She is also credited for her performances in Silver Bells and Unbeatable Harold, as well as for her choice to join the cast of the series Cashmere Mafia in 2008.