Born Francia Raisa Almendarez on July 26, 1988 in Southern California, Francia Raisa is an actress best known for her role as the feisty Mexican member of a cheering squad on Bring It On: All or Nothing. Of Honduran and Mexican descent, she attended St. Elisabeth Catholic School and is the daughter of Maximo Renan Almendarez Coello, the No. 1 disc jockey in Los Angeles. She started modeling for print ads and commercials during her junior year in high school.
Francia Raisa started her acting career appearing in television sitcoms such as American Family: Journey of Dreams and Over There. In 2006, she starred as a feisty Latina on Bring It On: All or Nothing, whose straight to DVD releases became a huge hit. She also co-starred in the Nickelodeon move Shrederman Rules and The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream.
Francia plays the role of Adrian Lee on the ABC series The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Adrian is the school’s resident bad girl, due in part to her mom’s MIA status in her life, as the latter works as a flight attendant. This set-up leaves Adrian a lot of room to break rules and it shows with her performance in school.