Many of you probably know Constance from her role as George Lopez’s wife, “Angie Lopez”, on “The George Lopez Show” or as Daphne and Bay’s mom, “Regina Vasquez”, on ABC Family’s “Switched at Birth.” What you may not know though is she can attribute the start of her career to…underground break dancing!
When Constance was a teenager growing up in Los Angeles, she was selected out of a group of 500 dancers to dance on tour for David Bowie. Once she came back to LA, she was cast as a dancer in the movie “Salsa”, choreographed by Kenny Ortega (“High School Musical”). After working with Constance on the film, Kenny introduced her to producer Steve Tisch who offered Constance her very first straight acting job starring as Penny on the CBS series, “Dirty Dancing.”
Film work followed for Constance inculding roles as “Toni Sanchez” in the film “Mi Familia”, directed by Gregory Nava and playing Yolanda, Raquel Welch’s daughter, in “Tortilla Soup.” Constance also starred as slain Latino pop star Selena’s mother, Marcella, in the film “Selena.” Believe it or not, at the time Constance was only one year older than her on screen daughter (played by Jennifer Lopez) and had to endure over four hours of intensive make up to portray Marcella.
Transitioning seamlessly between television and film work, Constance returned to television to portray “Gabby Sanchez” on Michael J Fox’s hit sitcom “Spin City” and also played “Gabriella Diaz” on NBC’s “Union Square.” She also played detective “Toni Brigatti” for two seasons on the CBS drama series “Early Edition” with Kyle Chandler.
Most recently though, Constance has been starring as “Regina Vasquez” on ABC Family’s hit series, “Switched at Birth.” The show is currently ABC Family’s highest rated show to date and centers around two families who lives are turned upside down when they discover their daughters were switched in the hospital at birth. In order to fully immerse herself, Constance learned American Sign Language and in September 2011, was nominated for “Best Supporting Television Actress” by the Alma Awards.
Constance is a perfect fit for our staged reading as she is also a spokeswoman for the the East Los Angeles Women’s Center, which proceeds from “My Letter to Fear” will benefit. Constance has chosen to perform “Gas Money,” which centers on a woman struggling to accept a personal connection she thought she made was in fact simply a transaction, and the titular piece, “My Letter to Fear.”
We are beyond thrilled to have Constance joining us on Sunday, June 24th. We hope to see you there too!
Check back in a few days for the next actress in our Get to Know blog series!
