Dania Ramirez

Dania Ramirez (born November 8, 1979) is a Dominican actress. Her credits include the roles of Maya Herrera in the NBC series Heroes, Alex in the HBO series Entourage, and Blanca during the last season of the HBO crime drama The Sopranos on television. Her film roles include Alex Guerrero in She Hate Me and Callisto in the feature film X-Men: The Last Stand. She portrayed Rosie Falta on Lifetime's Devious Maids from June 2013, until its cancellation in 2016. In July 2017, Ramirez joined the ABC series Once Upon a Time for its softly-rebooted seventh season in a starring role as Cinderella. In 2023, she began the starring role of Captain Nikki Batista in the Fox crime drama Alert: Missing Persons Unit. Ramirez was born in Santo Domingo. At an early age, she decided to become an actress. As a young child, she would reenact telenovelas for her family. She was discovered by a modeling scout while working in a convenience store at the age of 15, and was offered a small part in a soda commercial. Later, she decided to pursue acting seriously and studied at the Actor's Workshop in New York City under Flo Greenberg. At 16 years old, Ramirez started at Montclair State University, where her volleyball talents led her to be placed among the top five in career digs, digs/game, solo blocks and total blocks. She graduated in 2000. After graduation, Ramirez moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. Ramirez has appeared in several music videos, including Jay-Z's Streets is Watching (1998), De La Soul's "All Good?" feat. Chaka Khan (2000), Enrique Iglesias' "Could I Have This Kiss Forever" (2000), LL Cool J's "Hush" (2005), Santana's "Into the Night" (2007), as well as "Cry Baby Cry" (a collaboration of Santana and Sean Paul). Ramirez appeared in Wisin & Yandel's music video "Dime Qué Te Pasó", in which she played the main character, the wife and mother of a military man in Iraq who finds out her husband died at war. She was also featured in hip-hop group Sporty Thievz's video "Cheapskate" in 1998.