Maria Canals-Barrera

Maria Pilar Canals-Barrera (née Canals, born September 28, 1966) is an American actress.

Canals-Barrera co-starred in a number of short-lived sitcoms, worked as a voice actress, and appeared in several films. She is best known for her role as Theresa Russo in the Disney Channel family sitcom, Wizards of Waverly Place (2007–2012). She played the role of Connie Torres in Camp Rock (2008) and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010) and co-starred as Lala Pinedo in Larry Crowne (2011). As a voice actress, she is known as Shayera Hol/Hawkgirl in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. She also voiced Sunset Boulevardez in the Disney Channel show, The Proud Family and Paulina in the Nickelodeon show, Danny Phantom.

From 2014-15, Canals-Barrera starred as Daniela in the ABC comedy series, Cristela.

Early life
Canals-Barrera was born and raised in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents of Catalan descent. Canals-Barrera also speaks Spanish and took drama classes in junior high.

Career
In early years, Canals-Barrera has worked extensively in theater in both Miami and Los Angeles. In 1992 she began starring on Telemundo Spanish-language telenovela Marielena. She later had the recurring role in the short-lived 1993 Fox comedy-drama series, Key West. During 1990s, Canals-Barrera also guest starred in a number of television series, such as 21 Jump Street, Murder, She Wrote, Almost Perfect, and Caroline in the City. Her first regular role was on the short-lived NBC sitcom, The Tony Danza Show in 1997. In early 2000s, Canals-Barrera had supporting roles in films America's Sweethearts, The Master of Disguise and Imagining Argentina. She has gained much recognition with comic book fans in recent years for her role as Hawkgirl/Shayera Hol on Bruce Timm's Justice League (2001–04) and Justice League Unlimited (2005–06) series. She also had a recurring role in Static Shock as Shelly Sandoval, a news reporter, and in Danny Phantom as Danny Fenton/Phantom's high school crush, Paulina. She also performed the voice of Mercedes "Meche" Colomar in the 1998 video game Grim Fandango. Canals-Barrera also played incidental characters in two episodes on the TV series The Boondocks ("Grandad's Fight" and "Home Alone").

From 2007 to 2012, Canals-Barrera co-starred as Theresa Russo, the mother of lead character, in the Disney Channel family sitcom, Wizards of Waverly Place. She also co-starred in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, a 2009 Disney Channel Original movie based on series. Canals-Barrera also appeared in the Disney Channel Original Movies Camp Rock (2008) and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010), alongside Demi Lovato in the role of her mother, Connie Torres. In 2011 she appeared opposite Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy film Larry Crowne.

In 2014, Canals-Barrera was cast as Hilda, the house manager of the country club where most of the action takes place, in the ABC soapy comedy-drama series, Members Only created by Susannah Grant. However, it got cancelled by the network before its premiere. Later in that year she joined the cast of ABC comedy series, Cristela, as Cristela Alonzo's character sister.

On August 27, 2018, it was revealed by TVLine that Canals-Barrera was cast as the mother of Fernando Hernandez-Guerrero-Fernandez-Guerrero on the Netflix series Fuller House.

Personal life
Barrera has been married to actor David Barrera since 1999, with whom she has two daughters.