Julia Vera

Julia Vera is an American actress who built a screen career largely on Latin women and characters, and who gave voice to Luisa in Disney's animated series Elena of Avalor. Born in Laredo, Texas, she grew up in a large household, and her family relocated to Los Angeles in 1965; later, deciding to pursue acting more formally, she joined an acting class at 46, where an agent spotted her and helped her begin auditioning. Her credits range from Speed (1994) and Blow (2001) to guest parts on The X-Files, ER, General Hospital, Criminal Minds, My Name is Earl, Dexter and Reno 911!. She voiced Grandmother Luisa Flores on Elena of Avalor across several seasons, played a healer and witch in The Old Ways (2021), produced and directed plays with Nosotros, the group founded by Ricardo Montalbán, took a regular part in This Fool and appeared in The Ridiculous Six.