Lana Parrilla (born July 15, 1977[1]) is an American actress. She was a regular cast member in the fifth season of the ABC sitcom Spin City (2000–2001) and in the fourth season of 24 (2005), and starred in Boomtown (2002–2003), Windfall (2006), Swingtown (2008), and as Dr. Eva Zambrano in the short-lived medical drama Miami Medical (2010), and as The Evil Queen / Regina Mills in the ABC fantasy drama series Once Upon a Time (2011–2018). Among her awards and nominations is a 2012 ALMA Award win for Outstanding TV Actress - Drama. In 2021, she played the role of Rita Castillo in the second season of Why Women Kill.
In her early career, Parrilla appeared in several movies, including Very Mean Men (2000), Spiders (2000), and Frozen Stars (2003). She made her television debut in 1999, on the UPN sitcom Grown Ups. In 2000, she joined the cast of the ABC comedy series Spin City, playing Angie Ordonez for one season. She left the show in 2001. After that she joined Donnie Wahlberg and Neal McDonough in the short lived crime drama Boomtown, for which she received the Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actress,[6] for her portrayal of Teresa, a paramedic. Initially a success, Boomtown began to struggle, and Parrilla's character became a police academy rookie, to tie her more closely to the rest of the show. "Boomtown" was canceled just two episodes into its second season.
Parrilla guest-starred in a number of television dramas, including JAG, Six Feet Under, Covert Affairs, Medium, The Defenders and Chase. She had a recurring role in 2004 as Officer Janet Grafton in NYPD Blue. In 2005, Parrilla took a recurring guest role on the fourth season of the Fox series 24 as Sarah Gavin, a Counter Terrorist Unit agent; she was made a regular cast member in the seventh episode, and her character was written out after the twelfth episode.
In 2006, Parrilla starred in the NBC summer series Windfall alongside former Boomtown castmate Jason Gedrick. In 2007, she guest starred as Greta during the third season of ABC's Lost in the episodes "Greatest Hits" and "Through the Looking Glass" In 2008, she had a leading role in the Lifetime film The Double Life of Eleanor Kendall, in which she played Nellie, a divorcee whose identity has been stolen.[7] Also in 2008, she starred in the CBS summer series Swingtown as Trina Decker, a woman who is part of a swinging couple. In 2010, Parrilla had a female lead role in the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Miami Medical on CBS, which had a short run towards the end of the 2009–10 television season before it was canceled in July 2010.[8]Windfall, Swingtown and Miami Medical were all canceled after 13 episodes.
On April 30, 2021, Parrilla released a song with Leonardo Abbate, who goes by the stage name Glovibes, called "It's Over Now". It is a remix and rearrangement of Deborah Cox's 1998 song of the same name. [citation needed]
Parrilla became engaged to Alfredo Di Blasio on April 28, 2013, while traveling in Israel.[22] They were married on July 5, 2014, in British Columbia.[23][24] In April 2019, Parrilla announced on her Instagram account that she was "no longer married" and starting a "new life path".[25]
In 2020, Parrilla launched an online clothing company called Keep It Regal, where she sells apparel inspired by her role in Once Upon a Time.[26]