Biografi
Juani Feliz, an actress born in the Dominican Republic and raised in the Bronx, discovered her passion for acting during her middle school's production of Shakespeare's Othello. Instantly captivated by the craft, she persuaded her parents to take her to acting classes and open auditions across the city. In high school, Juani met her first manager and secured her initial roles in film and television. Her acting career paused when she left New York City to attend Harvard College, where she pursued Biomedical Engineering. After graduation, Juani worked at Boston's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, contributing to a melanoma cancer vaccine clinical trial and developing biomaterials and drug delivery systems. She also completed a Master's degree at Harvard during this period. Despite her promising bioengineering career, Juani felt a strong pull back to acting and returned to NYC in 2016 to revive her career. Since then, she has appeared in various films and TV shows. On the big screen, Juani features in Alex Garland's A24 action film Civil War and stars in the upcoming horror thriller Birthrite. On television, she will appear in the third season of Ridley Scott's AMC anthology series The Terror: Devil in Silver. Her TV credits also include Alejandra Lopez in FX's Fleishman Is In Trouble, Carmen in Ava DuVernay's HBO Max series DMZ, and Isabela Benitez-Santiago in Tracy Oliver's Amazon comedy Harlem. Recently, Juani was cast to lead CBS's potential spinoff of The Equalizer alongside Titus Welliver, portraying a father-daughter duo introduced in a backdoor pilot. After CBS chose not to proceed with the spinoff, she joined Ryan Murphy's new ABC series 9-1-1 Nashville as a series regular. Juani's work has gained recognition in Latin America; she earned back-to-back nominations for "Best Actor/Actress Abroad" at the Dominican Republic's Premios Soberano—first for Fleishman Is In Trouble and then for Harlem. In 2022, People en Español named her one of the "50 Más Bellos" ("50 Most Beautiful"). Juani aims to portray roles and tell stories that challenge stereotypes about Latina women in America, mirroring her own experiences. She aspires to use her artistic platform to inspire strength, confidence, and possibility among women, people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, and anyone overcoming adversity in pursuit of their dreams.
