Actors - Lauren and Loraine Velez

Home > Listing Index > Actors > Lauren and Loraine Velez

	Actors - Lauren and Loraine Velez

Lauren and Loraine Velez (born November 2, 1964 in Brooklyn, New York) are twin sisters of Puerto Rican descent who are actresses.

The twins parents immigrated from Puerto Rico in the early 1950s and lived in the Brooklyn section of New York where the twins were born. Their father was a New York City police officer, who eventually brought a house in the middle class neighborhood of Queens and moved there with his wife and eight children. The sisters enjoyed setting up improvised plays and acting for the family ever since childhood. Lauren once played the part of a groundhog in a second grade school play and the experience left an unforgettable impression on her mind.

After graduating from high school, the twins both received scholarships to attend The Alvin Ailey Dancing School. They also studied acting at The Acting Studio and Lauren studied Shakespeare with Michael Howard. Lauren landed her first job performing in the national touring company of the musical "Dreamgirls". Loraine would often step in for her sister in Dreamgirls, in which they played the role of "Mimi Marquez".

In Broadway, besides doing Dreamgirls, Lauren played understudy for actress Phylicia Rashad. She also performed Off-Broadway in the productions of "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Fasade".

In 1994, Lauren landed her first major T.V. role. She was cast as "Nina Moreno", a policewoman in the T.V. series "New York Undercover". That same year, she also made her film debut as "Lisette Linares" in the movie "I Like It Like That" alongside Rita Moreno and Jon Seda. She was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award and The Desi Award in the category of "Best Actress". Another T.V. series in which she participated was HBO's jail drama, "Oz". She also acted in the feature film "City Hall", with Al Pacino.

In 1997, Lauren starred in "Buscando un Sueño" (In Search of a Dream), the first Spanish speaking film sanctioned by SAG.

Lauren's filmography include the following:

I Like It Like That (1994) - Lisette Linares

"New York Undercover" (1994) TV Series - Det. Nina Moreno (1995-1998)

City Hall (1996) - Elaine Santos

Buscando un sueño (1997) (In Search of a Dream)

"Oz" (1997) TV Series - Dr. Gloria Nathan

I Think I Do (1997) - Carol

Thicker Than Blood (1998) (TV) - Camilla Lopez

The LaMastas (1998)

"St. Michael's Crossing" (1999) TV Series - Vicki Solera

Prince of Central Park (2000) - Rosa Sanchez

Prison Song (2001) - Prison Counselor

Love and Treason (2001) (TV) - Agent Susan Mestre

Barely Buzzed (2005) - Maria Vasquez

Serial (2005) - Roseanne Crystal

Loraine participated in Broadway's Dreamgirls, and also in the Off-Broadway production of "Does A Tiger Have A Necktie".

In 1999, Loraine went to London, United Kingdom. There she participated in the production of "RENT" where she was cast as "Mimi" the uderstudy. She returned to the United States in 2001. That same year Loraine was cast as "Tutu" in the film "Piñero", starring Benjamin Bratt and Talisa Soto. In 2002, she played the role of "Abby Bishop" in the T.V. series "Law and Order" and in 2002 she played "Valentina Minola" in the episode: "Worse Things I Could Do" of the T.V. series "Casualty".

Currently both sisters continue to make T.V. appearances.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Lauren and Loraine Velez ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Lauren and Loraine Velez; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay