Alanna Ubach
Jo
Alanna Ubach stars as Jo on Bravo's first original scripted series, "Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce." Ubach made her mark in the industry playing the family housekeeper-turned wedding caterer and Gaylord's first lover in "Meet the Fockers," the sorority sister/best friend to Elle Woods in "Legally Blonde," and the sex-starved Israeli neighbor on "Hung." Up next, Beginning this June, Ubach can be seen in AMC's series "Dietland," working again with “Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce" creator Marti Noxon.
Born in Downey, California to a Mexican-born mother and Puerto Rican father, Ubach has been a working actress since childhood. Following her television debut on "Romper Room," she joined the Lee Strasberg Institute's Children's Program. At 15, she fearlessly travelled to New York to star in WPA's Off-Broadway production of "Club Soda," and later spent two years as Josie on "Beakman's World" and starred in "Kindertransport" at the Manhattan Theatre Club.
Most recently, Ubach lent her voice to Disney/Pixar's Oscar winning animated film "Coco," featuring an all-Latino cast, when she played the leading female role including a popular singing performance of La Llorona as great-great-grandmother Mama Imelda. Ubach also starred opposite Keanu Reeves in Noxon's Sundance darling "To the Bone." and was in "The Last Word" feature last year and she will be seen opposite Julianne Moore in "Gloria" later this year. She also recurred as Tammy Murphy on Amazon's "Hand of God," as lead Dana Delany's sister and is a series regular on Nickelodeon's "Welcome to the Wayne," voicing Ansi Molina, a boy.
Over the years, Ubach has played and voiced numerous characters. Her additional television credits include recurring roles as Ray Romano's love interest on "Men of a Certain Age" (and won a Peabody Award for that stint) and as a drunken British rock widow on "Californication," a memorable guest appearance on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" as well as the season finale of last season's "American Horror Story: Hotel." An indie film darling, she has starred in the films "Denise Calls Up," "Freeway," "Clockwatchers" and "Johns." She starred in Sam Hancock's directorial debut, 2014's "Being Us," about a suicidal woman with multiple personality disorder. She also appeared in several feature films including "Renaissance Man," "Airborne," "Sister Act 2" and "The Brady Bunch Movie." Ubach also remains an in-demand voiceover actress in TV and film with roles ranging from Gore Verbinski's "Rango" to groundbreaking Latino voices in "Teamo Supremo" and "El Tigre."
Ubach self-produced, wrote and directed a short film, "A Mi Amor Mi Dulce," which premiered at Los Angeles' Outfest in 2003. She also wrote and starred in a one-woman Off-Broadway show "Patriotic Bitch," which debuted to rave reviews at the Harold Clurman Theatre. She will soon be seen in "August Falls," which also marks her debut as a film producer. When she's not on stage or on set, she makes her home in Los Angeles with her husband, their dogs and son.
