Christina Ochoa

Cristina Ochoa Lopez (born 25 January 1985), known professionally as Christina Ochoa, is a Spanish actress and science communicator.

Early life Ochoa is the grand-niece of 1959 Nobel Prize winner Severo Ochoa, and the daughter of acclaimed Spanish sculptor Victor Ochoa. She has spent her life surrounded by members of both the scientific and artistic worlds.

Theatre and film From there, Ochoa moved on to work in theatre and TV, including on I Hate My Teenage Daughter,

In 2014, Ochoa played Karen Morales on the Robert Rodríguez show, Matador. Ochoa exited the series after one season and 13 episodes in first-season episode, "Twelve Seconds" on 31 January 2019.

Writing Ochoa has written articles for several publications. Her first published work was featured in Vogue Spain. She has regular spreads featured in H, in which she focuses on profile pieces and book reviews. She also has a monthly film column in El Imparcial.

Science communication and academia Ochoa is on the advisory board for OCEANA and Earths Oceans. She is the host of the Know Brainer podcast, and has been the host and keynote of several scientific conferences and shows including the college prep program MESA, Bitesize TV's Chaotic Awesome, and NERD ALERT on The Young Turks network.

She is part of the Los Angeles Committee for Science for Society, which promotes science in society and scientific literacy, and which is the sponsor of the Intel Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

She continued with marine biology studies at James Cook University in Australia, where she focused on Elasmobranchii, subclass which includes sharks and rays.

She also enrolled in additional subjects in particle physics at the Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED) but merged into full-time acting before she could complete her master's degree.

She has also participated as an expert guest on the scientific comedy podcast Professor Blastoff, part of the Earwolf network; Cara Santa Maria's Talk Nerdy; and several online STEM education platforms.

Selected filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 2011 Cats Dancing on Jupiter Jennifer 2011 Stay with Me Andrea Short film 2022 Boon Emilia 2022 MVP Tracy Phillips 2024 Fight Another Day Isabelle 2026 Above & Below Post-production

Television Year Title Role Notes 2009 Contáct@me Gabriela 2011 I Hate My Teenage Daughter Dominique Episode: "Teenage Family Night" 2012 Modern Family Nurse Episode: "Baby on Board" 2013 The Neighbors Princess Leia Episode: "A Christmas Story" 2014 Matador Karen Morales Chaotic Awesome Herself Web series; co-writer and correspondent 2016–2022 Animal Kingdom Renn Randall Recurring role, 35 episodes 2017 Blood Drive Grace D'Argento Main role, 13 episodes 2017–2018 Valor CW3 Nora Madani Main role, 13 episodes 2018–2019 A Million Little Things Ashley Morales Main role (Season 1), 13 episodes 2022 Promised Land Veronica Sandoval Main role