Cristela Alonzo

Cristela Alonzo (born January 6, 1979 This made Alonzo the first Mexican American woman to create, produce, write, and star in her own American primetime comedy.

Early life Cristela Alonzo was born on January 6, 1979 in Hidalgo, Texas. She was raised in San Juan, Texas, the youngest of four children of mother Natalia Gonzalez, who worked double shifts at a Mexican restaurant for about 20 years, and father Adalberto Alonzo, both of whom were from Mexico. When Alonzo's mother was pregnant with Alonzo, she left her abusive husband and raised the children alone.

She has three siblings, older sister Julisa Maria Alonzo and older brothers Eloy Eduardo Alonzo and Ruben G. Alonzo. Throughout her childhood, on her mother's weekly day off, Alonzo spent time with her paternal grandmother in Reynosa, Mexico, just across the border. Alonzo learned English from watching TV as her family spoke only Spanish at home; her mother never learned to speak English. Alonzo entered and won theater competitions across South Texas while in high school. She graduated from Pharr-San Juan-Alamo High School. She went back to Dallas and moved in with her sister, where she took care of her mother who was sick and her sister's children. Alonzo eventually moved to Los Angeles to become a stand-up comedian. a Comedy Central show. Alonzo spent two years traveling on a bus with Mencia and five other male comics. She wrote the pilot with her writing partner, Kevin Hench. It was not greenlit as a part of the 2013–2014 television season. In an unusual move, they decided to plan to shoot a pilot presentation with the penalty money (a 30% fee they got when the network initially passed). On February 26, 2014, they shot a pilot presentation, filmed on the stage of Last Man Standing with much of that show's crew to save money; it got a strong testing response from the audience.

On May 10, 2014, ABC picked up the pilot to series for the 2014–15 television season. After an initial order of 13 episodes, nine additional episodes were ordered, bringing the total count of episodes for season 1 to 22. Cristela was a multi-camera show, shot in front of a live audience.

Post-Cristela In 2017, Alonzo voiced the character of Cruz Ramirez in the Disney-Pixar film Cars 3.

In 2017, Alonzo released a Netflix stand-up special called Cristela Alonzo: Lower Classy.

In 2019, Alonzo published a memoir called Music to My Years: A Mixtape-Memoir of Growing Up and Standing Up. The memoir release is accompanied by a stand-up tour called My Affordable Care Act.

In 2020, in association with Vox Media Podcast Network, Alonzo hosted and voiced the 11-episode podcast Chicano Squad, which details the story of a five-man Latino homicide investigation squad who worked to resolve police injustice in the Houston area during the 1970s. The podcast first aired in December 2020 and recorded its final episode on March 16, 2021.

Alonzo is a frequent guest player on the game show 25 Words or Less.

In 2021, it was announced that Alonzo would host The CW's revival of the 1990s game show Legends of the Hidden Temple.

In 2022, Alonzo released a Netflix stand-up special called Cristela Alonzo: Middle Classy. In 2025, she followed that up with Cristela Alonzo: Upper Classy, also on Netflix. She was interviewed by Fresh Air's Terry Gross in September of 2025.

Comedic style Alonzo has a trademark, raucous laugh: "If I’m laughing, you know I’m either very happy or very sad", she said. "I cope with things with jokes."

Activism After the 2016 election, Alonzo has stated that with the mentorship and encouragement of Dolores Huerta and poet Sonia Sanchez, she became more politically active, with a focus on immigration and healthcare. She supported Julian Castro for his 2020 presidential campaign. Alonzo has been outspoken as to the lack of representation of Latino candidate Castro on Saturday Night Live in their coverage of Democratic candidates. Julian Castro's twin brother Congressman Joaquin Castro introduced Alonzo on-stage on in-video in her 2022 comedy special Middle Classy, referring to her as "my badass friend".

Alonzo was criticized for celebrating the death of Rush Limbaugh on Twitter on February 17, 2021, when she tweeted out the post "Happy Rush Limbaugh is Dead Day. I didn't even get the chance to put my tree up!" She was further criticized for saying that she was "Not sorry...".

Filmography Film

Television Year Title Role Notes 2006 Mind of Mencia Writer, 15 episodes 2011 Sons of Anarchy Latin Woman Episode: "Fruit for the Crows"2012 Ladies Room Diaries Bathroom Attendant producer, writer, 3 episodes: "Rubik's Cubicle", "Okey Dokey Karaoke", "Hide n' Cake" Hey It's Fluffy! 4 episodes The Book Club Cobra Chai / Cristela Episodes: "The Warrior Reads On", "All Valley" 2014–15 Cristela Cristela 22 episodes, creator, executive producer, writer 2015 General Hospital Natalia Rodriguez 1 episode 2019–22 His Dark Materials Hester Voice role; Recurring role 2020 The Casagrandes Camila Voice role; episode: "Grandparent Trap" 2021 The Upshaws Anna 2 episode 2021–22 Legends of the Hidden Temple Host 2021 Earth to Ned Herself Episode: "Growing Up Ned" Launchpad Lupe Garcia Episode: "Growing Fangs" 2022 Cars on the Road Cruz Ramirez Voice role; episode: "Gettin' Hitched" 2023 Is It Cake? Herself / Judge Episode: "S'more Cake Please"

Video games 2017: Cars 3: Driven to Win, Cruz Ramirez 2026: Disney Speedstorm, Cruz Ramirez

Shorts 2007: Carpet Diem, writer 2007: Cookie de Mayo, writer 2008: Life After, writer 2008: Recycled, writer 2009: TGIF: The Musical, writer, story 2011: The North Council, writer 2017: Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool, actor as Cruz Ramirez

Theme parks attractions 2021: Cars: Road Trip, Cruz Ramirez

Stand up 2007: Live at Gotham, episode: "Episode #2.7" 2009: Stand-Up 360: Muy Caliente Edition 2 2010: Ladies Night Out 2010: Last Comic Standing, episodes 7.7 and 7.1 2011: Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand Up Revolution, episode: "Cristela Alonzo/Larry Omaha/Maz Jobrani" 2011: Legally Brown 2012: Conan, episode: "Dracula Meets the Mummy, & the Two Hit It Off Swimmingly" 2013: The Half Hour 2014: @midnight, episode 2.5 2014: Just for Laughs: All-Access, episode: "Jimmy Carr" 2014: Conan, episode 4.80 2017: Cristela Alonzo: Lower Classy Netflix standup special 2022: Cristela Alonzo: Middle Classy Netflix standup special 2025: Cristela Alonzo: Upper Classy Netflix standup special

Works and publications

Recognition In January 2014, Alonzo was named as one of "10 L.A. Comedy Acts to Watch in 2014" by L.A. Weekly. She was also named one of "13 Funny Women to Watch in 2014" by Cosmopolitan. McAllen, Texas gave her the Key to the City in 2019.