Denyse Tontz

Denyse Tontz (born September 17, 1994 ) is an American actress, singer and songwriter. Tontz is known for her roles as Cortney Strathmore on Freeform's The Fosters, Miranda Montgomery on All My Children, Nikki Ortiz on Dog with a Blog, Elena on the 2017 Syfy series Incorporated, and heroine Alicia Mendoza in the 2019 ABC summer series Grand Hotel. She is known in the music world for her single, "United States of Anxiety", debuted in 2016 by People.com.

Personal life Tontz has a younger sister and a younger brother. Tontz made her first appearance on television, appearing on the show E-Ring as Princess Gabrielle. In 2007, she portrayed Alice Keefe in the Nickelodeon movie The Last Day of Summer. In 2008, she was cast as Meagan Todd in the movie Dog Gone along with Luke Benward and French Stewart. Tontz began recurring on Big Time Rush in 2009 playing the role of Jennifer Woods. Tontz revealed on August 6, 2012, that Nickelodeon had renewed Big Time Rush for a 13-episode fourth season, a development that was later independently confirmed. However, Tontz herself didn't appear in the season and a cardboard standee of her character was used in place of her in the series finale.

In November 2012 Tontz appeared on the Disney Channel sitcom Dog with a Blog, playing Avery's Central American neighbor and Tyler's crush, Nikki. Nikki is sweet and talented but also initially quite naïve, and her pomeranian Evita becomes the object of Stan's affection. It was later announced that Tontz's character would begin to be recurring. The first appearance of Tontz as Miranda Montgomery was on the April 29, 2013 premiere episode of All My Children. On November 11, 2013, it was announced that Prospect Park had closed production and canceled the series again.

In July 2015, Deadline Hollywood announced that Tontz was cast as a series regular in the USA pilot, Paradise Pictures, written and executive produced by Suits writer Rick Muirragui and executive produced by Suits creator/executive producer Aaron Korsh. The show was a period drama revolving around ambitious people striving to get to the top in 1940s Hollywood, and Tontz played a bright-eyed aspiring actress named Luciana from Marfa, Texas. The show did not go to series.

In 2016, it was announced that Tontz would join Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's Syfy thriller, Incorporated, as a series regular, alongside Sean Teale, Allison Miller, Dennis Haysbert and Julia Ormond. Tontz plays Elena, Larson's longtime love, who is forced to sell herself into servitude in order to pay off her family's debts. Created by David and Alex Pastor, the show is set in a distant future where corporations have unlimited power.

Music In 2012, Tontz released the video for her first single, "Better Than Nothing" featuring Thomas Hrvatin, via YouTube. Shot on an iPhone 4S, the song features Tontz's quirky, playful style of writing. "Better Than Nothing" was also featured on the March 24, 2013 episode of The Mentalist.

In June 2014, represented by Danny Goldberg, Tontz won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song for a Drama Series for "Parachute", an original song she wrote for All My Children.

She released her track "Why" on May 5, 2015, her song and video "Go", on July 4, 2015, and most recently "United States of Anxiety", on July 22, 2016.

Filmography + Film and television roles Year Title Role Notes 2006 E-Ring Princess Gabrielle Episode: "The Two Princes" 2007 The Last Day of Summer Alice Keefe Film 2008 Dog Gone Meagan Todd Film 2009 The Perfect Sleep Young Porphyria Film 2009–2013 Big Time Rush Jennifer 1 Recurring role, 21 episodes 2011 The Nine Lives of Chloe King Vanessa Episode: "Responsible" I Hate My Teenage Daughter Snotty Girl Episode: Pilot 2012 Shake It Up Gloria Episode: "Weird It Up" 2012–2013 Pair of Kings Mary Ann/Tarantula Girl Episodes: "The New King, Part 2: The Bro-fessor and Mary Ann", "Meet the Parent" 2012–2014 Dog with a Blog Nikki Ortiz Recurring role 2013 All My Children Miranda Montgomery Series regular 2014 Workaholics Kim Episode: "Beer Heist" Melissa & Joey Layla Episode: "Accidents Will Happen" Bones Alice Kelly Episode: "The Geek In The Guck" 2015 Earthfall Rachel Lannon Television movie Paradise Pictures Luciana Delgado Unsold television pilot 2016–2017 The Fosters Cortney Strathmore Recurring role, 21 episodes Incorporated Elena Main role 2019 Grand Hotel Alicia Mendoza Main role

Discography "Better Than Nothing" (feat. Thomas Hrvatin) "Use It" "Mr. Hipster" "Why" (track only) "Go"

Music videos Year Title Director 2012 "Better Than Nothing"