Adria Arjona

Actress Adria Arjona showed a talent for gritty character turns in such crime-driven series as "Person of Interest" (CBS, 2011-16) and "True Detective" (HBO, 2014-), which led to her first starring role in "Emerald City" (NBC, 2017) and supporting appearances in several major motion pictures. Born in Puerto Rico, Arjona was the daughter of Richard Arjona, a popular, Guatemalan-born music artist. Though raised in Mexico City, she frequently accompanied her father on tours throughout Latin and South America before the family settled in Miami, Florida. At the age of 18, Arjona decided to pursue acting as a career and relocated to New York City. There, she studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and made her screen acting debut in a Spanish-language short, "Loss: A Short Film," in 2012. Two years later, Arjona began working on American television, most notably in a recurring role as a determined New York police detective in "Person of Interest," and as the girlfriend of troubled cop Taylor Kitsch on the second season of "True Detective." Such high-profile projects boosted Arjona's profile, which led to her true breakout role as an adult version of Dorothy Gale in "Emerald City" (NBC, 2017), a dark take on L. Frank Baum's "Oz" series of fantasy novels. While working on the program, Arjona also booked supporting roles in three major features - the violent thriller "The Belko Experiment" (2016) for director James Gunn; "Pacific Rim: Maelstrom" (2018), a sequel to Guillermo Del Toro's ambitious science fiction monster movie, and "Life of the Party" (2018), a comedy co-written by and starring Melissa McCarthy.