Ivonne Coll

Ivonne Coll was a Puerto Rican actress who rose to prominence in 2014 when she landed a part on the hit comedy series "Jane the Virgin" (The CW, 2014-). Born and raised in the Puerto Rican city of Fajardo, Coll had a rather unlikely path to acting stardom. A former beauty queen and fashion model, Coll never envisioned herself as an actress. In fact, throughout the late 1960s, she bounced around the nightclubs of Puerto Rico working as a backup singer for various high-profile artists. Her luck changed, however, when she was cast for a small part on a local soap opera in 1971. That show just happened to be seen by the owner of a Puerto Rican TV station, who saw the star potential in the young actress. He then did something unprecedented by giving Coll her very own TV show called "A Girl Named Ivonne Coll" (1971-75). The show ran for four years on Puerto Rican TV, making Coll a household name in her native country. Coll had a second string of good fortune in 1974 when director Francis Ford Coppola cast her in a small role in "The Godfather, Part II" (1974). Having had a taste of Hollywood stardom, Coll decided to leave Puerto Rico for good in the mid-1970s and move to Los Angeles. She landed roles intermittently throughout the '70s and '80s, but by the '90s Coll's acting career really started to heat up. She appeared as a guest star on several TV shows throughout the 1990s, including "Wings" (NBC, 1990-97), "L.A. Law" (NBC, 1986-1994) and "Chicago Hope" (CBS, 1994-2000). She then landed a recurring role on the American soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" (CBS, 1987-), and continued acting steadily on TV throughout the 2000s. In 2014 Coll was cast as Alba Villanueva, a grandmother to the lead character on The CW's comedy-drama "Jane the Virgin." The show was a breakout hit when it debuted in the fall of 2014, and went on to win a Golden Globe. The CW renewed the show for a second season in early 2015, with Coll slated to reprise her role as Grandma Villanueva.