Valery Ortiz

Puerto Rican beauty and talent Valery Ortiz is best known for playing the role of Jell-O, a J-Lo impersonator, in the comedy Date Movie and as DIna Duran in the recent Disney Channel series, Gabby Duran and the Unsittables. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Valery moved to the states at an early age with her family and grew up in Orlando, Florida. As a young girl she had the aspirations of becoming a ballerina, and pursued those dance dreams at The Southern Ballet Theater Performing Art Centre in Orlando.

As Valery reached middle school her interest in both theatre and acting began to surpass that of dance, and she started exploring her talent in that department as well. Around this time she started work as an extra on the Universal Studios backlot, and was accepted into the Dr. Phillips High School Performing Arts magnet program just like her brother before her. Some of her early productions and performances include Latins Anonymous at the Orlando Fringe Festival, West Side Story as Maria, A midsummer Night’s Dream as Helena, and The Vagina Monologues. Whilst attending the University of Central Florida in 2004, Valery was cast as the host of Nickelodeon series Splat!

She moved to LA, and the rest is history. In 2006, working as a hostess at the renowned Hard Rock Cafe, Valery was cast in Date Movie. That same year the beautiful actress was voted one of the Top 25 Latinas by Maxim en Español. Shortly after this Valery appeared in the series South of Nowhere. In 2010 she could be seen alongside Charlie Sheen in an episode of two and a Half Men. Valery has been an anchor for Si TV and E! News. From 2013 to 2016 she played the role of Raquel Saldana in three seasons of Hit the Floor, before landing the role of Dina Duran in 2019.