Rosa Salazar

American actress Rosa Salazar is a wry and understated presence in numerous television projects like "Parenthood" (NBC, 2010-15) before vaulting into screen stardom in major feature films like "The Divergent Series: Insurgent" (2015), "CHiPs" (2017), and "Alita: Battle Angel" (2018).

Born Rosa Bianca Salazar on July 16, 1985 in British Columbia, Canada, she was raised in Greenbelt, Maryland, but left as a teenager to break into the entertainment industry in New York City. She endured a challenging period of homelessness before falling in with the CollegeHumor comedy web series circles, which cast her in various roles between 2010 and 2012.

The exposure afforded by the short comic projects led to minor roles in features, though television provided her with a more substantive showcase, thanks to appearances on "American Horror Story: Murder House" (FX, 2011) as the ghost of a murder victim and on "Parenthood" as a young pregnant girl who enters into a tenuous adoptive relationship with marrieds Erika Christensen and Sam Jaeger.

In 2012, Salazar was cast as Lynn, a fearless young woman in "The Divergent Series: Insurgent," which preceded a supporting turn in another dystopian science fiction franchise, "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" (2012). However, Salazar also maintained a foothold in the comedy world, earning critical praise as a damaged young woman who becomes a millstone and eventual love interest for hapless workaholic Adam Pally in "Night Owls" (2015), while also earning guest roles on sitcoms like "Ben and Kate" (Fox, 2012-13) and edgier material like Stephen Merchant's "Hello Ladies" (HBO, 2013-14).

Salazar made her directorial debut with the short film "Good Crazy" before launching into a year of high-profile film projects, including a no-nonsense, motorcycle-loving cop in Dax Shepard's big-screen spoof of "CHiPS" (2017) and the title role in "Alita: Battle Angel," a live-action adaptation of a popular Japanese manga about a warrior cyborg from director Robert Rodriguez and producer James Cameron.