Charlotte Ayanna

Charlotte Ayanna
Charlotte Ayanna
Born	Charlotte Lopez; September 25, 1976 (age 47); San Juan, Puerto Rico
Other names	Charlotte Roldan
Occupation(s)	Actress, beauty queen
	Beauty pageant titleholder
Title	Miss Vermont Teen USA 1993; Miss Teen USA 1993
Years active	1995–2010, 2023–present
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Blue

Charlotte Ayanna (born Charlotte Lopez; September 25, 1976) is a Puerto Rican-American actress, author and former beauty queen who won Miss Teen USA 1993.

Early life

Ayanna was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but moved to Vermont at an early age. She had a troubled childhood, spending sixteen years in foster homes after her mother, Emma, was judged to be mentally unfit to look after her children.^[1] In 1994, at age 17, she was adopted into a foster home.^[2]^[3] She has since become a spokeswoman for foster children.

Education

Attended the University of California, Irvine.

Career

Her first national exposure was in 1993, when she became Miss Teen USA.^[4]

Following her pageant career, she worked with author Susan Dworkin to write a book, Lost in the System (1996), about her experiences as a foster child and pageant winner.^[5]

Lopez then transitioned into acting, making guest appearances on episodes of various television series, including three episodes of Weird Science and one episode of Entourage. Her first acting credit, after changing her name to Charlotte Ayanna, was her appearance in an October 1998 episode of Profiler. She also appeared in the music video for fellow Puerto Rican Ricky Martín's hit "She's All I Ever Had".

Her film roles include: a brief appearance as a fatality in Jawbreaker (1999); The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999); a stripper in Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2000); Love the Hard Way (2003) with Adrien Brody; and a sexy vampiress in the horror direct-to-video movie The Insatiable (2007). Her last known acting role was in the film Christmas in Compton (2012). Penultimately she was in Rain from Stars, filmed in 2010 but not released until 2013.

Personal life

After her pageant career ended and her book had been published, she chose to change her surname from Lopez to Ayanna, which she states means "blessed" in Cherokee.^[4]^[6]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Trojan War	Nina
1998	Telling You	Allison Fazio
1999	Jawbreaker	Elizabeth "Liz" Purr
1999	The Rage: Carrie 2	Tracy
2000	Dancing at the Blue Iguana	Jessie
2001	Stealing Time	Samantha "Sam" Parkes	a.k.a. Rennie's Landing
2001	Love the Hard Way	Claire Harrison
2001	Training Day	Lisa
2001	Kate & Leopold	Patrice
2002	Spun	Amy
2005	Once Upon a Wedding	Margarita
2006	Push	Lisa
2006	The Push	Macey
2006	No. 6	Mila	Short film
2006	The Insatiable	Tatiana	Direct-to-video
2010	Errand boy	Candi	Short film
2012	Christmas in Compton	Ginger
2013	Rain from Stars	Nora	Completed in 2010
TBA	The American Way

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995–1996	Weird Science	Annie/Jessie/Wendy	3 episodes
1996	Beverly Hills, 90210	Beth Rawlings	Episode: "Here We Go Again"
1996	The Steve Harvey Show	Jody	Episode: "Pool Sharks Git Bit"
1996–1997	The Secret World of Alex Mack	Hannah Mercury	3 episodes
1998	Profiler	Kristen	Episode: "Cravings"
2004	Entourage	Joanne	Episode: "Date Night"

Awards and nominations

In 2002 she won the Best Actress award at the Valenciennes International Festival of Action and Adventure Films for Love the Hard Way (2001) tied with Kajol for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001).^{[citation needed]}