Wanda De Jesus

Wanda De Jesus (born August 26, 1958) is an American character actress.

Early life
De Jesus was born and raised in New York City, a Little Italy neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, the daughter of first generation from Puerto Rico. She attended the High School of Performing Arts and earned a degree in performing arts in 1981 from the City College of New York.

Career
In 1986, De Jesus made her both, stage and television debuts: starring opposite Robert De Niro in Broadway play Cuba and His Teddy Bear, and playing a recurring role on the NBC daytime soap opera Another World. In 1987, De Jesus starred in the short-lived ABC prison drama series, Mariah. She later made guest starring appearances on L.A. Law, Tales from the Darkside and Matlock.

In 1990, De Jesus had supporting roles in the action comedy film Downtown and the science fiction film RoboCop 2. She was the fourth actress to portray Santana Andrade in the NBC soap opera Santa Barbara from 1991 to 1992. In 1994 she returned to big screen starring in the crime drama The Glass Shield and appeared alongside Jimmy Smits in the Death and the Maiden at the Mark Taper Forum. The following year was regular cast member in the short-lived drama series, Live Shot. She guest-starred on Babylon 5, Touched by an Angel, NYPD Blue and Nash Bridges. She later appeared in films The Insider (1999), Flawless (1999), Once in the Life (2000) and Ghosts of Mars (2001). In 2002, De Jesus starred opposite Clint Eastwood in the mystery thriller film Blood Work playing Graciella Rivers, a Latino woman still enraged over the murder of her sister. From 2002 to 2003 she had a recurring role on the CBS crime series CSI: Miami as MDPD Detective Adelle Sevilla. In 2007, De Jesus starred in the crime drama film, Illegal Tender.

In 2010, De Jesus had a recurring role as Iris Blanco, the mayor of Pine Valley in the ABC soap opera, All My Children. Later in 2010, De Jesus was cast as the head of the police squad on the NBC series Law & Order: Los Angeles, but the role – which had already been changed significantly before De Jesus joined – was changed again and reshot with a different actress after two episodes had been filmed. In 2012 she had a recurring role in the FX crime drama series, Sons of Anarchy. In 2022 she had a recurring role in the Paramount+ psychological thriller Fatal Attraction.

Personal life
De Jesus has been in a relationship with actor Jimmy Smits since 1986. They live together in Los Angeles.