Kristin Herrera

American former actress (born 1989)

Daniel Novak

(m. 2022)

Children1

Kristin Lisa Herrera (born February 21, 1989) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Dana Cruz on the first season of the Nickelodeon series Zoey 101 and as Lourdes Del Torro on General Hospital.

Career

Herrera was born on February 21, 1989, in Los Angeles, California.^[1] She has two older brothers and a sister, named Ryan, Justin, and Ashley respectively. She is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent and speaks fluent Spanish. She attended Hillcrest Christian School in Granada Hills, Los Angeles.^[2]

Herrera has been acting in commercials ever since she was six. Her first TV role was in a phone service commercial. Other roles include Eleena on NYPD Blue, Aimee Varga on The Division, Sophie on The Bernie Mac Show, Katie on 7th Heaven and Frederika in ER.

In 2004, at age 15, Herrera was cast as Dana Cruz in Zoey 101,^[3] the roommate of Zoey Brooks (Jamie Lynn Spears) and Nicole Bristow (Alexa Nikolas).^[4]^[5] Following the first season, Herrera's character was written out of the series ^[6] because she kept forgetting her lines, and had personal issues. According to Nikolas, who was allegedly being bullied on set, Herrera was also let go after pushing and harassing Nikolas while filming the final episode of season one (Herrera denied this).^[7]^[8] Herrera's character was then replaced by Lola Martinez (Victoria Justice) for the rest of the series.^[9] Despite only appearing in Season 1, Kristin is present for all 13 episodes. Her character is mentioned once by Chase in Season 2 "Back to PCA" and appeared in flashbacks during Season 3 "PCA Confidential." She does not appear in any of the Zoey 101 TV Movies.

She also co-starred in feature film Freedom Writers opposite Hilary Swank.^[10]^[11] In 2008, Herrera stopped taking acting roles.^{[citation needed]} Her last acting role was on the soap opera General Hospital.

In 2020, she reunited with the Zoey 101 cast on the television show All That.^[12]

Personal life

On July 15, 2016, Herrera announced via Instagram that she was engaged to her longtime boyfriend Daniel Novak. Their engagement ended shortly afterward. However, on February 14, 2020, she announced that she was engaged to Novak again.^[13] They got married on October 26, 2022.^[14]

On November 17, 2021, she announced on Instagram that she was pregnant with her and Novak's first child.^[15] She gave birth to their son on May 23, 2022.^[16]

Filmography

Film roles

Year	Title	Role	Ref.
2007	Freedom Writers	Gloria Munez	^[10]^[11]
2007	Resurrection Mary	Karen

Television roles

Year	Title	Role	Episode
2001	NYPD Blue	Elena Rodriguez	Episode: "Oh Golly Goth"^[1]
2002	7th Heaven	Katie	Episode: "Letting Go"
2002	The Division	Aimee Varga	Episode: "Remembrance"
2002	The Bernie Mac Show	Sophia	Episode: "Bernie Mac Dance Party"
2004	ER	Frederika Meehan	Episode: "The Student"^[1]
2004–08	General Hospital	Lourdes Del Torro	Recurring role
2005	Zoey 101	Dana Cruz	Main role (season 1)^[3]^[4]^[5]
2006	Without a Trace	Rose Martinez	Episode: "White Balance"
2020	All That	Herself	Season 11 episode^[17]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Schneider, Dan. "Kristin Herrera". danschneider.com. Schneider's Bakery. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
^ Famous Hispanic American Actresses, Famous101.com
^ ^a ^b Adams, Michelle Medlock (2005). Jamie Lynn Spears. Mitchell Lane Publishers. p. 24. ISBN 9781584153955.
^ ^a ^b Terrace, Vincent (April 9, 2009). The Year in Television, 2008: A Catalog of New and Continuing Series, Miniseries, Specials and TV Movies. McFarland & Company. p. 276. ISBN 9780786443918.
^ ^a ^b Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (June 24, 2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Random House Publishing Group. p. 1564. ISBN 9780307483201.
^ Green 2012, p. 178.
^ Romano, Christy (November 8, 2022). The Time Britney Spears Screamed at Young Zoey 101 Star. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
^ Alexa Nikolas (Nicole from Zoey 101) EXPOSES Britney Spears, Dan Schneider, Victoria Justice etc., retrieved March 15, 2023
^ Green 2012, p. 190.
^ ^a ^b van Heertum, Richard; Kashani, T.; Nocella, A.; Frymer, B. (November 14, 2010). Hollywood's Exploited: Public Pedagogy, Corporate Movies, and Cultural Crisis. Springer Publishing. p. 94. ISBN 9780230117426.
^ ^a ^b Blum, Daniel C.; Willis, John (2007). Screen World. Vol. 59. Crown Publishers. p. 3. ISBN 9781557837417.
^ "Jamie Lynn Spears and the Cast of Zoey 101 Take on Thelma Stump in Hilarious All That Sketch". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
^ "I get to marry my best friend 🥰 #KristinNovak #yaaasssss #engagedaf". Instagram. Archived from the original on March 19, 2022.
^ "Our 2020 wedding that had to be pushed to 2022 due to covid FINALLY happened 🥲. Couldn't wait to post until our professional photos came in 🥹. Such a magical day celebrating with the people we love. Here's to forever with you, my love 🤍 #TheNovaks".
^ "Loving you is going to be a wonderful way to spend a lifetime 🧡🌿. We can't wait to meet you, sweet angel 🧡🌿. Baby Novak due May, 2022 🧡🌿". Instagram. November 17, 2021. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021.
^ @ms_kris__ (May 28, 2022). "Meet Christopher Liam Novak 5.23.22, 9lbs 3oz, 21 inches. I never knew this type of love existed until I laid my eyes on you". Archived from the original on May 30, 2022 – via Instagram.
^ Jones, Marcus (November 21, 2019). "Jamie Lynn Spears is reuniting with the cast of 'Zoey 101' on the new 'All That'". Entertainment Weekly.

Bibliography

Green, Doyle (February 28, 2012). Teens, TV and Tunes: The Manufacturing of American Adolescent Culture. McFarland & Company. p. 229. ISBN 9780786466429.