Rene Michelle Aranda, sometimes credited as Ren Aranda, (born December 6, 1990) is an American actress and singer, best known for ''Searching'' and '' Midnight in the Switchgrass''. She has won Best Actress (Silverstate Film Festival, 2018), Best Supporting Actress (LA Edge Film Awards, 2018) and Outstanding Performance by an Actress (

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

ACT Festival) and finished as a semifinalist in the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

Center's

Irene Ryan Irene Ryan (born Irene Noblitt, Noblett, or Noblette; October 17, 1902 – April 26, 1973) was an American actress and comedienne who found success in vaudeville, radio, film, television, and Broadway. She is most widely known for her po ...

scholarship program.

Early life and family

Aranda was born in

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and is part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census figure. Whittier ...

, to Frank and Cheryl Aranda. She was raised in the nearby city of

Chino Hills The Chino Hills are a mountain range on the border of Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties, California, with a small portion in Riverside County. Chino Hills State Park preserves open space and habitat in them. Geography The Chin ...

, where Aranda grew up with older brother Michael Aranda (

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

creator and musician), older sister Sara Ann Aranda and younger brother Frank Nathan Aranda. Her mother was a self produced singer/songwriter through

CD Baby CD Baby, Inc. is a Portland, Oregon based online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. It was established in 1998 and offered distribution fo ...

and secretary to the college dean of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...

until she died June 27, 2009, after a seven-year battle with breast cancer.

Career

2009–2012: Vocational training

Aranda is an alumnus of the

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus of the U ...

Theater Academy, a three-year, audition-only acting conservatory at which

Morgan Freeman Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, producer, and narrator. In a career spanning six decades, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a Tony ...

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, and the Joker (character), Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with ''Batm ...

Cindy Williams Cynthia Jane Williams (August 22, 1947 – January 25, 2023) was an American actress. She is best known for her role as Shirley Feeney on the television sitcoms ''Happy Days'' (1975–1979), and ''Laverne & Shirley'' (1976–1982). She a ...

and

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

studied. Just before graduating in 2012, she won the national award "Outstanding Performance by an Actress" in the

Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) is a national theatre program dedicated to the improvement of collegiate theatre in the United States. Focused on the celebration of diverse and exciting theatre, KCACTF involves studen ...

for her role as Willy the Space Freak in a gender-bent adaptation of

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned half a century. He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, ...

's ''The Unseen Hand.'' For her role as "Van's Sister" in LACC's stage production of Bert V. Royal's '' Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead in 2010'', Aranda was nominated for the

scholarship, for which actors compete as a part of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. She made it to the semi-finals.

2013–2014: Early career

First invited to the set of network

Cinelatino Cinelatino is a Spanish-language movie channel based in Mexico owned by MVS Comunicaciones & Hemisphere Media Group (99.9% owned by InterMedia Partners). The channel is available throughout Latin America as well as the United States and Canada via ...

distributed film ''Smile Now Cry Later'' as a background actor by a fellow Theater Academy alum, Aranda was later asked to replace a crew member on a subsequent film before being locked in for two more features (''Fighting Chance'' and ''Cherry Red Kiss'') and by the fourth production (''Until the Day I Die''), she served the company Plus Entertainment as an in-house producer, appearing on screen in each title she helped produce. Aranda was featured with touring architect Alán Ramiro Manning in the

Woodbury University Woodbury University is a private university in Burbank, California. Founded in 1884 with initial campuses in Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown and Central Los Angeles, Woodbury University is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Sout ...

Neo-Tribes Runway Event on May 1 and 2 2013, donning a Jenny Erin Davis (

Black Lightning Black Lightning (Jefferson Michael "Jeff" Pierce) is a superhero who appears in American comic book published by DC Comics. The character, created by writer Jenny Blake Isabella with artist Trevor Von Eeden, first appeared in ''Black Lightning'' ...

) design of a Bram Stoker's Dracula inspired Elisabeta (Transylvania 1462), wearing

Stila Stila Cosmetics is an American cosmetics Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derive ...

makeup.

2018: Music

In addition to her film and television career, Aranda debuted as a musical artist in 2018, releasing two pop singles a few months apart on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

and other online streaming platforms.

Youth programs and education

Aranda is a regular volunteer reader and occasional coordinator for

Reading to Kids {{Short description, Charitable organization Reading to Kids is a charitable organization that sponsors monthly reading clubs at inner-city elementary schools with low literacy rates in Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred t ...

, and ran on the foundation's charity relay team in the

Los Angeles Marathon The Los Angeles Marathon (formerly known as the City of Los Angeles Marathon) is an annual running event typically held each spring in Los Angeles, California, since 1986. The marathon was inspired by the success of the 1984 Summer Olympic Ga ...

in 2016. She also participates as a volunteer actor in

Young Storytellers Young Storytellers, formerly known as the Young Storytellers Foundation, is an arts education non-profit operating primarily in Los Angeles. Young Storytellers currently serves elementary, middle, and high school students in Southern California, in ...

"Big Show" productions.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Rene Michelle Aranda
on

Fandango Fandango is a lively partner dance originating in Portugal and Spain, usually in triple metre, triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, tambourine or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is u ...

Rene Michelle Aranda
on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

Rene Michelle Aranda
on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

Ren Aranda
on

ReneAranda.com

Meet Rene Michelle Aranda of Starpark Studios" - Voyage LA Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aranda, Rene Michelle Living people 1990 births 21st-century American actresses People from Whittier, California People from Chino Hills, California Actresses from California American film actresses American television actresses American actresses of Mexican descent