Lidia Porto

Lidia Porto was a character actress of Colombian descent who appeared in a wide array of movies and TV shows. Born on February 7, 1963 in Barranquilla, Colombia, Porto immigrated to the United States at the age of 3, when her mother got a job at the Office of Economic Opportunity in Houston. As a child, Porto went back and forth between Colombia and Texas, and through her mother's own career, she developed an interest in both social justice and acting. Porto first appeared onscreen in 1993, in an episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger" (CBS, 1993-2001), before making her film debut with a small role as a nurse in the Disney space travel comedy "RocketMan" (1997). Porto was a favorite of writer/director Mike Judge, who cast her in two of his films: "Idiocracy" (2006) and "Extract" (2009). She appeared on countless TV shows during the early 2000s, including "Friday Night Lights" (NBC, 2006-2011), "Ray Donovan" (Showtime, 2013-), "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (ABC, 2013-), and "2 Broke Girls" (CBS, 2011-17), while also serving up small but memorable roles in films such as "Scary Movie 5" (2013), "Horrible Bosses 2" (2014), and "Dope" (2015). Porto's biggest role came when she was cast as Amara in the TV adaptation of the crime farce classic "Get Shorty" (Epix, 2017-).