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Actor

1993-07-01 · Bryan, Texas, USA · Female

11 series in the catalog

Raini-Alena Rodriguez (born July 1, 1993) is an American actress and singer. She is known for her roles as Trish in the Disney Channel original series Austin & Ally, Maya Blart in Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015), and Tess in Prom (2011). She won Best Young Television Actress at the 2013 Imagen Awards.

Early and personal life

Rodriguez was born in Bryan, Texas. She is the older sister of actor Rico Rodriguez. She has two other brothers, Ray and Roy Jr. Her parents, Diane and Roy Rodriguez, own a business called Rodriguez Tire Service. She is of Mexican descent.

Raini was discovered at an IMTA showcase, by Susan Osser, a California talent agent. After viewing Raini's performance, Osser suggested to Raini's mother that Osser should become Raini's manager and come to California to give Raini a year for career opportunities. At the time, Raini was 11 years old. Her mother agreed. Raini and her brother Rico moved to Los Angeles with their mother, while their father stayed in Texas to run the tire shop. Their mother home-schooled them to support their careers.

On March 12, 2017, Rodriguez's father, Roy, died at age 52.

In March 2018, several memes involving Rodriguez went viral on multiple social media platforms where trolls would sarcastically label her as a "skinny legend" and compare her music discography, most notably her 2012 song "Living Your Dreams", to several uplifted and acclaimed acts in the industry, such as Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston. Rodriguez was subsequently asked about her opinions on the memes on her Twitter account 3 months later; she condemned the memes and labeled them as a form of online bullying, stating that she chooses to embrace positive attention instead. Despite Rodriguez's comments, the same people have continued to sarcastically praise her and continue to call her a "skinny legend". This has resulted in Rodriguez having to block multiple users on her social media platforms.