Natalie Morales Biography

Born in Kendall, a suburb of Miami, Florida, Natalie Morales is of Cuban descent. After graduating high school in 2005, Natalie moved to Los Angeles with two friends from her high school drama class, where she'd discovered a love for physical comedy and theater. Natalie has spent most of her career on television, but is not unfamiliar on the big screen.

Her breakout television role came from her performance as Wendy Watson on the sci-fi series, The Middleman (2008), a television adaptation of a comic of the same name. Although the series was short-lived, it opened up the doors to more opportunities.

Natalie already has quite a list of television credits to her name. Some of her notable television projects following The Middleman include a recurring role as as FBI agent Lauren Cruz on the first season of White Collar (2009 - 2010) and the role of Lucy, the love interest to Aziz Ansari’s character, Tom Haverford on the hit series Parks and Recreation from 2010 - 2015.

Her subsequent role as lawyer Claire Lacoste on the sitcom The Grinder (2016) alongside Rob Lowe gave her the opportunity to steal every scene she was in with her hilarious dry humor and quips.

From there, she was cast as Anne Garcia on the hit Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet from 2017 - 2019. Her most recent television appearance was on the second season of the Netflix comedy series Dead To Me in 2020.

Natalie made her big screen debut in 2010 with a minor part in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010). More recently, she took on the role of Nicole, the daughter of Dave Bautista's character, Detective Vic Manning, in the movie Stuber (2019).

Some of her personal favorite movies are Clueless (1995), and the entire Mission: Impossible franchise. Natalie described the Buster Keaton movie The General (1926) as the movie that greatly changed her. She found it to be the funniest thing she's seen, and that's when she decided it was the kind of comedy she wanted to do in her career.

She also completed a role as Detective Jamie Estrada in the movie, The Little Things (2021), alongside Denzel Washington, Jared Leto and Rami Malek.

In 2021, she directed her first two feature films. One was the teen comedy, Plan B, which follows the story of two teens looking for the Plan B pill after having their first sexual encounter. The film received positive reviews, with many praising Natalie’s direction.

The second film was Language Lessons, in which Natalie also starred in with Mark Duplass. The film was shot during the COVID-19 pandemic and is set over Zoom. Natalie’s direction was once again praised, and it was labeled by some as one of the best uses of the “Zoom film” format.

In 2022, she appeared in the film I’m Totally Fine. The following year, she appeared in a trio of films: If You Were the Last (2023) with Anthony Mackie, Self Reliance (2023) with Jake Johnson and Andy Samberg, and No Hard Feelings (2023) with Jennifer Lawrence. She also appeared in four episodes of the third season of The Morning Show with Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.

In 2024, Natalie co-starred alongside Sonequa Martin-Green in My Dead Friend Zoe, playing the title character. The film premiered at South by Southwest and won the Audience Award for Narrative Spotlight.

Natalie used to watch a lot of Nick at Nite as a child, where she saw Gilda Radner, Lucille Ball, and Mary Tyler Moore, whom she describes as the funniest women to have influenced her.

Filmography:

Thelma the Unicorn (2024)
My Dead Friend Zoe (2024)
No Hard Feelings (2023)
Self Reliance (2023)
If You Were the Last (2023)
I’m Totally Fine (2022)
Happily (2021)
Language Lessons (2021)
The Little Things (2021)
Happily (2021)
Solar Opposites (Hulu)
Dead to Me (Netflix)
Stuber (2019)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
BoJack Horseman (Netflix)
Santa Clarita Diet (Netflix)
Grace and Frankie (2017)
Battle of the Sexes (2017)
Freeloaders (2012)
6 Month Rule (2011)
Going the Distance (2010)
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)