Alexa Vega

A talented, prolific child star, Alexa Vega made the difficult transition to grown-up working actress. Born Aug. 27, 1988 in Miami, FL, Alexa Ellesse Vega debuted as one of the children of Burt Reynolds and Marilu Henner on "Evening Shade" (CBS, 1990-94) and followed that up with roles in the features "Little Giants" (1994) and "Nine Months" (1995). She played the young version of Helen Hunt in "Twister" (1996) and earned series regular roles on "Life's Work" (ABC, 1996-97) and "To Have & to Hold" (CBS, 1998). After playing Michelle Pfeiffer's daughter in "The Deep End of the Ocean" (1999), Vega earned her star-making role as the tough preteen Carmen Cortez, one of Robert Rodriguez's "Spy Kids" (2001). The family-friendly action comedy became a massive hit and spawned a franchise, bringing back Vega for "Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams" (2002), "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" (2003) and "Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4-D" (2011) and winning her a Young Artist Award. She toplined her own film, the charming romp "Sleepover" (2004), before winning a Black Reel Award for "Walkout" (HBO, 2006) and an ALMA for "From Prada to Nada" (2011). Vega landed her own TV show, "Ruby & the Rockits" (ABC Family,...

A talented, prolific child star, Alexa Vega made the difficult transition to grown-up working actress. Born Aug. 27, 1988 in Miami, FL, Alexa Ellesse Vega debuted as one of the children of Burt Reynolds and Marilu Henner on "Evening Shade" (CBS, 1990-94) and followed that up with roles in the features "Little Giants" (1994) and "Nine Months" (1995). She played the young version of Helen Hunt in "Twister" (1996) and earned series regular roles on "Life's Work" (ABC, 1996-97) and "To Have & to Hold" (CBS, 1998). After playing Michelle Pfeiffer's daughter in "The Deep End of the Ocean" (1999), Vega earned her star-making role as the tough preteen Carmen Cortez, one of Robert Rodriguez's "Spy Kids" (2001). The family-friendly action comedy became a massive hit and spawned a franchise, bringing back Vega for "Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams" (2002), "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" (2003) and "Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4-D" (2011) and winning her a Young Artist Award. She toplined her own film, the charming romp "Sleepover" (2004), before winning a Black Reel Award for "Walkout" (HBO, 2006) and an ALMA for "From Prada to Nada" (2011). Vega landed her own TV show, "Ruby & the Rockits" (ABC Family, 2009), and won an Imagen Award for her role in "The Pregnancy Project" (Lifetime, 2012). In real life, she made headlines when she married a producer more than 10 years her senior in 2010, but the couple soon split.

By Jonathan Riggs

CAST: (feature film)