Actor / Director Profile

Raquel was born in Long Island, NY, to an Italian mother and Puerto Rican father. With her father being a singer-songwriter and her mother an acting coach, Raquel's path to stardom was nurtured and encouraged from an early age. By age four, she was regularly appearing on Sesame Street and Nick Jr. However, at age seven, Raquel became a break-out star playing the lead role in the feature film Jersey Girl alongside mega-stars Jennifer Lopez and Ben Afleck.Raquel felt a strong bond with her on-screen mom. Soon after, Raquel charmed the talk-show circuit appearing as a guest on "The Tonight Show " with Jay Leno and "Ellen." She was also the only guest to come back and co-host with Ryan Seacrest on his show "On Air with Ryan Seacrest." At age 10, Raquel was appointed the youngest correspondent ever for Entertainment Tonight's Kid's Choice Awards, where she had the opportunity to interview high-profile celebrities including Jim Carey, Cameron Diaz, Queen Latifa and Adam Sandler. Raquel's acting career continued to flourish as she appeared/guest starred in Law & Order SVU, and the world premiere of Broadway's "White Christmas" as Susan Waverly. She also made her first music video debut as "Little Nicole" in Ludacris/ Mary J. Blidge video "Runaway Love."Her first grown-up role was playing the love interest in Rosie O'Donnell's Lifetime movie America. This fall, she will co-star in the Canadian TV show "Winging It" where she will also sing one of her original songs.After competing on "The Voice" Raquel's online popularity has blossomed. Her YouTube channel raquelcx3 has garnished over a million views and a contribution to that popularity is her cover of Christina' Aguilera's "Ain't No Other Man" as well as Selena's "Amor Prohibido" which shows her versatility as a bilingual/Spanish singer. Most recently, Raquel opened for the artist "Miguel" and performed at Beatstock 2011.In this next chapter, Raquel hopes to dedicate herself to her music. Raquel and her creative team are currently focusing on recording her album. Her original hits will be available on Itunes very soon.