Keila Lorena

Keila Lorena is a Dominican-American actress, trained at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. Keila Lorena Pérez Gutiérrez was born on November 10, 1990, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, as the middle child of three. From an early age she demonstrated her artistically inclined and creative soul, while expressing herself through mediums like drawing & painting. After moving back and forth between Santo Domingo, Miami, FL and Houston, TX, Keila's parents decided that their family should settle in South Florida. Moving to this perpetually vibrant and incomparable city at the age of 13, broadened her horizons while allowing her to embrace even more her Latino heritage, as she became part of the rich, diverse cultural melting pot that is "The Magic City". After graduating from Miami Sunset Senior High School in 2008, she enrolled in Miami Dade College's Architecture program and graduated with an Associate of Arts degree, in 2011. However, when transferring to Florida International University, Keila felt the need to switch to a career that could give her more freedom to explore her interests, and eventually find her true passion in life. Therefore, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Arts in 2013, which allowed her to work in a variety of industries, most notably, broadcast media (during that time she also worked locally as a fashion model and as a personal style blogger). Having the opportunity to intern for companies like Univision and CNN En Español, was the first step to realizing her purpose and opened her eyes to the endlessly fascinating entertainment media industry, but she didn't really know this back then. A couple of years (and a few odd jobs) later, while trying to survive back in Houston (this time, on her own), Keila found herself going through a "blue period". Having no inspiration or creative outlet at the time, Keila decided to go see an advance screening of La La Land (2016), as a birthday gift to herself. Surprisingly enough, right then she felt that this beautiful and timeless cinematic masterpiece inspired her to keep going, and to believe in all her dreams all over again. From that moment on, Keila started watching more films than ever before, and began immersing herself in the wonderful world of cinema. She finally realized that, although she didn't see it as clearly before, it has always been there... her mission was to create, to entertain, to inspire & to be part of this magical universe of storytellers and dreamers. As soon as she moved back to Miami, Keila started contributing to the art department for a few local Film, TV & Web productions, having the opportunity to work as the Production Designer, Art Director, Set Dresser & Propmaster, respectively. However, in 2018 was when Keila realized that she has always belonged in front of the camera, that her mission of telling stories and bringing characters to life would not be complete if she doesn't learn the craft of acting, herself. Therefore, she started attending acting workshops and finding ways to begin acquiring as much knowledge and experience as possible. During this time she had the opportunity to participate on TV series "Paper Empire" & Telemundo's telenovela "Betty en NY". In addition, she was able to be part of commercials for brands like: Fleming's Prime Steakhouse, Brightline, Yellow Tail Wine, Miami Film Festival, among others. Keila was also cast for music videos during this period, most notably for "Per le Strade una Canzone" by Eros Ramazzotti feat. Luis Fonsi. Summer of 2019 brought Keila back to her hometown, Dominican Republic, for family reasons. This allowed her to explore the rapidly emerging Dominican film industry, and although she got to spend a relatively short time over there, she used it wisely. While in Santo Domingo, Keila was requested to audition for a major Netflix series lead role, was cast for a commercial and became a certified actress by DGCINE (Dirección General De Cine), the national film division of the Dominican government's ministry of culture. During this period, Keila completed an online MasterClass taught by Natalie Portman, continuing her mission of taking a step each day to keep learning and growing as an actor. During fall 2019 and already back in Miami, Keila had the opportunity to see herself on the big screen for the first time ever. This was thanks to her role on the short film The Re-Education of the Male Auteur: 8 1/2 (2019), which premiered during Borscht Film Festival. In 2022, Keila debuted as a stage actor as she was the female protagonist of a Microtheater Miami play titled "La Revancha". During the same year, she also became a reality TV star thanks to her participation in two seasons of "Enamorándonos USA" on UniMás / Univision.