She's most famous for her masterful portrayal of cut-throat Police Captain Maria LaGuerta on the bloody hit Showtime drama Dexter; also, for a long run as Dr. Gloria Nathan on OZ and a reoccurring role as Elena on the much-adored show Ugly Betty. After Velez's character's fatal exit from Dexter, the dynamic Puerto Rican actress Lauren Velez has moved on to interesting and exciting projects and opportunities.

In November of last year, Velez acted as the spokesperson for the 2013 International Puerto Rican Heritage Festival, where she helped to celebrate Puerto Rican artists and their contributions. There she was reunited with Veronica Calcedo, the event's founder, who also directed Velez's solo stage show, They Call Me La Lupe, which is based on the life of the controversial Cuban singer and renowned Queen of Latin Soul, Guadalupe "La Lupe" Victoria Yoli Raymond.

Velez began her acting career as a child when she was bitten by the acting bug after she portrayed a groundhog in a second grade school play. After, she graduated from high school, and she and her twin sister won scholarships to attend the Alvin Alley School where they both studied acting at The Acting Studio with James Price, and she studied Shakespeare with Michael Howard.

Her first acting job was performing in a national touring company as a part of the musical Dreamgirls. She did other stage work such as Into the Woods, Much Ado About Nothing and Façade before she transferred over to screen work. New York Undercover provided Velez her first major television role, where she played the role of a policewoman, Nina Moreno. She went on to make dozens of television appearances, portraying prison counselors, doctors and everything in between. She also had an opportunity to star in I Like it Like That with Rita Moreno.

Velez's path to stardom was not always easy, particularly as an Afro-Puerto Rican woman because she did not have the look that many Hollywood executives seek when searching for a Latina woman.

"Somebody asked me about what it was like when I was first auditioning as an Afro-Caribbean woman. I couldn't get an audition as a Latina," Velez said to Huffington Post. "People didn't know what that was, they just said, 'Well our vision of a Latina looks more Mexican, or Central American, or Spanish.' And that was an interesting journey to take and something that I had to struggle with initially."

Velez is currently in production for the film version of the La Lupe show, which is written by Luis Caballero and James Manos Jr. (creator of Dexter). The film also features Dominican actress Judy Reyes (Scrubs, Devious Maids). La Lupe launched a Kickstarter project, hoping to raise money for the film, and nearly 200 individuals gave more than $100,000 so that the film could be completed. The film was set to be released in the late 2013, but the official release date has not been set.

In addition to Velez's plans to continue in television and film, she also has future plans to do Shakespeare in the Park, something that she wasn't able to do before because Dexter filmed during the summer.