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Who Is Belissa Escobedo? Get to Know the Happy's Place Star
Ever since she was a little girl, Escobedo knew she wanted to act and entertain.
You’ve met Belissa Escobedo in a blockbuster superhero movie and a remake of a beloved Disney classic, but now fans will get to see the rising star in a new light. The 26-year-old actress is starring alongside The Voice Coach Reba McEntire and other stars on NBC’s new comedy, Happy’s Place.
Escobedo has already landed several buzzworthy roles, so when did her acting career begin and what have you seen her in before? Read on to learn all about NBC’s newest sitcom star.
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Belissa Escobedo’s love for acting goes back to her childhood
Since she was just a child, Escobedo knew she wanted to act. “I loved knowing that I made someone laugh,” the actress shared in an interview with Flaunt magazine. “It wasn’t until elementary school that I realized I could do all of that as a career, spend my life bringing characters to life. I would act out Hannah Montana episodes with my friends at school or make YouTube videos of my own talk show, with me as the host and the guest.”
After performing in a school musical in the fifth grade, Escobedo told the magazine that she “felt something inside me click” and knew she wanted to follow this path.
Born in 1998, Escobedo grew up in Los Angeles with her parents and older brother. “I grew up in South Pasadena, which is a very, very wealthy area, but my family was the opposite of that,” she told Hola! In 2020. “We shared a one-bedroom apartment with the four of us for the first 11 years of my life. And so, there was always that feeling of being an outsider.”
While Escobedo’s parents were always supportive of her career aspirations, they didn’t sugarcoat the realities of the industry. “They gave me the truth of it, which was we’re not a family that has connections,” she told Hola! “I did my research, found classes, and found a performing arts high school LACHSA, which is a public school. They were really, really amazing in that, and I’m very lucky.”
Belissa Escobedo’s acting career includes TV and movies
Escobedo landed her first major acting role in 2020 as Natalie Garcia in The Baker and the Beauty, a romantic dramedy TV series on ABC. She also has a few blockbuster movie credits. In 2022, Escobedo starred in Sex Appeal and Hocus Pocus 2. The following year, she played Milagro Reyes in Blue Beetle alongside Xolo Maridueña and Lopez vs Lopez star George Lopez.
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In an interview with Remezcla, Escobedo said she’s happy to bring Latina representation to screens, something she wished she saw more of as a child. “Growing up, I always wanted to see someone like me in those movies. Not just Halloween movies [like Hocus Pocus], but just any movie,” she said. “So to be in a series that is held so close to home for so many families, it feels really special to be representing our community in those movies.”
Years before scoring a role with the Sanderson Sisters, however, a young Escobedo appeared on The Queen Latifah Show. In 2014, at 16 years old, Escobedo performed a moving slam poem titled “Somewhere in America” on the talk show with two other teens from the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Get Lit, which aims to increase youth literacy.
Who is Belissa Escobedo on Happy’s Place?
Escobedo plays a young woman named Isabella in NBC’s new sitcom Happy’s Place. In the trailer, Isabella learns at a meeting with her father’s lawyer that she has a half sister, Bonnie (Reba McEntire), and they’ve both inherited their dad’s restaurant.
Set in Tennessee and filmed in front of a live audience, Happy’s Place is a “heartfelt, fun, funny” sitcom fans can expect to get a laugh from, McEntire said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The series also stars McEntire’s former Reba castmate Melissa Peterman, The Voice Coach’s boyfriend and veteran actor Rex Linn, as well as Pablo Castelblanco and Tokala Black Elk.
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In a May 2024 Instagram post, Escobedo shared her gratitude for the Happy’s Place cast and writers, describing the show as “something special.”
“Thank you Reba for welcoming me with open arms (literally, she gives the warmest hugs ever) and not once letting me feel like I didn’t deserve to be standing alongside an absolute legend such as yourself,” Escobedo wrote. She also thanked Peterman for “making me laugh constantly and showing me the ropes of multi-cam land.”
Watch the Happy’s Place premiere on Friday, October 18 at 8/7c on NBC and the next day on Peacock.
