Jencarlos Canela plays Xavier Castillo on the new NBC comedy series "Telenovela."

Born and raised in Miami, Canela has starred on multiple TV productions, collaborated with some of the most prestigious musical talents of his time and performed in more than 200 countries. A graduate of the New World School of the Arts, he debuted as a theater actor and singer in the 2008 stage musical "Miami Libre" at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Canela's 2009 debut album, "Búscame," entered the Latin album charts at No. 1 and was certified gold within weeks of its release.

Canela's first TV role was on Telemundo's soap opera "Pecados ajenos." That propelled him to sign an exclusive contract with the network for which he has co-starred on several Spanish-language productions.

Univision extended an invitation for Canela to join their esteemed panel of judges for the popular reality show "Nuestra Belleza Latina." Soon after, Univision joined forces with Televisa Network in Mexico City to create a reality show called "Va Por Ti," featuring Canela.

On the music front, Canela has collaborated with the likes of Grammy Award-winning songwriter Emilio Estefan, Latin Grammy Award-winning producer Rudy Pérez and performing artist Pitbull, among several others. In 2013, Canela was signed as an exclusive artist by Universal Music Records and he released his third and most recent discography production, "JEN," in 2014.

Canela is involved with many charitable causes, including the Department of Families in Puerto Rico, Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, League Against Cancer and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.