Diane Guerrero

Diane Guerrero was just 14 when her parents were detained and deported. Born in the U.S., she was able to remain in the country and continue her education, depending on the kindness of family friends who took her in and helped her build a life and a successful acting career. She recounts her story in her memoir, “In The Country We Love,” a moving, heartbreaking story of one woman’s extraordinary resilience in the face of the nightmarish struggles of undocumented residents in this country.

Guerrero has, from an early age, had an affinity for the arts. After graduating high school, she received a degree in political science and communication; however, she quickly realized her passion lay in performance art, and moved to New York to pursue her dreams. Guerrero subsequently appeared on numerous television series and is best known for her roles as “Maritza Ramos” on the Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated Netflix series “Orange Is The New Black” (for which she received three Screen Actors Guild awards) and as Lina in CW’s break-out hit, “Jane The Virgin.” She recently wrapped a co-lead in the Sony/CBS pilot “Distefano,” from the creators of “How I Met Your Mother.”

In 2015, Guerrero was nominated by President Obama to be a White House Ambassador for Citizenship and Naturalization. She is an outspoken advocate for common sense, comprehensive immigration reform and has worked with Immigrant Legal Resource Center and Mi Familia Vota, a nonpartisan Latino civic engagement organization to promote citizenship and voter registration.