Why Lisa Trammell From The Lincoln Lawyer Looks So Familiar
A little over a year after it made its debut, "The Lincoln Lawyer" is finally back on Netflix. The legal drama has returned in a slightly unorthodox fashion, too. Rather than releasing all of its new episodes at once, the series' second season has been split into two parts. The season's first five episodes all premiered on July 6, while its remaining installments are set to debut on Netflix on August 3. Despite its two-part structure, "The Lincoln Lawyer" Season 2 is based on just one book by author Michael Connelly, 2011's "The Fifth Witness."
The season follows the show's eponymous lawyer, Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), as he befriends and is later hired to defend Lisa Trammel, a chef who is named the prime suspect in the murder of a real estate developer. Lisa is, in other words, one of the biggest new characters introduced in "The Lincoln Lawyer" Season 2. As such, it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that the character is played by none other than Lana Parrilla, an actor who has plenty of experience playing noteworthy roles on TV.
Throughout her career, Parrilla has played everyone from an evil fairytale queen to a ruthlessly ambitious trophy wife. Here's where fans of "The Lincoln Lawyer" may have seen her before.
She scored her first significant TV role on Spin City
Lana Parrilla landed her first recurring TV role in 2000 when she was cast on "Spin City" as Angie Ordonez, the clever and sarcastic secretary for Charlie Crawford (Charlie Sheen), who was brought in at the start of the show's fifth season to replace its original lead, Mike Flaherty (Michael J. Fox). For her part, Parrilla appeared in nearly every episode of "Spin City" Season 5, and while she wasn't ever given as much to do as her co-stars, the actor still left a lasting impression with her turn as Charlie Crawford's closest and most dependable co-worker.
Less than a year after she'd made her debut on the show, Parrilla left "Spin City" ahead of its sixth and final season. Despite only appearing in one of its seasons, though, Parrilla was a welcome addition to the show's cast. Her absence was certainly felt throughout "Spin City" Season 6 as well, which is more of a testament to the impact she'd made as Angie Ordonez than anything else. The fact that she wasn't given more to do during her time on the series similarly says more about how "Spin City" failed to fully capitalize on her presence than it does the quality of Parrilla's own work.
She was one of the leads of Boomtown
A year after she left "Spin City," Lana Parrilla scored her first leading role on the acclaimed but short-lived NBC drama, "Boomtown." Created by "Justified" creator Graham Yost, the early 2000s action series sought to capture the full scope of each of its criminal investigations by showing them from the point of view of everyone involved. In her role, Parrilla played Teresa Ortiz, a good-hearted paramedic who'd devoted her life to saving others, regardless of who they might have been or what crimes they may have committed.
Teresa's pledge to save lives was inevitably challenged in the show's second season when she left her paramedic career behind in order to become a police officer. Unfortunately, while "Boomtown" received largely positive reviews when it premiered, the series didn't perform well enough to become a hit for NBC. As a result, it was canceled shortly after the premiere of its second season, which led to it airing only a total of 24 episodes.
Thankfully, Parrilla, Yost, and several other key members of the "Boomtown" creative team all went on to bigger and better things following its cancellation.
She played the Evil Queen on Once Upon a Time
In 2011, Lana Parrilla earned the most attention and acclaim of her career when she made her debut as Regina Mills a.k.a. The Evil Queen on ABC's "Once Upon a Time." Initially introduced purely as the diabolical figure who had transported herself and all of her fellow fairytale beings to a small town in Maine, Regina slowly became a much more nuanced character over the years than viewers likely expected. While several of the show's cast members came and went throughout its time on the air, too, Parrilla not only appeared on every season of "Once Upon a Time," but she also consistently garnered praise for her committed, often perfectly pitched performance as its central quasi-villain.
Over the course of the series' seven-season run, Parrilla got to be deliciously evil, fiercely protective, and surprisingly compassionate without ever having to let go of any of those traits. Taking that into account, it's not hard to see why Regina remains the most iconic and well-known role of her career to date.
She brought glamour and unexpected heart to Why Women Kill Season 2
Lana Parrilla's Rita Castillo doesn't seem all that complex when she's initially introduced in "Why Women Kill" Season 2. At first, she seems like nothing more than a sarcastic, seemingly shallow trophy wife. However, through Rita's unlikely rivalry with Alma Fillcot (Alison Tolman), as well as her affair with a younger man named Scooter (Matthew Daddario), viewers gradually learn more about both her past and her complicated feelings regarding her loveless marriage to her wealthy but cold-hearted husband, Carlo (Daniel Zacapa).
By the time Rita's contentious relationship with Alma has entered legitimately dangerous territory, viewers' original assumptions about her have been proven wrong. For her part, Parrilla ensures that the show's unexpected exploration of Rita actually works by bringing the same level of commitment and intensity to the character's various moments of cruelty, compassion, and regret. Rita Castillo, in other words, ended up being a perfect character for Parrilla to play following her seven-season turn as Regina Mills on "Once Upon a Time."
Now, two years after the release of "Why Women Kill" Season 2, viewers are getting the chance to watch Parrilla stretch her acting muscles on-screen again on "The Lincoln Lawyer."