Lisa Vidal (born June 13, 1965) is an American actress of Puerto Rican heritage. She starred in the Lifetime crime drama series, The Division (2001–2004), and BET drama series, Being Mary Jane (2013–2019). Vidal also starred in the short-lived series, High Incident (1996–97) and The Event (2010–11), and had major recurring roles on Third Watch (1999–2001) and ER (2001–2004).
Early life
Vidal's parents moved from Puerto Rico and settled in Manhattan, where Vidal and her two sisters, Christina and Tanya, were born. She also has a brother named Christian. After Vidal finished her elementary education, she auditioned and was accepted in the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School. When she graduated, Vidal went to work with La Familia Theater Company, alongside Raul Julia and Julia Roberts. Vidal was 14 years old when she acted in the theatre series Oye Willie and later on made her feature debut with a small role in Delivery Boys. Soon, she was working in television with parts in shows such as The Cosby Show.[2][3]
Vidal was series regular on the ABC police drama, High Incident (1995–1996), and on The Brian Benben Show in 1998, and later had major recurring roles on Third Watch from 1999 to 2001 as Dr. Sarah Morales and ER from 2001 to 2004 as firefighter Sandy Lopez. From 2001 to 2004, Vidal starred opposite Bonnie Bedelia in the Lifetime drama series, The Division, for which she received the 2002 nomination for the ALMA Award in the Best Actress Category. In 2006, she had a brief role in the short-lived action series Smith as one of the federal agents looking for Ray Liotta's group of thieves. In 2010 she starred in NBC drama, The Event, playing the First Lady of the United States.[2] Vidal also starred in a number of made-for-television movies, including The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1998), Naughty or Nice (2004), and Odd Girl Out (2005).
In 2013, Vidal began starring opposite Gabrielle Union in the BET drama series, Being Mary Jane, playing the role of Kara Lynch, the executive producer of Mary Jane's show.[5][6] The series ended in 2017, and in 2019 BET released a two-hour film finale. From 2015 to 2017, she also had a recurring role in the Fox comedy-drama series Rosewood. Vidal also guest-starred on American Horror Story, Shameless and Chicago P.D. In 2020, Vidal was cast as Mari Garcia, the lead character’s mother, in ABC romantic comedy-drama series The Baker and the Beauty.[7][8]
