Масиела Луша: Актриса, писатель и посол доброй воли

American actress and author

Masiela Lusha (,/m//ɑː//s//i/'/ɛ//l//ə// /'/l//uː//ʃ//ə/; born October 23, 1985) is an Albanian born American actress and author. She gained recognition for playing Carmen Lopez on the globally syndicated ABC sitcom George Lopez, a role that earned her two consecutive Young Artist Awards for Leading Young Actress in a Comedy or Drama. After transitioning into film, she starred in Sony Pictures’ Blood: The Last Vampire. Lusha also starred alongside David Hasselhoff and Ian Ziering in SyFy's television movie Sharknado: The 4th Awakens. Lusha made her acting debut in Summoning in 2001. That same year, she made her television debut in the Disney Channel series, Lizzie McGuire. Lusha appeared as a main cast member in Clifford's Puppy Days (2003 2005) for PBS, and also appeared in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Anger Management. Lusha starred in movies comprising a variety of genres, including Cherry Bomb (2004), My Father's Eulogy (2007), Muertas (2007), Time of the Comet (2008), Ballad of Broken Angels (2009), Kill Katie Malone (2010), Dragonfyre (2013), The Architect (2014), Of Silence (2014), Fatal Instinct (2014), and Branded (2016). In 2010, Lusha was appointed ambassador of Prince Harry's charity Sentebale. In 2014, Lusha was made the World Assembly of Youth's goodwill ambassador. Lusha is an advocate for UN Women. Lusha has written five books of poetry, Inner Thoughts, Drinking the Moon, Amore Celeste, The Call, The Living Air; a novel, The Besa; and two children's books. Lusha has written poetry and translated it into Albanian.

Lusha was born in Tirana, Albania, and is the only child of Max and Daniela Lusha. Her mother was a magazine publisher. In 1990, Lusha and her family left Albania as refugees. Upon leaving Albania, Lusha moved to Budapest, Hungary, and Vienna, Austria. In an interview in 2016, Lusha credits her early memories as a refugee for her lifelong humanitarian efforts.

At the age of seven, Lusha moved to Michigan where she and her mother reunited with her great uncle Dr. Joseph H. Alli. Dr. Alli was a colonel in the army during World War 2, and chief of laboratories for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. English was Lusha's fourth language, after Albanian, Hungarian, and German. Upon graduating high school, Lusha had published two collections of poetry. As of 2010, Lusha has since written seven books.

From 2005 to 2010, Lusha wrote four poetry books. While filming George Lopez, Lusha published her second book, Drinking the Moon In 2010, Lusha wrote Boopity Boop Writes Her First Poem. Lusha chose poetry as the subject matter for her children's book because, "While some mothers sing lullabies to their children, my mother read me poetry," she said. "And to this day, I associate my strongest and most insistent feelings with words lyrically organized on a page." In 2016, Lusha released her fourth book of poetry, The Living Air. Upon entering the drama department, Lusha then portrayed the role of Cinderella in the play, The Last Dress Rehearsal and Belle in Beauty and the Beast. She also portrayed an Oompa Loompa and a Tap Dancing Box in the play, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Then in 2000, it was Lusha's television debut with a guest appearance on the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire as the character Olivia in the episode "Last Year's Model". Lusha made her film debut in the 2000 film A Father's Love as Lisa, the lead who reminisces on her experiences with her father. In 2001, she was picked to play Carmen Lopez on the newly developed ABC sitcom George Lopez. The show was executive produced by Sandra Bullock and Bruce Helford. After completing its 120th episode, the show reached global syndication and established Lusha as a TV veteran by the age of 20. That following year, the George Lopez show won an Emmy and was established as the second longest running sitcom in television history to star a Hispanic lead, after I Love Lucy. In 2007, Lusha's character Carmen was written off the show due to "creative differences". Lusha won two consecutive Young Artist Awards for Best Leading Actress in a Comedy and Drama for her portrayal as Carmen. While working on George Lopez, Lusha also voiced the role of Nina for four years on the PBS series Clifford's Puppy Days. It has been reported that portraying the character of Nina introduced Lusha to children's entertainment, inspiring her to write a children's book in 2009.

In December 2009, Lusha joined the original cast of George Lopez for a televised reunion on Lopez Tonight. During the live reunion taping, when asked about her experiences on the show, Lusha said: "it is the show that keeps giving. Every year it offers something to society and it offered something to each and every one of us. It brought us all together for a lifetime". Lusha has since appeared as Mira on an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Lusha also starred as Saint Agnes in the Albanian production of Time of the Comet (2008) based on the novel A Difficult Year by Ismail Kadare. Throughout the film, Lusha's dialogue was in a specific Albanian dialect. In the film, Lusha plays a catholic nun who falls in love with a Muslim rebel. In The Architect, Lusha acted alongside Stacy Keach. In 2012, Lusha also starred in the film Of Silence, alongside Muse Watson. In 2012, Lusha starred in the film Orc Wars, portraying the role of Princess Aleya, the last remaining elven warrior. Lusha re teamed with George Lopez creator and executive producer Bruce Helford on the FX series Anger Management. Lusha portrayed the love interest Molly in the episode "Charlie and Sean Fight Over A Girl". Lusha was cast as one of the leads in SyFy's Sharknado: The 4th Awakens and Sharknado 5: Global Swarming. Lusha portrayed Gemini, the cousin of Ian Ziering's character, and niece of David Hasselhoff's character. In 2017, Lusha starred in the Lifetime film Forgotten Evil. In the film, she portrayed Renee / Jane Doe, a woman suffering from amnesia. Without a past, Renee is forced to face a new reality with emerging challenges. Re teaming with Sharknado director Anthony C. Ferrante, it is reported that the role was written with Lusha in mind.

In a 2016 interview, Lusha credited her childhood memories as a refugee for the drive behind her efforts as a humanitarian. In the same interview Lusha noted that her earliest memory was on a bus with her mother, fleeing Albania. Because of numerous bomb threats targeted at the bus, an international organization provided volunteers to sit in the bus with the refugees, allowing the people to enter Hungary safely. Lusha stated that because of these experiences, "humanitarianism is the bedrock of [her] existence and identity." Lusha was the spokesperson for Scholastic's Read for Life, and she has been involved in national PSA commercials and school readings across the country. Throughout her career, Lusha has promoted "the value of appreciating the written word". As the national spokesperson for the Great American Bake Sale, a hunger relief program, Lusha visits local towns throughout the United States and supports food drives to help battle childhood hunger. For her role as a national spokesperson, Lusha promotes the importance of raising funds to help local communities. As an Ambassador, Lusha encouraged a dialogue between aspiring global entrepreneurs and Athgo's bodies of support such as the World Bank Group, the United Nations, and international universities. Lusha will participate with Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda and Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General of ITU and vice chairman of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development. World Assembly of Youth appointed Lusha as their first Goodwill Ambassador. WAY co operates with the UN and many of its special agencies, particularly with UNAIDS, UNEP, ILO, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO. As ambassador, Lusha promoted diverse causes concerning the global youth, such as improving gender equality, promote the democratic participation, increase inter ethnic respect and to foster inter cultural and international understanding and cooperation.

During the filming of George Lopez, Lusha was reportedly privately schooled on set. On December 28, 2013, the couple married on Wanaka Peak in Queenstown, New Zealand. The couple has 2 children, a son, born in February 2018, and a daughter born in October 2020.