Natalie Morales is an American actress and director. She starred in the 2008 ABC Family series The Middleman and played a main role in the 2009 first season of the USA Network series White Collar. In 2010, she appeared in the movies Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Going the Distance. Morales also starred in the Fox comedy series The Grinder, the NBC sitcom Abby’s, and had recurring roles in Parks and Recreation, HBO’s The Newsroom, and the Netflix series Dead to Me.
She made her directorial debut with the teen comedy Plan B, released on Hulu on May 28, 2021. Morales also directed and starred in Language Lessons, a film she co-wrote with Mark Duplass, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and was released in September 2021.
Morales was born in Miami, Florida, and is of Cuban descent. She attended St. Agatha Catholic School and Southwest Miami Senior High School, and participated in the University of Miami’s Dow Jones Minority High School Journalism Workshop.
Morales had a guest appearance on CSI: Miami in 2006 and voiced a character in the Pimp My Ride video game the same year. Her first major role was in the sci-fi dramedy The Middleman, where she played Wendy Watson. Morales also starred in and produced a web series called Quitters.
In 2009, Morales joined the USA Network series White Collar as FBI agent Lauren Cruz. After leaving White Collar, she appeared as Lucy in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. Morales was in the 2010 movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and was cast in Are You There, Chelsea?, although she left the series due to cast changes. She also appeared in HBO’s The Newsroom as Kaylee and joined the cast of Trophy Wife in 2013. Morales was in the Fox series The Grinder in 2015 and appeared in Powerless in 2017. She played Detective Anne Garcia in the Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet.
Morales starred in the NBC sitcom Abby’s, which premiered on March 28, 2019, and was later cast in the second season of the Netflix series Dead to Me as Michelle. She also appeared in the third season of The Morning Show and will play Dr. Beltran in Grey’s Anatomy in 2024.
In 2021, Morales directed the teen comedy Plan B, which received critical acclaim. She also directed and starred in Language Lessons, co-written with Mark Duplass. The film, set over Zoom, received positive reviews and premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival.
On June 30, 2017, Morales announced on social media that she identifies as queer.