Fran was born in Downtown Los Angeles, lived her early years in Manila, Philippines, then moved back to the States for as normal a childhood as a latch-key kid in Hollywood in the mid-80s could have had. At the age of six, she learned the entire soundtrack of Jesus Christ Superstar, because she thought she looked like Mary Magdalene, aka Yvonne Elliman, absorbing a very early lesson in the importance of equal representation in the arts. 

Theater became her focus from her senior year in high school and into college. After two years at Glendale College, she opted out of studying theater in school to perform theater in schools instead touring with Twelfth Night Repertory and Will & Company, eventually becoming Associate Artistic Director of the latter. During this, she also began her career on the college circuit with Playfair, doing team building and non-competitive game playing programs for new students. From there, the requests started pouring in for her to create her own show to address issues of diversity. With her husband and artistic partner, Colin Cox, “Faces of America” premiered at the Los Angeles Theater Center, hailed as a “Best Bet” and took the country by storm. To date, the show has been performed at over 600 colleges, corporate trainings, and community events in 49 states. She’s patiently waiting for Hawaii to call.

While theater for social change fed her soul, it wasn’t until her forties that she found the right way to feed her body and picked up the side gig of teaching fitness classes. Wishing she had come to body awareness earlier inspired Fran to create Arts & Fitness, an after-school and summer program designed to promote health and wellness through the artistic exploration of dance, voice, improv and Shakespeare. Presently, Fran is developing a holistic creativity workshop for women and a diversity leadership training for corporate & college.

In the Los Angeles theater scene, Fran has performed with the Center Theater Group, South Coast Rep, East West Players, Playwrights’ Arena, Critical Mass Performance Group, and LA Music Center On Tour. Past credits include the critically acclaimed “Dogeaters,” “Ruby, Tragically Rotund,” and “Sea Change.” Festival credits include “The Third From the Left” at the New York Fringe, “The Merchant of Venice” at the UK/LA Festival, and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the 6th World Shakespeare Congress. Fran has taken the storytelling mic at the Funny Women Festival, Expressing Motherhood, WordNow, Laugh Riot Grrrl, and Back Story. 

And, yes, she still knows all the words to the JCS soundtrack.

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