Teresa Parente

Teresa Parente is an American actress and singer.

She is best known for her recurrent role on the Fox Broadcasting Company's sitcom Married... with Children as hapless television reporter "Miranda Veracruz de la Hoya Cardinal", whose catchphrase was simply saying her name.

She played more than forty different female characters, including the show's main love interest, on the Brandon Tartikoff/PBS comedy series, The Steven Banks Show, and has guest-starred on many other American television series, including Night Court, L.A. Law, Cafe Americain, Friends, and 3rd Rock from the Sun.

In 2002, she debuted as a feature film actress in New Line Cinema's S1m0ne, written and directed by Andrew Niccol and starring Al Pacino.

Shortly thereafter, she was cast as Anthony LaPaglia's suicidal mother (in flashback) on CBS's Without a Trace, appearing in three episodes of the series.

She was female lead Roxanne Bojarski's mother in multiple episodes of the NBC dramatic series American Dreams, and in 2006, she narrowly escaped death in a hail of gunfire on CBS's drama series Numb3rs.

Parente is a stage actress, singer and performer in many TV and radio commercials.

She is currently singing jazz at Los Angeles venues as a featured soloist with Concert Choirs (most recently with the Hollywood Master Chorale), and she gives private performances featuring jazz gems and selections from the Great American Songbook.

In 2008, she formed the Sisters of Swing (S.O.S), an Andrews Sisters-style girl group.

Widow of actor/writer/producer Mark Ritts, she has a daughter and son.

She is a native of The Bronx, New York.