Christina Ochoa (born Cristina Ochoa Lopez; 25 January 1985) is a Spanish actress, science communicator, and writer. Ochoa is the grand-niece of 1959 Nobel Prize winner Severo Ochoa, and the daughter of acclaimed Spanish sculptor Victor Ochoa. She has spent her life surrounded by members of both the scientific and artistic worlds. Ochoa began acting as a hobby, starting in theatrical plays in Washington, D.C., at the Little Theatre of Alexandria. She has portrayed Renn on the TNT drama Animal Kingdom from 2016 to 2018. In 2017 she became the female lead of NBC Universal and Syfy series Blood Drive. Ochoa is the host of the Know Brainer educational podcast, and has been the host and keynote of several scientific conferences and shows including the college prep program MESA, Bitesize TV's Chaotic Awesome, and NERD ALERT on The Young Turks network. After graduating from Santa Isabel La Asunción in Madrid, she began an undergraduate degree in oceanographic engineering at Universidad de las Palmas de Gran Canaria, off the coast of Africa in the Canary Islands. She soon decided to pursue a career in performance arts, and moved to Madrid in order to study and work in the field. She has said: "Science was all my life .... But when I got on stage for the first time, there was a void inside me that was suddenly filled ... one I hadn't even known was empty".
