JoAnna Garcia Swisher

Joanna Garcia was born in Tampa, Florida, where she was raised by her mother, Loraine, and father, Jay. She first started performing at age 10 when she auditioned for a local theater production and landed the lead. She was discovered by the Disney Channel, but her parents put school first, and she continued to feed her passion by acting in local plays. She was the homecoming queen at Tampa Catholic High School. While attending Tampa Catholic, she was discovered by Nickelodeon and starred for three seasons as Samantha on Are You Afraid of the Dark?

While in Florida, Garcia guest starred in seaQuest DSV, Second Noah, and Superboy and several movies of the week. After briefly attending college at Florida State University where she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority, she quit school to pursue acting full-time and moved to Los Angeles. She was cast on the television drama Party of Five, playing the recurring character Hallie. She had a recurring role on Freaks and Geeks, portraying Vicki Appleby.

Garcia went on to portray Cheyenne Hart Montgomery, Reba's (Reba McEntire) oldest daughter on The CW sitcom Reba. She was featured on the CBS comedy Welcome to the Captain. Beginning in the fall of 2008, she starred as Megan Smith in the CW series Privileged. On the big screen, Garcia was seen in the comedy spoof Not Another Teen Movie. She has also appeared in the original television movies From the Earth to the Moon and Love's Deadly Triangle: The Texas Cadet Murder. She also appeared in the ABC Family original movie The Initiation of Sarah, which premiered in October 2006. In 2008, she had a role in A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride, playing Roxanne. She had a leading role in the ABC Family TV movie Revenge of the Bridesmaids.

She had a recurring role on The CW drama Gossip Girl playing the role of Bree Buckley who is described as a fun, sexy brunette, an irreverent evil Miss America type who is politically progressive but hails from a conservative Southern family. In December 2009, Garcia guest-starred as Maggie, Ted Mosby's college buddy on How I Met Your Mother.

Garcia starred in the ABC sitcom Better with You. The show centered on two sisters who were at different points in their romantic relationships: one was unmarried and in a long-term relationship and the other (Garcia) got married after getting pregnant from a one-night stand. She also had a recurring role on USA's Royal Pains and starred in the sitcom Animal Hospital.

She appeared in the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson comedy The Internship and has a recurring role on Season 3 of ABC's Once Upon a Time as Ariel. Garcia stars in ABC's new drama The Astronaut Wives Club.

JoAnna will star alongside Jason Ritter in the new ABC series The Gospel of Kevin.