Ana Alicia Ortiz Torres was born in
Mexico City to Alicia Torres and Carlos Celestino Ortiz, who ran businesses in Acapulco, Mexico. She was the third of four children. Her family moved to
El Paso, Texas, when she was six years old after her father's death, and she lived with her mother, three siblings, grandmother, and uncle in a house that her father had purchased for her grandmother. Upon graduating from high school in 1972, Ortiz earned a scholarship to
Wellesley College. Upon arrival at Wellesley College, Ortiz auditioned and won the lead role for
Jules Feiffer's
Crawling Arnold. On summer break after her freshman year, Ortiz auditioned for The Adobe Horseshoe Dinner Theatre outside El Paso, Texas. The theatre offered her a position as a recurring actress in all feature productions. The opportunity would allow her to work with name actors from Hollywood and New York and receive a large weekly salary. She accepted the offer and also acquired her actor's equity card through her term. She left Wellesley College, instead pursuing her bachelor's degree in drama at the
University of Texas at El Paso to be closer to her mother and three brothers. Her first professional role under an AEA contract was as one of the Pigeon Sisters in a production of
The Odd Couple starring
Bob Denver at The Adobe Horseshoe Dinner Theater in El Paso. Ana Alicia spent the next three years performing in main stage productions at UTEP as well as having significant roles in the Adobe Horseshoe repertoire. ==Career==