Alexa Ellesse Vega was born on August 27, 1988 in Miami, Florida, USA. She is an American actress and singer.

Vega worked continuously ever since, landing guest starring roles on ER and Chicago Hope, and appearing in Little Giants (1994) and Nine Months (1995). After portraying a young Helen Hunt in Twister (1996), she played Steven Segal's daughter in The Glimmer Man (1996), Alec Baldwin's daughter in Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), and Michelle Pfeiffer's daughter in The Deep End of the Ocean (1999). Vega returned to series television as Alfred Molina's daughter in CBS' short lived sitcom Ladies Man, before taking centre stage in Spy Kids.

Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, the film followed two preadolescents who must save their secret agent parents from the grips of a madman bent on destroying the world. It took seven auditions before getting the female lead in the first Spy Kids. "That was because I was considered too old for the part. They didn't want some girl who was going to go through puberty after the second Spy Kids and then deal with her growing up." But she so impressed Rodriguez that Vega won the day and the role.

A year after that, she returned for the last installment of the Spy Kids trilogy, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003), which grossed over $34 million on its opening weekend. She sang songs in both Spy Kids 2 and Spy Kids 3 that Robert Rodriguez wrote especially for her. Vega was featured in the July 2003 issue of Vanity Fair as one of the hottest teen celebrities.

Soon after that, Sleepover (2004) was released and Alexa got a Jeep Range Rover from Spy Kids director Robert Rodriguez for her 16th birthday. Vega, who has been said by MGM to possess "a special charm that emanates onscreen," continued to act in movies such as State's Evidence (originally a film festival success and now set to be released in 2006), Odd Girl Out (2005) and Walkout (2006). She graduated high school in 2005 and has since filmed Walkout (2006), Marrying God (2006) and The Beautiful Ordinary (2007).

In 2007 Vega, moved to New York for six months and starred as Penny Pingleton in the Broadway musical "Hairspray."

Filmography

• Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
• The Beautiful Ordinary (2007)
• State's Evidence (2006)
• Walkout (2006) (TV)
• Marrying God (2006)
• Odd Girl Out (2005) (TV)
• Sleepover (2004)
• Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)
• "The Bernie Mac Show" (1 episode, 2003)
• Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002)
• "All That" (1 episode, 2002)
• Follow the Stars Home (2001) (TV)
• Spy Kids (2001)
• Run the Wild Fields (2000) (TV)
• "Ladies Man" TV series (1999-2001)
• The Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
• NetForce (1999) (TV)
• "To Have & to Hold" (7 episodes, 1998)
• Dennis the Menace Strikes Again! (1998) (V)
• "The Magnificent Seven" (1 episode, 1998)
• Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)
• The Glimmer Man (1996)
• "Life's Work" (1 episode, 1996)
• Shattered Mind (1996) (TV)
• Twister (1996)
• A Promise to Carolyn (1996) (TV)
• It Was Him or Us (1995) (TV)
• "Chicago Hope" (1 episode, 1995)
• Nine Months (1995)
• "ER" (1 episode, 1995)
• Little Giants (1994)
• "Evening Shade" (6 episodes, 1993-1994)