Woman Crush Wednesday: ‘Parks and Recreation’ and ‘The Grinder’ Star Natalie Morales Tells It Like It Is

Where to Stream:

The Grinder

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The good thing about short weeks is that we arrive at Wednesday SO much sooner. And we’re ultra excited about that today, because we’re celebrating an amazing Woman Crush Wednesday, actress Natalie Morales!
Natalie’s had scene-stealing roles in shows like Girls, Parks and Recreation, and The Grinder, and we can always count on her to play characters that are smart and quippy and see through the BS. This lady can deliver a one-liner joke just as well as she can drop a truth bomb, a real sign of a quality comedic actress. IRL, we love the honesty and the realness of her Twitter feed too. Her tweets about The Young Pope lately have been A+!

WHO’S THAT GAL: Natalie Morales
WHY WE’RE CRUSHING: Natalie is a consistently great actress who brings something different to every role, while frequently portraying women that don’t hesitate when it comes to speaking their mind. And that carries over into real life too; Natalie’s been vocal about standing up for causes that she believes in, including directing a video that brings awareness to gun violence in this country. You go girl.

Everett Collection

WHERE YOU’VE SEEN HER BEFORE: Natalie’s first major role was in the 2008 series The Middleman, followed by another recurring role on USA’s White Collar as Lauren Cruz. She appeared in the films Going the Distance and 6 Month Rule before popping up on shows like The Newsroom, 90210, and the cancelled-way-too-soon Trophy Wife. She played Clementine on Girls, Tom Haverford’s (Aziz Ansari) love interest on Parks and Recreation, and lawyer Claire on the one brilliant season of The Grinder that currently exists on Netflix.
WHERE YOU’LL SEE HER NEXT: She’s got the TV movie Budding Prospects lined up, as well as the drama film Titan on deck. But where we’re most excited to see Natalie is in Battle of the Sexes, the Billie Jean King sports comedy starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell. On the TV front, she’ll also appear on the comedy Making History which premieres on Fox in March, as well as the upcoming Santa Clarita Diet, starring Drew Barrymore and her co-star on The Grinder, Timothy Olyphant, which lands on Netflix next month. In the meantime, we’ll be tuning in to her tweets for more awareness about the social issues that mean the most to her. Oh, and also to see what she has to say about The Young Pope every Sunday night, of course.

Watch 'The Grinder' on Netflix