By Eunice Charles
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Justina Milagros Machado (born September 6, 1972) is an American actress. She began her career playing secondary roles on television and film before starring as Vanessa Diaz in the HBO comedy-drama series, Six Feet Under (2001–05), for which she received Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Machado later starred in the short-lived series Missing, Three Rivers and Welcome to the Family and was a regular cast member in the first season of the USA Network crime drama Queen of the South.
From 2017 to 2020, Machado starred as Penelope Alvarez in the Netflix/Pop TV comedy series, One Day at a Time, for which she received positive reviews from critics and two Imagen Awards for Best Actress – Television, and well as nomination for Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. She also has appeared in films Final Destination 2 (2003), Torque (2004), Little Fugitive (2006), The Call (2013), The Purge: Anarchy (2014), All Together Now (2020) and The Throwback (2024). In 2023, she played the leading role in the Amazon Prime Video black comedy-horror series, The Horror of Dolores Roach. In 2025 Machado appeared in the Broadway Musical Real Women Have Curves for which she received critical acclaim and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
Machado was born in Chicago, Illinois, one of two children of Alicia Morales Ruiz and Ismael Machado. Her mother was born in Puerto Rico and her father was born to Puerto Rican parents. They subsequently divorced and her mother remarried and had three children. Her family roots are in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, and Barrio Jagual, Patillas, Puerto Rico, and her ancestry includes Afro-Latino. As Machado is of Hispanic descent, she had a traditional quinceañera, with chambelanes as well as damas. She said her family was poor, and she grew up in the Northwest Side of Chicago.Machado was raised Catholic.
Machado was a guest appearing in Episode 6 of Season 6 of Finding Your Roots, a documentary show by PBS that is hosted by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., during which it was confirmed that she has African matrilineal ancestry (i.e. through a female ancestor on her mother’s side) through genetic testing of her mitochondrial DNA.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg (founder of Lutheranism in America) –
- John Dalton (scientist) –
- Frances Wright (author) –
- Jane Addams (social worker) –
- Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. (diplomat) –
- Jo Anne Worley (comedienne) –
- Swoosie Kurtz (actress) –
- Jane Curtin (actress) –
- Justina Machado (actress) –
- John Wall (basketball player) –
Died
- Martha Jefferson (wife of Thomas Jefferson; died before presidency) –
- Charles Ammi Cutter (librarian) –
- Leslie McFarlane (Hardy Boys writer) –
- Charles E. Bennett (member of the House of Representatives for 44 years. His legislation in 1955 required that the mint put In God We Trust on all currency. Shortly thereafter, Congress made the words the nation’s motto.) –
- Luciano Pavarotti (opera singer) –
Events
- British Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England, with 102 Pilgrims who hoped to settle in America –
- U.S. President William McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz –
- A decree was issued in Germany requiring all Jews over the age of six to wear the Star of David –
- CBFT Montreal was the first Canadian TV station to begin regular broadcast programming in both French and English. CBLT Toronto followed two days later –
- CBFT first Canadian TV station to go on air –
- Georgia Gibbs sang “The Hula-Hoop Song” on The Ed Sullivan Show. This was the first national exposure for the hula-hoop craze –
- Canadian highway signs, except in Quebec and Nova Scotia, converted to metric –
- Cal Ripken, Jr. played his 2,131st game and became a part of baseball history by surpassing Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 consecutive games played –
- Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, hosted Bruce Springsteen for its first rock concert in history –
- Jeff Williams returned to Earth after working 172 days on the International Space Station, thereby making a cumulative total of 534 days in space over several missions – the longest time yet recorded for NASA astronauts. –
Weather
- On “Yellow Day,” forest fires in Michigan and Ontario caused a luminous yellow haze throughout the Northeast –
- Iowa had some early snow when a few flakes fell in Alton –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
