Desperate Housewives’ Juanita is all grown up and is a director now

Madison De La Garza, who used to portray Juanita Solis on Desperate Housewives, is now making waves as a short-film director-to-watch.

Most people may know Madison De La Garza as the talented young actress who played Juanita Solis in Desperate Housewives, or simply for her association with her famous real-life sister, Demi Lovato.

However, she is actually making quite the name for herself in the entertainment industry these days – for something that has nothing to do with her acting career or her family.

Madison De La Garza’s directorial debut

If you have been following Madison on TikTok, then you may know that she has now successfully transitioned out of her successful career as a child actor.

She now wears the title of an up-and-coming short-film director, with the film SURPRISE.

SURPRISE was officially released to Madison’s YouTube channel on April 1, 2021, and has already surpassed 29,000 views.

This short-film follows a group of friends, starring some of TikTok’s brightest stars, including Zachary Cowan (as Ben), Laurel Toupal (as Zoe), Paige Evans (as Anna), Inka Magnaye (as Yasmin) and Jason Van Tonder (as Sammy) as they host a surprise party video call (inspired by all of the real Zoom-based parties we all had in 2020).

But it takes an unexpected turn near the end. And by the looks of it, Madison does not intend to slow down anytime soon, as this life-long star has already shared a few hints that she already has another big project (or a few) on the horizon.

Madison’s career up to this point

Though Madison is best-known for her role as the young Juanita, she actually had a very successful acting career in her youth, which included roles in all of her sister’s films, as well as:

And though she can now add films like Pink Elephant (which she co-directed with Madeleine Noel Murden in 2020) and her solo-directorial debut SURPRISE (2023) to her ever-growing resume, it will likely still take some time for her to shake her child star image.

Why Madison stepped away from acting

The ethics of children working as actors on real-life television and movie sets will likely always be a hotly debated topic.

The industry still has a long way to go to ensure that all of its child actors are safe and protected on set, but Madison actually voluntarily quit acting in an endeavor to become part of the solution to this problem.

Madison actually explained in a July 2023 episode of Christy Carlson Romano’s Vulnerable podcast that she decided to move into writing and directing specifically so that she would be able to affect the kind of behind-the-scenes change that she had always wanted to see.

And fortunately, now that she feels like she is making a difference, she is also open to the idea of acting again if the right role comes along somewhere in the future.

What Madison does when she is not directing

Whilst Madison no longer has an active career in acting, she is living a sort-of double life between writing, directing and her real-life job as a teacher’s assistant.

In fact, she disclosed in a recent video posted on her TikTok page that she is actually  teaching the next generation of film- and television stars in her Thursday film class.

Here, she hosts a writer’s room (among other things) for a group of high school students.

Madison’s thoughts on the Desperate Housewives reunion

The final season of Desperate Housewives concluded more than a decade ago in May of 2012. And though the legacy of this beloved show clearly lives on, it seems like it is just about time for a Desperate Housewives reunion-special.

It seems like the show’s old stars may agree, as Madison told Access Hollywood in March of 2023 that she would be totally on board with jumping into hair and makeup for a Desperate Housewives reunion, while Eva Longoria had her own little reunion with Jesse Metcalfe in June.

Unfortunately though, the show’s creator seems less excited about the idea of bringing Desperate Housewives back to the air.

Longoria admitted to Bustle that Marc Cherry had told her that he “doesn’t want to reboot just to reboot” and it seems like both Desperate Housewives fans and the series’ regulars may have to wait a while before they get the green light for a revival.