Dana Cruz (Zoey 101)

Dana Cruz is one of the main characters in the Nickelodeon TV series Zoey 101. She was the roommate and friends of Zoey Brooks and Nicole Bristow in season 1. Her other good friends are Michael Barret, Chase Matthews, Logan Reese, Dustin Brooks, and Quinn Pensky.

Dana was only a main character in season 1. As stated in season 2, she was accepted to a European exchange student program to study in Paris, with Lola Martinez taking her spot in Room 101.

Background
Dana is one of Zoey's season one roommates. Dana is good at sports, particularly basketball. In some episodes it was seen that she also likes to skateboard. She also loves to sleep, hates to wake up, and considers mankind's greatest invention to be the snooze button on her alarm clock. She frequently argued with roommate Nicole Bristow, whom Dana blamed for giving her frequent nightmares about "death by blow dryer." Dana's bad attitude is comparable to that of Logan Reese, whom she cannot stand, although both have quite a bit in common and went to a school dance together. Dana has a strong willed personality and will often try to do things on her own, which is shown in "Jet X," but finds she succeeds more in a group. She tends to be sometimes tomboyish, aggressive, and negative. Dana has two arguments throughout the series with Zoey Brooks, one in New Roomies and another in Jet X. She is a snob but she can be sweet at times. Dana is devious and really knows how to mess with Logan.

Why She Rocks

 * 1) Out of all characters, Dana definitely wins the snarking trophy, even though she only appears in the first season.
 * 2) Although she's underrated Dana is another memorable character in the series.
 * 3) Dana is good at sports, particularly basketball.
 * 4) She has many good outfits.
 * 5) As arrogant and sarcastic as she is, she's still a good friend to Zoey and the rest of the group.
 * 6) She and Lola are both Hispanic, despite never meet each other.
 * 7) Dana and Logan have a cute belligerent sexual tension for instance they would usually insult each other whenever they see each other but also got along on several occasions. In the episode School Dance, Logan suggested he wanted to make out with her and she almost kissed him on the dance floor, but stomped on his foot as a trick. The two made peace after the first season and became friends.
 * 8) Dana's bad attitude can be funny most of the time and is comparable to Logan Reese.
 * 9) She has a strong willed personality and will often try to do things on her own.
 * 10) She is a snob but she can be sweet at times.
 * 11) Dana's tough appearance frequently leads people to believe that she is arrogant and scary. She obviously knows who her friends are and doesn't hold back, and her heart is in the right place.
 * 12) Her and Nicole's frienemy relationship can be funny.
 * 13) Dana is devious and really knows how to mess with Logan.
 * 14) The actress Kristin Herrera is portrayed very well in the series as the main role.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Dana aggressive, and negative attitude while funny can be annoying a lot of the time.
 * 2) Her character is pretty underrated.
 * 3) We never really see the sweet part of Dana that often, due to her being kicked out of the show too soon.
 * 4) Despite only appearing in season 1, Dana is only present for all 13 episodes, she does not appear in any of the Zoey 101 TV movies. She never returned in seasons 2-4.
 * 5) * Executive Meddling: In real life after Season 1 ended, Kristin Herrera was unceremoniously fired from Zoey 101 because she always forget most of her lines so Victoria Justice replaced her for the rest of the series. Dana has the second-fewest appearances of all the main chara cters in the series, present for all of Season 1 and not seen again.
 * 6) Wasted Potential: After Nicole left in season 2 it would've been cool if they replace her with Dana for the rest of the series as the main role or just keep her in the entire series, and having Lola during seasons 3 and 4.
 * 7) Lola replaces Dana as Zoey's roommate after the first season. While Dana has her fans, she's a bit of a Base-Breaking Character for being a female version of Logan and most people agree that the show works better with Lola.
 * 8) In the episode Little beach party, Dana barely has any dialogue and is shown very little. Fans of hers got rather upset since this was her last appearance and she did not get a proper goodbye.
 * 9) During the second season episode "Back to PCA", Zoey said that Dana was only going to be in Paris for a semester, but she never returns to PCA, despite the series continuing after this semester.
 * 10) She was originally written as Logan's love interest, as hinted by their belligerent sexual tension, but this role was given to Quinn after Dana left the show which is a shame since it would've been interesting how these two could've got together.