Jennifer Cadena was born in Hollywood, California, to Colombian parents. Her father Carlos Cadena is a Civil Engineer and her mother Cristina Rey, an actress. Jennifer showed a passion for acting at an early age when she would be on set with her mother at Telemundo. She was discovered at age 6 by a casting director at Telemundo. She began modeling and acting in commercials, but at the age of 7 she moved to Bogota, Colombia. There she acted in several plays and never lost her love for acting. After moving back to the US in 1996, she began to pursue her passion once more, doing local theater and local TV shows. After doing a string of independent films she landed a part in the Studio film The Roommate, and has slowly been growing her career since.