# Liza Colón-Zayas

Liza Colón-Zayas (born 1972) is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for playing Tina Marrero on the comedy-drama series The Bear, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2024.

## Early life and education

Liza Colón-Zayas was born as Liza Colón in 1972 in the Bronx borough of New York City. She is of Puerto Rican descent.
She earned her bachelor's degree in theater from SUNY Albany.

## Career

Colón-Zayas began her career off-Broadway. She broke into mainstream theatre when she wrote, produced, and starred in a one-woman show titled Sistah Supreme, a semi-autobiographical play in which she chronicles growing up as a Latina woman in New York during the 1970s and 1980s.
Colón-Zayas has been a member of the LAByrinth Theatre Company, a New York-based traveling actors' group, since its founding in 1992. On stage, she originated the role of Norca in the off-Broadway productions of Our Lady of 121st Street and the role of Haiku Mom in Quiara Alegría Hudes Pulitzer winner, Water by the Spoonful. In 1999, she appeared in the Philip Seymour Hoffman directed play, In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings.
One of Colón-Zayas' most memorable roles to theatergoers was the "Church Lady" in Stephen Adly Guirgis's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Between Riverside and Crazy which played the Atlantic Theater Company in 2014 and then Second Stage Theater in 2015. Colón-Zayas earned a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress for her portrayal. She went on to play the role once more in 2022 on Broadway at Second Stage's Hayes Theatre.
In 2021, she was honored at the Dramatists Guild Foundation with the Madge Evans and Sidnet Kingsley Award. DGF’s longest-running award honors a mid-career dramatist and stage actresses for excellence in the theatre.
On the big screen, she's appeared in United 93 (2006), Righteous Kill (2008), and the 2016 action horror film The Purge: Election Year.
Colón-Zayas has also appeared in television series such as Sex and the City, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Blue Bloods, Dexter, and many more. In 2019, she got her first recurring role on the short-lived OWN drama, David Makes Man, and in 2021, she joined the cast of the Emmy-winning drama, In Treatment, as Rita.
In 2022, Colón-Zayas rose to significant fame after starring in Hulu's critically acclaimed drama comedy series The Bear as Tina Marrero. She has received critical praise for her portrayal, including a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Imagen Award.
She starred in John Krasinski's live action animated fantasy comedy feature IF released in 2024.
Her win of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2024 made her the first Latina to win a Primetime Emmy in that category.

## Personal life

Colón-Zayas is married to actor David Zayas, known for his role as Angel Batista on Showtime's Dexter.

## Acting credits
### Film

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1995 | The Keeper | C.O. Melendez |
| 2002 | Unfaithful | Grumpy teacher |
| 2002 | Apartment #5C | Yolanda |
| 2004 | Keane | 1st Ticket Agent |
| 2005 | Heights | Ana |
| 2006 | Freedomland | Bea |
| 2006 | United 93 | Waleska Martinez |
| 2007 | Goodbye Baby | Host |
| 2008 | Righteous Kill | Judge Angel Rodriguez |
| 2011 | Margaret | Nurse |
| 2012 | Won't Back Down | Yvonne |
| 2013 | All Is Bright | Mother of Six |
| 2015 | The Stockroom | April |
| 2016 | The Purge: Election Year | Dawn |
| 2016 | All at Once | Linda Ramirez |
| 2016 | Collateral Beauty | Trevor's Mom |
| 2017 | Lost Cat Corona | Jasmine |
| 2018 | Breaking Brooklyn | Ms. Cruz |
| 2020 | Before/During/After | Juanita |
| 2021 | Naked Singularity | Liszt |
| 2022 | Allswell in New York | Daisy |
| 2023 | Cat Person | Officer Elaine |
| 2024 | IF | Janet |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1994 | New York Undercover | Speaker | Episode: "Los Macheteros" |
| 2000 | Deadline | Social Worker | Episode: "Daniel in the Lion's Den" |
| 2001 | Third Watch | Maria | Episode: "Adam 55-3" |
| 2002–2022 | Law & Order | Luisa / Sherry Velez / Lara Vega | 3 episodes |
| 2004 | Sex and the City | Melita | Episode: "Splat!" |
| 2004 | Hope & Faith | Rusti | Episode: "Queer as Hope" |
| 2004–2015 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Dolores Rodriguez / Cyndi | 3 episodes |
| 2005 | Jonny Zero | Lucia | Episode: "La Familia" |
| 2006 | Conviction | M.E. Muldoon | Episode: "Breakup" |
| 2006 | The Bedford Diaries | Dr. Stern | Episode: "Abstinence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" |
| 2007 | Rescue Me | Sarah | Episode: "Balance" |
| 2008 | House | Maria | Episode: "Emancipation" |
| 2009 | Taking Chance | Ticketing Agent | Television film |
| 2009 | Nurse Jackie | Mrs. Armando | Episode: "School Nurse" |
| 2010 | How to Make It in America | Gloria | Episode: "Big in Japan" |
| 2010 | Dexter | Paloma Aragon | Episode: "Take It!" |
| 2011 | Louie | Miss Hernandez | 2 episodes |
| 2011 | Hung | Gloria | Episode: "The Whole Beefalo" |
| 2013 | Assistance | Dorothy | Television film |
| 2015 | Get Some! | Mickie Martell | Episode: "Chopped" |
| 2016 | Unforgettable | Laura Barton | Episode: "Bad Company" |
| 2016 | Blue Bloods | Ana Baez | Episode: "Stomping Grounds" |
| 2016 | The Pearl | Eileen Rosado | Television film |
| 2017 | Bull | ADA Jessica Goodman | Episode: "Already Gone" |
| 2018 | Titans | Detective Jessica Perez | 2 episodes |
| 2019 | Proven Innocent | Lucia Rincon | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2019 | David Makes Man | Principal Fallow | 6 episodes |
| 2021 | In Treatment | Rita Ortiz | 6 episodes |
| 2022–present | The Bear | Tina Marrero | Main role, 26 episodes |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1995 | ¡Olé! | Liza (Sistah Supreme) | Off-Broadway; Playwright |
| 1999 | In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings | Daisy | Original Off-Broadway cast |
| 2003 | Our Lady of 121st Street | Norca | Off-Broadway |
| 2003 | Living Out | Zoila Tezo | Off-Broadway |
| 2005 | The Last Days of Judas Iscariot | Gloria / Mother Teresa | Off-Broadway |
| 2007 | A View From 151st Street | Lea | Off-Broadway |
| 2008 | The Little Flower of East Orange | Magnolia / Nurse 1 / Pope John XXIII | Off-Broadway |
| 2009 | Othello | Emilia | Off-Broadway |
| 2012 | Water by the Spoonful | Haiku Mom | Second Stage Theater Production |
| 2014 | Between Riverside and Crazy | Church Lady | Atlantic Theater Production |
| 2015 | Between Riverside and Crazy | Church Lady | Second Stage Theater Production |
| 2017 | Mary Jane | Sherrie | New York Theatre Workshop Production |
| 2017 | The Blameless | Amanda Garcia | Regional |
| 2019 | Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven | Sarge | Atlantic Theatre's Off-Broadway World Premiere |
| 2022 | Between Riverside and Crazy | Church Lady | Original Broadway Production |

## Awards and nominations
### Film and television

| Year | Association | Category | Project | Result |
| 2023 | Imagen Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Comedy (Television) | The Bear | Won |
| 2023 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | The Bear | Nominated |
| 2024 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | The Bear | Won |
| 2024 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | The Bear | Won |
| 2024 | Imagen Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Comedy (Television) | The Bear | Won |
| 2025 | Golden Globes Awards | Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television | The Bear | Nominated |

### Theatre

| Year | Association | Category | Project | Result |
| 2004 | Lucille Lortel Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress | Living Out | Nominated |
| 2015 | Lucille Lortel Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Between Riverside and Crazy | Won |
| 2018 | Lucille Lortel Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Mary Jane | Nominated |
| 2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven | Won |
| 2020 | Obie Awards | Performance Award | Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven | Won |
| 2020 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven | Nominated |
| 2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven | Won |
| 2021 | Dramatists Guild Foundation | Madge Evans and Sidney Kingsley Award | Madge Evans and Sidney Kingsley Award | Won |