# Roma Maffia

Roma Maffia (born May 31, 1958) is an American actress. Best known for Grace Alvarez on Profiler (1996-2000) and Liz Cruz on Nip/Tuck (2003–2010).

## Life and career

Roma Maffia grew up in Brooklyn, New York and is of mixed English, German and West Indian descent. Her Italian surname reportedly comes from her stepfather.
Maffia is a 1973 graduate of St. Michael Academy. She began her official acting career in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions. In 1994, she played Carmen in director Ron Howard's film The Paper. Soon after, she landed a role on the television series Chicago Hope. Maffia's television career continued as she played Grace Alvarez, the forensic pathologist for the Violent Crimes Task Force for four seasons on Profiler. She has had guest-starring and recurring roles on shows such as ER, The West Wing, and Law & Order.
Her most widely seen performances may be playing Seattle attorney Catherine Alvarez in the 1994 film Disclosure, starring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore. She followed this with a series of performances as Vanessa Galiano in the TV series Law & Order and as Judge Victoria Peyton on Boston Legal.
From 2003 until 2010, Maffia appeared as Liz Cruz on the FX Network series Nip/Tuck, the anesthesiologist colleague of two dysfunctional plastic surgeons. Maffia and Julian McMahon also worked together on the TV show Profiler. She had a supporting role on Pretty Little Liars from seasons 4 to 7. Her character, Linda Tanner, is a savvy, no-nonsense state investigator working on unsolved murder cases in the fictional town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania.
In 2012, Roma appeared in several episodes of Grey's Anatomy. She appeared in Season 4 of In the Dark as Paula Romano, a drug dealer who deals a drug called "Bolt" both in and out of prison.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1982 | Smithereens | Prostitute | |
| 1983 | Stuck on You! | Attila's Sister | |
| 1988 | Married to the Mob | Angie's First Customer | |
| 1990 | Internal Affairs | Diane | |
| 1991 | American Blue Note | Marie | |
| 1994 | The Paper | Carmen | |
| 1994 | Disclosure | Catherine Alvarez | |
| 1995 | Nick of Time | Ms. Jones | |
| 1996 | Eraser | Claire Isaacs | |
| 1997 | Kiss the Girls | Dr. Ruocco | |
| 1999 | Double Jeopardy | Margaret | |
| 2000 | Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her | Debbie | Segment: "Love Waits For Kathy" |
| 2001 | The New Women | Virginia VanUpp | |
| 2001 | I Am Sam | First Family Court Judge | uncredited |
| 2002 | Treading Water | The Agent | |
| 2003 | Holes | Atty. Carla Morengo | |
| 2007 | Totally Baked: A Pot-U-Mentary | Dr. Willa Peterson | |
| 2007 | Ghost ImageI | Detective Amos | |
| 2008 | Yonkers Joe | Santini | |
| 2009 | The Blue Tooth Virgin | Dr. Christopher | |
| 2009 | Kingshighway | Rosa | |
| 2013 | The Call | Maddy | |
| 2022 | Measure of Revenge | Mona | Post-production |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1985–86 | The Equalizer | Sindee | Episode: "Desperately" Episode: "Dead Drop" |
| 1993 | The X-Files | Uncredited | Episode: "Born Again" |
| 1993 | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | New York Cabbie | Episode: "Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920" |
| 1994–95 | Chicago Hope | Angela Giandamenicio | Episodes: "Pilot" "Over the Rainbow" "Food Chains" "With the Greatest of Ease" "You Gotta Have Heart" "Great White Hope" |
| 1995 | Her Deadly Rival | Officer Caldwell | TV film |
| 1995 | The Heidi Chronicles | | TV film |
| 1995 | Courthouse | Ms. Marino | Episodes: "Order on the Court" "One Strike and You're Out" "Injustice for All" |
| 1996 | Wings | Claire Barnett | Episode: "Porno for Pyros" |
| 1996 | Her Costly Affair | Sally Canter | NBC TV film |
| 1996 | Mistrial | Laurie Meisinger | TV film |
| 1996–2000 | Profiler | Grace Alvarez | 82 episodes |
| 1997 | The Defenders: Payback | Julie Bishop | TV film |
| 1998 | The Daily Show | Herself | Episode dated 06-23-98 |
| 1998 | Welcome to Paradox | Barbara Cloak | Episode: "Research Alpha" |
| 1998 | Route 9 | Agent Ellen Marks | TV film |
| 2000 | The David Cassidy Story | Ruth Aarons | TV film |
| 2001 | The West Wing | Officer Rhonda Sachs | Episode: "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail" |
| 2001 | Gideon's Crossing | Valerie Thomlinson | Episode: "Freak Shows" |
| 2001 | The Division | Sandra | Episode: "Intervention" |
| 2001 | Ally McBeal | Werner's Attorney | Episode: "Fear of Flirting" |
| 2001 | ER | Ms. Prager | Episodes: "Partly Cloudy, Chance of Rain" "Quo Vadis?" "I'll be Home for Christmas" |
| 2002 | Judging Amy | Amanda York | Episode: "Tidal Wave" |
| 2002 | Taina | Gladys | Episode: "The Fear Factors" |
| 2002 | For the People | Sophia | Episode: "Lonely Hearts" |
| 2002 | Endgame: Ethics and Values in America | Julia | TV film |
| 2002 | The Sopranos | Professor Longo-Murphy | Episode: "Christopher" |
| 2002 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Adelle Cross | Episode: "Fight Night" |
| 2003 | Boomtown | Sally Jacobson | Episode: "Inadmissible" |
| 2003–06 | Law & Order | Vanessa Galliano | Episodes: "Ill-Conceived" "The Dead Wives Club" "Cost of Capital" |
| 2003–10 | Nip/Tuck | Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Troy Cruz | Series Regular |
| 2004 | Century City | Janice Cahn | Episode: "To Know Her" |
| 2005 | Strong Medicine | Rafael's mother | Episode: "Dying Inside" |
| 2006 | Ghost Whisperer | Dr. Hillary Sloan | Episode: "The Ghost Within" |
| 2007–08 | Boston Legal | Judge Victoria Peyton | 9 episodes |
| 2009 | Dexter | Marriage Therapist | Episode: "If I Had a Hammer" |
| 2009 | Criminal Minds | Det. Reese Evans | Episode: "Conflicted" |
| 2009 | Eastwick | Mme. Aleksandra | Episode: "Madams and Madames" |
| 2011 | Off the Map | Matilda | Episode: "Everything's as It Should Be" |
| 2012 | Grey's Anatomy | Roberta Thompson | 4 episodes |
| 2013–2017 | Pretty Little Liars | Linda Tanner | 17 episodes |
| 2013 | NCIS | NCIS Special Agent Vera Strickland | Episode: "Under the Radar" |
| 2016 | Queen Sugar | Estelle Peterson | 2 episodes |
| 2018 | Bull | Hazel Diaz | Episode: "Witness for the Prosecution" |
| 2020 | High Maintenance | Chick | 2 episodes |
| 2020 | Billions | Mary Ann Gramm | 2 episodes |
| 2022 | In the Dark | Paula Romano | 5 episodes |