| Birthname: | Liza Colón |
| Birth Date: | 15 July 1972 |
| Birth Place: | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Actress, playwright |
| Yearsactive: | 1994–present |
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.
Liza Colón-Zayas was born as Liza Colón in 1972 in the Bronx borough of New York City. She is of Puerto Rican descent.[1]
She earned her bachelor's degree in theater from SUNY Albany.[2]
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.[3] 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.[4] In 1999, she appeared in the Philip Seymour Hoffman directed play, In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings.[5] [6]
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.[7]
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 .[8]
Colón-Zayas has also appeared in television series such as Sex and the City, , 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.[9]
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.[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
She starred in John Krasinski's live action animated fantasy comedy feature IF released in 2024.[16]
Her win of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2024[15] made her the first Latina to win a Primetime Emmy in that category.[17]
Colón-Zayas is married to actor David Zayas, known for his role as Angel Batista on Showtime's Dexter.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | The Keeper | C.O. Melendez | ||
| 2002 | Unfaithful | Grumpy teacher | ||
| Apartment #5C | Yolanda | |||
| 2004 | Keane | 1st Ticket Agent | ||
| 2005 | Heights | Ana | ||
| 2006 | Freedomland | Bea | ||
| United 93 | Waleska Martinez | [18] | ||
| 2007 | Goodbye Baby | Host | ||
| 2008 | Righteous Kill | Judge Angel Rodriguez | ||
| 2011 | Margaret | Nurse | ||
| 2012 | Won't Back Down | Yvonne | [19] | |
| 2013 | All Is Bright | Mother of Six | ||
| 2015 | The Stockroom | April | ||
| 2016 | Dawn | |||
| All at Once | Linda Ramirez | |||
| Collateral Beauty | Trevor's Mom | |||
| 2017 | Lost Cat Corona | Jasmine | ||
| 2018 | Breaking Brooklyn | Ms. Cruz | ||
| 2020 | Before/During/After | Juanita | ||
| 2021 | Naked Singularity | Liszt | [20] [21] | |
| 2022 | Allswell in New York | Daisy | [22] | |
| 2023 | Cat Person | Officer Elaine | ||
| 2024 | IF | Janet |
| 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!" | |
| Hope & Faith | Rusti | Episode: "Queer as Hope" | ||
| 2004–2015 | Dolores Rodriguez / Cyndi | 3 episodes | ||
| 2005 | Jonny Zero | Lucia | Episode: "La Familia" | |
| 2006 | Conviction | M.E. Muldoon | Episode: "Breakup" | |
| 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 | |
| Nurse Jackie | Mrs. Armando | Episode: "School Nurse" | ||
| 2010 | How to Make It in America | Gloria | Episode: "Big in Japan" | |
| Dexter | Paloma Aragon | Episode: "Take It!" | ||
| 2011 | Louie | Miss Hernandez | 2 episodes | |
| 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" | |
| Blue Bloods | Ana Baez | Episode: "Stomping Grounds" | ||
| 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" | |
| David Makes Man | Principal Fallow | 6 episodes | ||
| 2021 | In Treatment | Rita Ortiz | ||
| 2022–present | The Bear | Tina Marrero | Main role, 26 episodes[23] |
| 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 | |
| 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 | Second Stage Theater Production | |||
| 2017 | Mary Jane | Sherrie | New York Theatre Workshop Production | |
| 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 |
| Year | Association | Category | Project | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Imagen Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Comedy (Television) | The Bear | ||
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | [24] | |||
| 2024 | [25] | ||||
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | [26] |
| Year | Association | Category | Project | Result | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Lucille Lortel Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress | Living Out | [27] | ||
| 2015 | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Between Riverside and Crazy | ||||
| 2018 | Mary Jane | |||||
| 2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven | |||
| Obie Awards | Performance Award | |||||
| Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | |||||
| Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | |||||
| 2021 | Dramatists Guild Foundation | Madge Evans and Sidney Kingsley Award | ||||