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Before she was a sous-chef Tina Marrero in the breakout hit series “The Bear,” the Emmy Award-winning actress Liza Colón-Zayas played Batman.
“We had those long steam pipes (in the apartment) and like a firefighter, I used to go up those pipes and sing the Batman tune repeatedly as I slid down,” says Colón-Zayas describing her childhood acting antics. “That was my version of the Batcave Pole.”
She also entertained her mother by imitating scenes from their favorite soap operas.
“My mom just believed in me,” the 53-year-old says. “I guess, because she was also talented and stunning.” She says that when her mother was a teen, a talent scout saw her in Times Square and asked if she would audition for “West Side Story.”
“She had to get permission from my grandparents, and when they met with him, they said, ‘absolutely not, that’s what hookers do,’” she says. “So yeah, Mom always had this thing about being really supportive of me in that way, even though we had no idea how to ever pursue this” life in the performing arts.
It would take 27 years before Colón-Zayas, a force of nature on stage and screen, landed the break-out role of Tina Marrero that made her the first Latina to win an Emmy Award (on the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month last year) and a household name. But the Bronx-born Afro Puerto Rican star is hardly an overnight success. Colón-Zayas, who is married to actor David Zayas and is the mother of one son, is a beloved presence in New York’s theater community earning accolades for her two-decades on and off Broadway.
‘You have to believe’
Her acting journey has been filled with wonder and disappointments she says admitting that along the way she’s battled with insecurities about her body type, age and the fact that she doesn’t do a British accent. Some days she used to meticulously map out how many recurring roles she needed to do in a year to pay the bills doing what she loves. But she never gave up.
“I believed I had something,” she says. “You have to believe you have something special. You have to believe it.”
‘Sistah Supreme’
Colón-Zayas knew she wanted to act professionally from the first drama course she took at the State University of New York (SUNY) Albany making herself a promise that she would audition for everything. By the time she graduated she’d performed in 10 shows.
After graduating, Colón-Zayas went from one audition to the next, meeting one disappointment after another. There weren’t many roles written for Latinas, especially Afro Latinas, even though the theater community was full of them waiting for their next big break. Then in 1992, “Death and the Maiden” by Argentine-Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman opened on Broadway with Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss and Gene Hackman. A Latino play with no Latino or Latina leads.
“They (the producers) said there were no Latinos in the cast because they couldn’t find any, and it’s like, really? In New York City?’” she recalls. That moment sparked outrage that inspired teaching artists and actors, Gary Perez, John Ortiz, David Deblinger and Judy Reyes to found the renowned LAByrinth Theater Company, originally known as the Latino Actors Base (LAB), a space for actors who wanted to push their artistic limits and tell stories that expanded the boundaries of mainstream theater.
“It was a weekly artist’s gym, to try stuff out,” she says. “Be it Tennessee Williams or something you wrote to build with an ensemble, and it was just fire.”
Initially LAB only accepted Latinos, “but then we were like, well a lot of us don’t even speak Spanish, you know?” she laughs. “And we’re New Yorkers.” Eventually others were invited, among them Sam Rockwell and the late Oscar winning actor, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who directed her in Stephen Adly Guirgis’ play “In Arabia, We’d All Be Kings.”
LAB, which continues to be a haven of diversity and artistic talent, would be that secret ingredient that placed Colón-Zayas in the limelight. From her debut autobiographical solo show that she wrote, produced and starred in “Sistah Supreme,” to her first award-winning performance in the Broadway hit, “Between Riverside and Crazy” that garnered her a Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding featured actress. Her reputation in the theater world cemented, she’s won an Obie award, a Drama Desk award and an Imagen award, among others. And the awards keep coming. This summer, she received another EMMY nod for her emotionally charged episode in "Napkins" from "The Bear's" third season.
“I used to think affirmations were so corny, but they have helped me get through many noisy days. Liza Colón-Zayas
An actor's actor, Colón-Zayas is respected by her peers. Among her admirers is Jimmy Smits, the veteran Hollywood star and Emmy-award winning actor. "Her work is always nuanced and specific, moment to moment and engaging," Smits says. "The true story of a journeywoman artist waiting for that right part so that everyone can see what she has to offer."
Embracing the limelight
Besides reprising her role in season four of the acclaimed series, major roles are pouring in. Next up, she is set to star in Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day ” and in a yet-untitled real estate drama for Hulu that started filming in Toronto in July.
“I find myself at this point having a hard time allowing it all to sink in,” she says of her recent success. “Because I’ve protected myself by not getting ahead of myself by curbing my enthusiasm. But I’m so proud, I look at the Emmy and be like, ‘wow, it really happened, it's there.’”
While it’s an amazing feeling, she says some part of her “wants to hide and say you’ve been bamboozled. I get that imposter syndrome”
To calm herself she’s been using mindfulness apps that rewire the brain. “I used to think affirmations were so corny, but they have helped me get through many noisy days,” she says. “I just think that we’ve been programmed by the country and the systems at large to believe we don’t deserve something.”
Being a trailblazer for Afro-Latinas is a huge responsibility she embraces fully. “Of course, we (Afro Latina actors) have to prove ourselves 10 times more than others, but we also can choose to take that off, allowing ourselves to just be and do some self-care, regularly,” she says.
"I’ve protected myself by not getting ahead of myself by curbing my enthusiasm. But I’m so proud, I look at the Emmy and be like, ‘wow, it really happened, it's there.’” Liza Colón-Zayas
A quick-fire Q & A:
Q. How did growing up in The Bronx influence you?Liza Colón-Zayas: I tried on many identities. That’s how I’d reinvent myself, and it took a long time for me to just accept that where I came from is good enough.
Can you share a specific anecdote about preparing for a role?When I auditioned for “The Bear,” I didn’t have a script. I didn’t have any other scenes that would inform the character’s circumstance, all I knew was that I’m giving someone else a hard time who is asking me about a recipe, and I'm like “that’s not in the system”’ I didn’t know the age or race or gender of who I was acting opposite. When I don’t know much, I try to keep it as close to me as possible — my entire life informs who I am. Then, later on, after I got off the Zoom meeting with the showrunners I went into this pizza shop, and it was like a little hole in the wall. And there was this little, tiny Latina who came out the back of the kitchen and when I tell you, all she did was walk in, and all the dudes working the counter were like, (blank stoic face) … I don’t know what she said. But then she turned around and went to the back and the guys carried on. I was like, “oh shit, that’s Tina, that’s Tina!” I never spoke to her, but I was like, oh that's what that looks like … Tina wields that kind of power, she can be rough around the edges.
Advice for actors who have been trying to make it in the business for a while?The challenge with struggling as an actor is that you want to get the part so bad. You want to do big things, but sometimes it pays off to do less. And a way to not do that is knowing that you are enough. The greatest asset we have is to be our own messy selves. And if people are actually open to something exciting, instead of the same old cartoon cut out formula, they will get creative on what to do with you. Also, find communities that support you. If there are people and places that make you feel bad about yourself, move away from them. Other doors will open.
What’s your favorite Puerto Rican recipe to cook?Pernil!— Christin Eve Cato
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: “The Bear’s” award-winning Liza Colón-Zayas dishes on the ingredients that make up her charmed life
Reporting by Christin Eve Cato / USA TODAY
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