Elizabeth Rodriguez

Rodriguez was born to Puerto Rican parents and raised in Manhattan, New York City. She went to Brandeis High School and Lehman College in the Bronx.^[1] She later spent two years at the William Esper Studio in New York and worked as a hair stylist before acting.^[2]

While still studying, Rodriguez began appearing on-screen playing supporting roles in films Fresh (1994), Dead Presidents (1995) and I Think I Do (1997).^[3] On television, Rodriguez made guest appearances in Law & Order, Lifestories: Families in Crisis and CBS Schoolbreak Special, before playing the recurring role in the police drama series, New York Undercover from 1994 to 1995. She later made appearances in New York News, NYPD Blue, Oz, City of Angels, Six Feet Under, ER, Third Watch and The Shield. She co-starred in the 1998 thriller film, Return to Paradise and played Martha Oliveras in the 2001 crime drama film, Blow.^[3] In 2006, Rodriguez appeared as Gina Calabrese in the action film, Miami Vice by Michael Mann.^[4][5]

Rodriguez performed in a number of Broadway and off-Broadway productions, such as Robbers, Robbers, Beauty of the Father, A View From 151st Street, and Unconditional. From 2008 to 2009, Rodriguez played the role of Carmen Morales in the ABC daytime soap opera, All My Children.^[6] In 2011, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play and won Outer Critics Circle Award, as well as a Theatre World Award, for her role on Broadway play in Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Motherfucker with the Hat.^[7] In 2011, she had a series regular role on the short-lived NBC police drama series, Prime Suspect.^[8] She was nominated for an Imagen Award for her role in the feature film Tio Papi (2013), and the same year had secondary role in the Side Effects directed by Steven Soderbergh.

In 2013, Rodriguez began appearing in the recurring role of Aleida Diaz in the Netflix comedy-drama series, Orange Is the New Black; she was promoted to series regular in 2015. Along with the rest of the cast she received Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in both 2015 and 2016.^[2][9] Rodriguez also had recurring roles as Paz Valdes in the Starz drama series Power from 2014 to 2020, and as Special Agent Chavez in the NBC police procedural Grimm from 2014 to 2015. In 2014, she appeared in the crime films Glass Chin and The Drop.^[10][11]

In 2015, Rodriguez was cast in the series regular role on the AMC post-apocalyptic drama Fear the Walking Dead, the companion series for The Walking Dead.^[12] She left the series after the first season. The following year she had a recurring role in the Lifetime comedy-drama series, Devious Maids. In 2017, she appeared in Hugh Jackman's final Wolverine film Logan directed by James Mangold and starred in the second season of Hulu crime drama, Chance. In 2018, Rodriguez appeared in the teen drama film, Skate Kitchen.^[13] From 2019 to 2020 she had the recurring role in the Showtime comedy-drama series, Shameless.^[14]

In 2020, Rodriguez won a Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play nomination for her performance in Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven.^[15] In June 2021, Rodriguez voiced Rafa Martez in the Star Wars: The Bad Batch episode "Decommissioned".^[16]

In 2022, Rodriguez co-wrote, produced and played the leading role in the comedy-drama film, Allswell in New York. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and Rodriguez received Best Screenplay in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film Award.^[17][18] The film received positive reviews from critics.^[19] She also starred as a Vanessa del Rio's mother in the biographical drama film, Queen of Manhattan by Thomas Mignone^[20] From 2022 to 2023 she starred in the CBS police drama series, East New York.^[21]