Monica Maria Raymund (born July 26, 1986) is an American actress, known for her roles as Maria "Ria" Torres in the Fox crime drama ''

Lie to Me ''Lie to Me'' (stylized as ''Lie to me*'') is an American crime drama television series. It originally ran on the Fox network from January 21, 2009, to January 31, 2011. In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) and his colleagues in The Lightma ...

'' (2009–2011), Dana Lodge in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

legal drama ''

The Good Wife ''The Good Wife'' is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in l ...

'' (2011–2012), Gabriela Dawson in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

drama '' Chicago Fire'' (2012–2019) and Jackie Quińones in the

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz cons ...

crime drama '' Hightown'' (2020–present).

Early life and education

Raymund was born in St. Petersburg, Florida, to Steve Raymund, the board chairman and retired CEO of Tech Data Corp., a Clearwater-based distributor of computer components and software, and Sonia (née Lara), a community volunteer and co-founder of the Soulful Arts Dance Academy in St. Petersburg. Her father is of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and

Eastern European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent. Her mother is Dominican. Raymund was raised

, celebrated a bat mitzvah and attended a

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous sear ...

temple. Her paternal grandfather was businessman and philanthropist Edward C. Raymund. Raymund's younger brother, Will, was a graduate of

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

, and a sound and lighting engineer and music promoter. He died in August 2015. In high school, she participated in the "Broadway Theater Project" in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough C ...

and was a founding member of The Performing Arts Project at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem." Raymund graduated from

Shorecrest Preparatory School Shorecrest Preparatory School is a private, non-profit, non-sectarian, coeducational, college preparatory day school for students age 3 through Grade 12, located in St. Petersburg, Florida. Founded in 1923, it is the oldest independent day school in ...

in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2004, and from the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely ...

in New York City in 2008.

Career

Reportedly, Raymund performed in ''Cymbeline'' directed by Richard Feldman, ''The Diviners'' (directed by Jonathan Bernstein), and ''Animal Farm'' (directed by Trazana Beverley) all at the

. Raymund also appeared in her native St. Petersburg, Florida, in the LiveArts Peninsula Foundation's original production of ''Manhattan Casino'' (directed by Bob Devin Jones) where she originated the leading role of Althea Dunbar and ''Webb's City: The Musical'' (music & lyrics by Lee Ahlin, written and directed by William Leavengood)." Raymund "is a three-year alumna of Ann Reinking's

Broadway Theater Project The Broadway Theatre Project is an intensive training program held on the campus of the University of South Florida, USA, for high school and college-aged students who want to hone their skills in musical theatre. It was founded by the Tony Award w ...

, where she has been a featured performer." Raymund has also "worked with playwright José Rivera on ''

Boleros for the Disenchanted Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It ha ...

'' at the

Huntington Theatre Company The Huntington Theatre Company is a professional theatre located in Boston, Massachusetts and the recipient of the 2013 Regional Theatre Tony Award, under the direction of Managing Director Michael Maso. It is notable for its longstanding artist ...

in Boston" in 2008. In April 2008, she appeared the

legal drama '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', in season 9 episode 17 titled "

Authority In the fields of sociology and political science, authority is the legitimate power of a person or group over other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' is practiced in ways such a judicial branch or an executive branch of government.''T ...

" in the opening scene as a strip search prank call victim. From 2009 to 2011, she starred in the Fox crime drama ''

'', where she played Maria "Ria" Torres, a human lie detector who is a "natural", meaning she has no formal training in detecting lies or the emotions of others. She was using crutches because of a knee injury when she auditioned for this role. From 2011 until 2012, Raymund had a recurring role in the third season of the

legal drama ''

'', where she played Dana Lodge, an assistant states attorney. In 2012, Raymund began starring in the

drama '' Chicago Fire''. She played

Gabriela Dawson This is a list of fictional characters in the television series '' Chicago Fire''. The article deals with the series' main, recurring, and minor characters. Main characters Overview ;Notes Matthew Casey Kelly Severide Gabriela Dawson :P ...

, the paramedic in charge and a firefighter candidate. On May 15, 2018, Raymund confirmed that she was leaving the show after six seasons. She briefly appeared on the show in the seventh-season premiere "A Closer Eye". In November 2019, she returned to the show in the eighth-season episode "Best Friend Magic". In 2020, Raymund began starring as Jackie Quiñones in the

crime drama '' Hightown''. Raymund has also directed several episodes of television, an episode of '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', an episode of Dick Wolf's ''FBI'', and an episode of ''Chicago P.D.''

Personal life

On June 11, 2011, Raymund married writer Neil Patrick Stewart. They separated in early 2013 and divorced in 2014. Raymund is an ardent supporter of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

rights. In February 2014, she

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

publicly as

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whic ...

for the first time via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. On September 16, 2015, Raymund announced via Twitter that she had begun dating camerawoman, cinematographer and producer Tari Segal.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
"St. Petersburg native, 'Lie To Me' co-star Monica Raymund ready to put in the work"
''

St Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a singl ...

'', January 25, 2009 – Interview with Raymund {{DEFAULTSORT:Raymund, Monica 1986 births Actresses from Florida American musical theatre actresses American people of Dominican Republic descent American people of German descent American television actresses Bisexual actresses Bisexual women Hispanic and Latino American actresses Jewish American actresses Juilliard School alumni Living people LGBT Jews LGBT people from Florida People from St. Petersburg, Florida 21st-century American actresses LGBT Hispanic and Latino American people 21st-century American Jews American bisexual actors