Rosanny Zayas is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Sophie Suarez on '' The L Word: Generation Q'' (2019–2023). Zayas has acted in ''The Code'', ''

Orange Is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Wo ...

'', and ''Elementary''.

Early life and education

Zayas was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and raised in the

Ozone Park Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens, New York, United States. It is next to the Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, a popular spot for Thoroughbred racing and home to the Resorts Wor ...

neighborhood of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, New York to an

Afro-Dominican Afro-Dominican may refer to: * Afro-Dominican (Dominican Republic) * Afro-Dominican (Dominica) Afro-Dominicans are Dominicans of African descent and the majority of the Commonwealth of Dominica's population. Origins Africans were initially broug ...

family. She attended Forest Hills High School, where she was a member of the choral group and began acting at the encouragement of the drama teacher. She received her bachelor's degree from

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

, where she studied acting under Claudia Fieldstein. Zayas graduated from the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts 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 regarded as one of the most el ...

with her

master of fine arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

degree in the program's second graduate class. While at Juilliard, her performance in the titular role of

José José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

's ''Marisol'' received positive reception and helped her break into the New York theater scene.

Career

Zayas appeared in the

Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

Mobile Unit's 2018 production of ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'' as Helena.

Elisabeth Vincentelli Elisabeth Vincentelli is a French-born, New York-based arts and culture journalist. She is a regular contributor to ''The New York Times’ Arts section''. She served as the chief drama critic for the ''New York Post'' from 2009 until 2016, havin ...

wrote of her performance for the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', "Best is Rosanny Zayas as Helena, who demonstrates nimble comic timing and always seems to be completely in the moment — a rarer ability than you’d think, even among the best actors." She was a lead cast member on '' The L Word: Generation Q'''s three seasons as Sophie Suarez, a Dominican American producer on

Alice Pieszecki Alice Elisabeth Pieszecki is a fictional bisexual character on the Showtime television network series ''The L Word'', and the sequel series ''L Word: Generation Q'', shown nationally in the United States. She is played by American actress Leisha ...

's talk show ''The Alice Show''. When Zayas was a high school student, she was an avid viewer of the original series. Zayas has acted in ''Modern Persuasion'', ''

Orange is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Wo ...

'', ''The Code'', and ''Elementary''. She also has a supporting role in the mini-series ''

Angelyne Angelyne (born Ronia Tamar Goldberg, September 12, 1950) is an American singer, actress, media personality, and model who came to prominence in 1984 after the appearance of a series of iconic billboards in and around Los Angeles, California, wi ...

'' and she is a series regular in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series '' Echoes''.

References

External links

*
Rosanny Zayas
at

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zayas, Rosanny Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Queens, New York Forest Hills High School (New York) alumni Queens College, City University of New York alumni Juilliard School alumni American people of Dominican Republic descent People from Ozone Park, Queens American stage actresses Actresses from Brooklyn