Who is Sara Ramírez? The entertainment and acting world knows her as a Mexican-American actress and singer. She is known for her role as Callie Torres in Grey's Anatomy(2006–present) and as the original Lady of the Lake in the 2005 Broadway musical Spamalot, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
Who is Sara Ramírez? The entertainment and acting world knows her as a Mexican-American actress and singer. She is known for her role as Callie Torres in Grey's Anatomy(2006–present) and as the original Lady of the Lake in the 2005 Broadway musical Spamalot, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.Early life
Ramírez was born August 31, 1975 in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, a beach resort on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Her father was Mexican and her mother was half Mexican and half Irish-American.[citation needed]Ramírez moved with her mother at age eight to Tierrasanta, in San Diego, California. After graduating from the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts in San Diego, California, she graduated from the Juilliard School in New York City, where she refined her skills as an actress.[1] Ramírez speaks both Spanish and English fluently.Career
She debuted on Broadway playing Wahzinak in Paul Simon's The Capeman (1998). In 1999, she appeared in The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm (1999) and received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for her role. She has also appeared in A Class Act (2001) andDreamgirls (2001), and she performed in The Vagina Monologues with Tovah Feldshuh and Suzanne Bertish. In 1998, she played the voice of Lammy in the video game UmJammer Lammy, a spin-off of PaRappa the Rapper, both on Sony's PlayStationconsole. She later reprised her role as Lammy in the PlayStation 2 video game sequel PaRappa the Rapper 2, and has a smaller role, unlike the game that preceded it.
In 2004, Ramírez was cast as the Lady of the Lake in the Eric Idle/John Du Prez musical Spamalot, based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The musical opened on Broadway in 2005 to widespread acclaim, and Ramírez in particular was singled out for her performance, winning several awards including the 2005 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
Following her success on Broadway, Ramírez joined the cast of Grey's Anatomy in a recurring role as Dr. Calliope 'Callie' Torres in the show's second season. For the third season she became a series regular. On a special Grey's Anatomy-themed episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, she revealed that top executives from ABC loved her performance in Spamalot so much that they offered her a role in any ABC show she wanted. She picked Grey's, of which she was a fan.[2] While Ramírez has never performed a musical number on the show, she did provide a cappella vocals in the song "Silent Night" for the soundtrack of the show's sixth season episode "Holidaze," airing November 19, 2009. On December 21, 2009, this version of the song was released as a single on iTunes. Her first solo release is an extended playscheduled for a March 27, 2011 release through the iTunes Store. It will reportedly include three original songs, as well as a recording of a song scheduled to be performed on Grey's Anatomy.[3] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | You've Got Mail | Rose | |
| 1999 | UmJammer Lammy | Lammy | voice |
| 2000 | Spin City | Carol | 1 episode |
| Third Watch | Gwen Girard | 1 episode | |
| Welcome to New York | Linda | 1 episode | |
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Mrs. Barrera | 1 episode | |
| 2001 | PaRappa the Rapper 2 | Lammy | voice |
| 2002 | Spider-Man | Police officer at carjacking | |
| Washington Heights | Belkis | ||
| Baseball Wives | Gabriella Martinez | ||
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Lisa Perez | 1 episode | |
| Chicago | Female ensemble | ||
| 2003 | As the World Turns | Hannah | 1 episode |
| When Ocean Meets Sky | Peggy Fears | voice | |
| 2004 | NYPD Blue | Irma Pacheco | 1 episode |
| 2006–present | Grey's Anatomy | Dr. Callie Torres | 88 episodes |
Stage productions
| Year | Title | Role | Theatre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | The Capeman | Wahzinak | Marquis Theatre |
| 1999 | The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm | Longacre Theatre | |
| The Vagina Monologues | Westside Theatre | ||
| 2001 | A Class Act | Felicia | Ambassador Theatre |
| Dreamgirls | Ford Center for the Performing Arts | ||
| 2005 | Spamalot | The Lady of the Lake | Shubert Theatre |
Discography
- 2009 Silent Night[4]
- 2011 Sara Ramirez EP[5]
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Film or series | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Tony Award | Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical | Monty Python's Spamalot | Won |
| 2005 | Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding featured Actress in a Musical | Monty Python's Spamalot | Won |
| 2007 | Imagen Foundation Awards | Best Supporting Actress - Television | Grey's Anatomy | Nominated |
| 2007 | Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Grey's Anatomy | Won |
| 2007 | ALMA Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Drama Television Series | Grey's Anatomy | Nominated |
| 2008 | ALMA Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Drama Television Series | Grey's Anatomy | Nominated |
| 2008 | Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Grey's Anatomy | Nominated |
| 2011 | Image Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Grey's Anatomy | Nominated |
