‘The Bear’ Star Liza Colón-Zayas on Getting to Be a First-Time Emmy Nominee Opposite Carol Burnett and Meryl Streep
variety.comMichael Schneider Variety Editor at Large What a pinch-me moment for “The Bear” star Liza Colón-Zayas. After paying her dues for decades with stagework, one-off roles on TV shows and the occasional movie, she’s now an Emmy nominee.
What’s more, she’s nominated in the comedy supporting actress field with icons like Carol Burnett and Meryl Streep. I couldn’t help wondering what it’s like for a working actor like Colón-Zayas to be recognized alongside those legends. (The closest I’ve come to that is being nominated for an L.A.
Press Club Award in the same category as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He won, of course.) So I had to get Colón-Zayas on the phone to hear what it means for her to be competing against some of the greatest performers who ever graced the screen. “It lets me know that I’ve run a good race,” says Colón-Zayas, who’s been grinding away at acting since the 1990s. “And that all the struggle has been seen and acknowledged.
That I have a gift. Because it’s been a lifetime of doubting it. To have the world say, ‘We see you,’ and I will dare to say, ‘Here are my peers.’ Carol Burnett raised me.
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