Liza Colón-Zayas: 'No Expiration Date' On Acting Dreams
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- Liza Colón-Zayas told People she is "a lot like" her character Tina Marrero, a line cook who finds her calling at the show's restaurant, and that playing Tina taught her "there's no expiration date on realizing my dream as an actor."
- Colón-Zayas won her first Emmy for the role at age 52 and previously told Deadline that "even having an Emmy, the struggle will always be right in front of me," which she said made Tina's job-search arc easy to tap into.
- The fifth and final season of The Bear released last month on FX on Hulu, with Colón-Zayas now finished with her final shift on the series.
- Colón-Zayas described Tina as "hardened" in Season 1 by "traumatic changes" — job loss and the grief of losing a loved one — and said the arrival of young culinary-school grads Carmy and Sydney threatened more potential loss to that family.
- The final season is set during one last service after Sydney, Richie, and 'Sugar' discover that Carmy has quit the food industry, with the restaurant facing "no money," the threat of a sale, and a torrential storm.
Why it matters: Colón-Zayas's identification with Tina reframes the character's arc from a hardened skeptic wary of change to someone who finds fit after years of struggle — a parallel that gives The Bear's final-season closure a personal dimension for an actress who won her first Emmy at 52 and explicitly says the fight to keep working never goes away.
