Gina Torres

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Gina Torres

Gina Torres (born April 25, 1969) is an American television and movie actress. She has appeared in many television series, including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (as Nebula), Xena: Warrior Princess (as Cleopatra), the short-lived Cleopatra 2525, Alias (as Anna Espinosa), the critically acclaimed series Firefly (as series regular Zoe Washburne), Angel (as Jasmine), 24 (as Julia Miliken) and The Shield.

She starred in the independent film South of Pico as Carla, and reprised her Firefly role in its feature film sequel Serenity. Currently, she has a main role on the USA Network show Suits as Jessica Pearson. She and real-life husband Laurence Fishburne play a married couple on the NBC television series Hannibal.

Early life

Torres was born at the Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital in Manhattan, the youngest of three children. Her family lived briefly in Washington Heights before moving to The Bronx. Her parents were both of multiracial Cuban descent, and her father worked as a typesetter for La Prensa and The New York Daily News.

Torres, a mezzo-soprano, began singing at an early age and attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City. She also trained in opera and jazz and performed in a gospel choir. Torres applied and was accepted to several colleges but could not afford to attend. She chose instead to pursue her dream of being a performer.

Career

In 2001, she won the ALMA Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Syndicated Drama Series for her role in Cleopatra 2525. In 2004, she was nominated for the International Press Academy's Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Drama, for her role as Jasmine in Angel. Her film appearances include The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. In 2004, Torres appeared in seven episodes of the third season on 24 as Julia Milliken, a woman who has an affair with the White House Chief of Staff and becomes involved in a Presidential scandal. In 2005, she was tapped for the pilot episode of Soccer Moms. Also in 2005, she voiced the character of Vixen in numerous episodes of the animated series Justice League Unlimited and replaced the voice-over of Jada Pinkett Smith's character Niobe in The Matrix Online. She is also known for her role in Fox's short-lived Firefly series, which lasted only one season. She reprised her Firefly role as Zoe in the film Serenity (2005).

In 2006, Torres began her role as Cheryl Carrera in the short-lived drama series Standoff on the FOX network. Her character is the Supervisory Special Agent in Charge for Crisis Negotiation Unit, FBI Los Angeles. Torres appeared in the film I Think I Love My Wife, playing the spouse of Chris Rock's character. She was cast in Washington Field, a 2009 CBS television pilot from executive Producer Edward Allen Bernero, about the National Capital Response Squad, a unit of the FBI made up of elite experts in different areas who travel around the world, responding to events that affect American interests.

She was the voice of Wonder Woman in DC Universe Online MMORPG until mid 2013 when the part was recast, as well as Airachnid in the Transformers Prime cartoon.

In 2013, Torres was reunited with fellow Firefly costar, Nathan Fillion, in an episode of Fillion's television show, Castle.

Personal life

Torres and Laurence Fishburne were engaged in February, 2001, and married on September 22, 2002, at The Cloisters museum in New York City. They have one child, a daughter Aliyah born on April 3, 2002. They played a married couple on Hannibal.