The Bear’s Liza Colón-Zayas won her first Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 76th Emmy Awards on Sunday. This also marks Colón-Zayas as the first Latina in the Emmy’s 76-year history to win in that category.
“Thank you to my husband David Zayas, he told me to write a speech and I didn’t, because I didn’t think it would be possible,” Colón-Zayas joked as she started her acceptance speech. “How could I have thought it would be possible to be in the presence of Meryl Streep and Carol Burnett and Janelle and Sheryl Lee Ralph and Hannah. I love you all, I revere you to the bottom of my heart. My mamí, mamí, I thank you. My family, my grandkids, thank you.”
She continued by thanking her colleagues in The Bear and acknowledging the importance of this win for her fellow Latinas. “And thank you to my beautiful cast and Chris Storer and Joanna. Thank you for giving me a new life with this show. And to all the Latinas who are looking at me, keep believing and vote. Vote for your rights.”
Part of The Bear’s cast since season 1, Colón-Zayas plays Tina Marrero, a chef who slowly finds a new passion in her career and a new sense of purpose in herself.
Emmy Success
Colón-Zayas has acted on stage and on screen for over 30 years. Her win on Sunday for playing Tina in The Bear is both her first Emmy win and first Emmy nomination.
She has an Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actress: Comedy and a SAG award for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
Colón-Zayas joins Jon Bernthal, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Jeremy Allen White as The Bear’s 2024 Emmy wins for acting. The show had a record-breaking 23 nominations across the board, including nods for writing, directing, cinematography, and sound mixing among many others.
At the 75th Emmys earlier this year, The Bear took home 10 awards. Before the 76th Emmys even ends, the show will have already beaten that number by at least one.
