Liza Colón-Zayas

Tina Marrero is abrasive, and Liza Colón-Zayas gives that abrasiveness time to register. In The Bear (2022), she trusts us to stay interested in Tina before we have much reason to like her. We were moved by the way she gradually brought out Tina's humanity without making her earlier roughness seem false. Colón-Zayas gives us reasons to keep watching her without making her the only person in the kitchen who matters. She is a substantial reason to recommend this unusually persuasive ensemble.

Her theatre work helps explain why she is comfortable among characters who are not easy company. The longstanding collaboration with playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis put her among flawed people speaking raw, street-level dialogue. She wrote and performed Sistah Supreme (2000), then originated the Church Lady in Between Riverside and Crazy (2014). Those credits suggest an actor used to carrying a piece alone and finding her place in an ensemble. The Bear makes particularly good use of the latter skill, allowing her to matter without requiring her to dominate.

The film roles are less useful as a guide to her acting. In John Krasinski's IF (2024), she plays Janet, but the film's sincerity cannot compensate for its shortage of jokes or its uncertain rules. Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) casts her as Detective Jean DeWolff in a film we prefer, especially during its lonelier first hour. Once the guest stars and green screen take over, it becomes longer and less interesting. Neither credit gives us a firmer basis for recommending her than Tina does.

After two decades of television guest roles, The Bear gave her a main part and wider recognition. We would like to see more film roles that give her comparable room to develop a character. There is a caveat to our recommendation: the series' relentless kitchen friction sometimes becomes as exhausting as restaurant work itself. Start there, but save it for an evening when other people's work will not feel like an extension of your own.