GINA TORRES -Visionary Award
Gina Torres stars on USA Networkâs hit original series âSuits,â which is currently airing its sixth season. Developed by Aaron Korsh (âThe Deep Endâ) and executive-produced by Doug Liman, the show follows a prestigious Manhattan corporate lawyer who teams up with a street-smart college dropout. Torres plays Jessica Pearson, opposite Patrick J. Adams and Gabriel Macht, a role for which she has earned an ALMA Award nomination, Imagen Award nomination as well as the National Hispanic Media Coalitionâs award for Outstanding Performance in a Television Series. Last year, Torres joined the cast of âRevengeâ as Natalie Waters, an aspiring socialite with a growing list of enemies, whose arrival shook up the already unstable Hamptons social scene. Torres also had a recurring role on NBCâs âHannibalâ opposite Hugh Dancy and Laurence Fishburne.
Included amongst Torresâs most notable television credits are her performances as the Russo-Cuban assassin Anna Espinosa on âAlias,â the shotgun-toting mercenary Zoe Washburn on Joss Whedonâs âFireflyâ (whom she also played in his feature film SERENITY) and the soul-eating Jasmine on Whedonâs âAngel.â Additional television credits include âHuge,â âThe Shield,â â24,â âPushing Daisies,â âFlash Forward,â âGossip Girl,â âBoondocks,â and âThe Vampire Diaries.â She has also voiced the roles of Vixen in âThe Justice Leagueâ series and Superwoman in âJustice League: Crisis on Two Earthsâ opposite James Woods. She began her onscreen career with roles on âLaw & Order,â âOne Life to Live,â âAny Day Nowâ and âLa Femme Nikitaâ but it was her collaboration with producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert on four different shows â âMANTIS,â âHercules: The Legendary Journeys,â âXena: Warrior Princessâ and âCleopatra 2525â (the latter of which earned her an ALMA Award) – that brought her to the masses and promptly shifted her career.
Torresâs film credits include THE MATRIX RELOADED and THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, JAM, SOUTH OF PICO, I THINK I LOVE MY WIFE with Chris Rock, HAIR SHOW with MoâNique, FIVE FINGERS opposite Laurence Fishburne and DONâT LET ME DROWN (criticâs choice at the Sundance Film Festival 2009).
The youngest of three children, Torres was born in Manhattan and raised in The Bronx with her close-knit Cuban family. She graduated from Fiorello LaGuardia School of Arts where, before entering the world of acting, she studied opera and jazz as a vocal major. Within a year of graduating, she was cast as Deena Jones in Dreamgirls, her first professional acting job. It wasnât long before she started
appearing on Broadway being directed by such legends as Tommy Tune and Pete Masterson in Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public and Jerry Zaks in Face Value. Her additional theater credits include Off- and Off-Off Broadway plays and musicals that ranged from classic Greek tragedy in Antigone and
Amphytrion; to Shakespeareâs Pericles of Tyre and Julius Cesar; to contemporary classics such as Lorcaâs Blood Wedding; to the world premieres of Sheilaâs Day and Heliotrope Bouquet.
Torres and her husband, Laurence Fishburne, reside in Los Angeles with their daughter.