Roberta Colindrez
{{Short description|Mexican-American actor and writer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Roberta Colindrez
| image = Ms. White Light (33959071688) (cropped).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Colindrez at the 2019 Montclair Film Festival
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
| death_date =
| death_place =
| other_names =
| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|playwright}}
| years_active = 2006–present
| known_for = {{Plainlist}}
{{Endplainlist}}
| notable_works =
}}
Roberta Colindrez (born May 28, 1986) is a Mexican-American actor and writer. She is best known for originating the role of Joan in the musical Fun Home. Additionally, Colindrez is known for roles in the TV shows I Love Dick, Vida, and A League of Their Own, as well as the films Ms. White Light (2019) and Cassandro (2023).
Early life
Colindrez was born on May 28, 1986 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. She has Argentinian and Honduran heritage.{{cite web |author=Yohana Desta |date=May 12, 2017 |title=I Love Dick Breakout Roberta Colindrez Is Raising Eyebrows and Breaking Barriers |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/05/roberta-colindrez-i-love-dick |access-date=June 2, 2019 |work=Vanity Fair}}{{cite news |author=Alex Velázquez |date=July 31, 2018 |title=Queer Latinx Heartthrob Roberta Colindrez Joins the Cast of Vida |work=Into |url=https://www.intomore.com/culture/queer-latinx-heartthrob-roberta-colindrez-joins-the-cast-of-vida |access-date=June 2, 2019}} Colindrez migrated from Mexico to Houston when she was 5 years old. She lived in Houston for six years then moved to Austin, Texas when she was 10 years old.{{Cite web|last=Leonelli|first=Elisa|date=April 22, 2020|title=Roberta Colindrez|url=https://www.culturalweekly.com/roberta-colindrez/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=December 14, 2020|website=Cultural Weekly|language=en-US}} She first realized she wanted to become an actor at age 12, when she and her brother took a theater class together.{{Cite web |title=CHANGE MAKERS: A Photographic Portrait Series by Jena Cumbo |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/story/change-makers-a-photographic-portrait-series-by-jena-cumbo/nQUhTttOGt2yIg |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=Google Arts & Culture |language=en}} She went to Westwood High School, and went on to the Texas State University where she graduated with bachelor's degree in acting.{{Cite web |last=Wakeman |first=Gregory |date=August 22, 2022 |title=Roberta Colindrez: From Class Clown to the Baseball Diamond |url=https://www.texasobserver.org/roberta-colindrez-league-their-own/ |access-date=November 4, 2023 |website=The Texas Observer |language=en-US}} She later moved to New York City.{{cite web |author=Yohana Desta |date=May 12, 2017 |title=I Love Dick Breakout Roberta Colindrez Is Raising Eyebrows and Breaking Barriers |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/05/roberta-colindrez-i-love-dick |access-date=June 2, 2019 |work=Vanity Fair}} While trying to find work as an actor, she also worked in restaurants and as a church janitor. Colindrez eventually joined the New York Neo-Futurists.{{Cite web |last=Wakeman |first=Gregory |date=August 22, 2022 |title=Roberta Colindrez: From Class Clown to the Baseball Diamond |url=https://www.texasobserver.org/roberta-colindrez-league-their-own/ |access-date=November 4, 2023 |website=The Texas Observer |language=en-US}}
Career
Colindrez made her off-Broadway debut in 2006, in the Neo-Futurist revue Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. She appeared in several short films and regional theater productions after that, and in 2011 she wrote and starred in the film Otis Under Sky. In 2013, she began playing Joan in the musical Fun Home off-Broadway. The show closed in early 2014, then opened on Broadway in 2015, where it won five Tony Awards and was nominated for seven more.
Colindrez has made guest appearances on several television series. Her performance on I Love Dick was described as a "breakout" in an interview with Vanity Fair.
In 2018, Colindrez joined the cast of HBO's The Deuce as Irene. In 2019, Colindrez joined Vida as Nico.{{Cite web |last=Gilchrist |first=Tracy E. |date=2020-06-01 |title=Roberta Colindrez on Vida's Legacy, Depiction of Butch Bodies on TV |url=https://www.advocate.com/television/2020/6/01/roberta-colindrez-vidas-legacy-depiction-butch-bodies-tv |access-date=November 4, 2023 |website=Advocate |language=en}}
She also does voice acting work, most notably on the podcast Alice Isn't Dead,{{cite news |author=Alex Velázquez |date=July 31, 2018 |title=Queer Latinx Heartthrob Roberta Colindrez Joins the Cast of Vida |work=Into |url=https://www.intomore.com/culture/queer-latinx-heartthrob-roberta-colindrez-joins-the-cast-of-vida |access-date=June 2, 2019}} and writes for the stage.
In 2020, Colindrez joined the cast of Amazon's A League of Their Own, about the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, as the character Lupe.{{Cite web |last=Petski |first=Denise |date=February 14, 2020 |title='A League Of Their Own' Adds Chanté Adams, Roberta Colindrez, Melanie Field As Amazon Firms Up Pilot Cast |url=https://deadline.com/2020/02/a-league-of-their-own-adds-chante-adams-roberta-colindrez-melanie-field-as-amazon-firms-up-pilot-cast-1202860250/ |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=December 14, 2020 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Escobar |first=Cristina |date=August 25, 2022 |title=Roberta Colindrez Defies and Inhabits the Gay-Latina Label in "A League of Their Own" |url=https://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/roberta-colindrez-steals-show-on-league-their-own-48928440 |access-date=November 4, 2023 |website=Popsugar |language=en}}
Colindrez also originated the role of the Farmer in a 2022 workshop of the first act of Césaire José Carroll-Domínguez's epic historical play Spreckles which premiered in the 2022 Beyond The Box performance festival in Marfa, Texas with the Marfa Live Arts group in the Crowley Theater.
Personal life
Colindrez identifies as queer{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/team-behind-vida-wants-complicate-queerness-tv-n1009511 |title=Team behind Vida wants to 'complicate' queerness on TV |author=Gwen Aviles |publisher=NBC News |date=May 24, 2019 |access-date=June 2, 2019}} and butch.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/13/t-magazine/butch-stud-lesbian.html |title=The Butches and Studs Who've Defied the Male Gaze |author=Kerry Manders |work=New York Times |date=April 13, 2020 |access-date=August 27, 2020}}
Colindrez became close friends with Bobbi Salvör Menuez on the set of I Love Dick. Menuez gave Colindrez a stick and poke tattoo as a memento of their friendship.
Credits
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Role ! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 2008
| One Dollar Poem | | Short |
| 2011
| Otis Under Sky | Ursula | Also writer |
| rowspan="2"|2013
| Beautiful Dreamer | Catherina | Short |
| The Artist's Assistant
| Justine | Short |
| 2014
| Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) | Broadway Woman on Street | |
| rowspan="2"|2019
| Lex Cordova |
| Friends Like That
| Alex | Short |
| 2022
| Lola Nelson | |
| 2023
| Sabrina | |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Role ! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 2012–2014
| Girls | Tako | 2 episodes |
| rowspan="4"|2014
| F to 7th | Baby | Episode: "Down to Zero" |
| Gotham
| Female Detective | Episode: "Pilot" |
| Unforgettable
| Pam Lisotta | Episode: "Throwing Shade" |
| Boardwalk Empire
| | Episode: "Golden Days for Boys and Girls" |
| 2015
| Self/Joan | Episode: "Ed Helms/Alison Bechdel/Fun Home/Brad Wilk" |
| 2016–2017
| Devon | 8 episodes{{IMDb title |id=5478730 |title=I Love Dick}} |
| rowspan="2"|2018
| FBI Agent Grace | Episode: "Day 492" |
| Home
| Roberta Colindrez | Episode: "Home on the Range" |
| 2018–2019
| Irene | 12 episodes |
| 2019
| Happyhardonhenry806 | Episode: "404 Not Found" |
| 2019–2020
| Vida | Nico Silva | 14 episodes |
| rowspan="3"|2020
| Detective Boyd | Episode: "Det. Dave Russell vs Chris Keller 1983"{{Citation|title="Interrogation" Det. Dave Russell vs Chris Keller 1983 (TV Episode 2020) - IMDb|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9702902/|language=en|access-date=November 1, 2020}} |
| Mrs. America
| Jules | Episode: "Phyllis & Fred & Brenda & Marc" |
| Monsterland
| Shawn Greene | Episode: "Plainfield, Illinois"{{Cite web|date=October 4, 2020|title=Monsterland Season 1, Episode 5 explained: 'Plainfield, Illinois'|url=https://showsnob.com/2020/10/04/monsterland-episode-5-plainfield-illinois/|access-date=October 23, 2020|website=Show Snob|language=en-US}} |
| rowspan="2"|2021
| Tonya Acosta (voice) | 5 episodes |
| High Herstory
| The Storyteller/Ellen Ochoa | 2 episodes |
| 2022
| Lupe Garcia | 8 episodes |
| 2024
| Eric | Ronnie |
=Theater=
- Water, NPR Playhouse
- The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill: Vol. 2
- Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, off-Broadway, 2006
- Song for the Disappeared, Sundance Theater Lab
- Fun Home, Joan, off-Broadway, Sep. 30, 2013 – Jan. 12, 2014
- Mala Hierba, Maritza, Second Stage Theater, 2014
- Fun Home, Joan, Broadway, Apr. 19, 2015 – September, 2016
- Hamlet, Rosencrantz, off-Broadway, 2017
- Spreckles, Marfa Live Arts, 2022''
= Podcasts =
- Alice Isn't Dead, 6 episodes, 2016–2017
- It Makes a Sound, Pam Orland, 1 episode, 2018{{cite web |title=It Makes a Sound | date=January 20, 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4jCqT34ljA |via=YouTube |access-date=March 4, 2019}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{wikiquote}}
- {{IMDb name}}
- {{IBDB name}}
- {{Playbill person|roberta-colindrez-vault-0000125832}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20150302163342/http://www.playbillvault.com/Person/Detail/125832/Roberta-Colindrez archived])
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colindrez, Roberta}}
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:American stage actresses
Category:American musical theatre actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:American people of Argentine descent
Category:American people of Honduran descent
Category:Mexican stage actresses
Category:Mexican musical theatre actresses
Category:Mexican television actresses
Category:Mexican people of Argentine descent
Category:Mexican people of Honduran descent
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:21st-century Mexican actresses
Category:21st-century Mexican women writers
Category:American queer actresses
Category:Mexican LGBTQ writers
Category:American LGBTQ writers
Category:LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people
Category:Hispanic and Latino American actresses
Category:Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights