Naya Rivera

Naya Rivera dated recording artist Big Sean for a year before dating Ryan Dorsey. Interestingly, Rivera had previously dated Dorsey four years earlier as well. The two hit it off well and got married on July 19, 2014 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. They welcomed their son Josey Hollis Dorsey on September 2015. However, not all went right between the two and Rivera and Dorsey’s marriage hit the rocks in 2016. They filed for a divorce in November 2016.

Together with her family, Rivera resides in Los Angeles. She is a bisexual. She is an active philanthropist and works with many charitable organizations including GLAAD, The Trevor Project, Stand Up To Cancer, The Elephant Project and The Sunshine Foundation.

Naya Rivera was born on January 12, 1987 in Valencia neighbourhood of Santa Clarita, California to Yolanda and George Rivera. She has a Puerto Rican, African American, and German ancestry. She has a younger brother Mychal Rivera and a younger sister Nickayla Rivera.

At merely nine months of age, Rivera began to be represented by the same talent agency that represented her model mother. She soon started appearing in commercials for Kmart as a baby.

At the age of four, Naya Rivera got the role of Hillary Winston in the sitcom ‘The Royal Family’ sitcom. Though the show opened on a positive note with high ratings and good reviews, it was cancelled following the sudden death of actor Redd Foxx.

Between 1992 and 2002, Rivera bagged numerous guest roles in popular television series including ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’, ‘Family Matters’, ‘Live Shot’, ‘Baywatch’, ‘Smart Guy’, ‘The Jersey’, ‘House Blend’, ‘Even Stevens’ and ‘The Master of Disguise’.

In 2002, Rivera appeared in the music video for B2K's ‘Why I Love You’. Same year, her single episode guest role in ‘The Bernie Mac Show’ was stretched to ten-episodes that ranged throughout the five seasons. Though the guest appearances kept her busy creatively, she worked part time as a telemarketer, nanny and greeter at Abercrombie & Fitch to sustain herself.

After a bevy of auditions and guest roles, it was in 2009 that Rivera got the big breakthrough of her career. She was cast as Santana Lopez, a high school cheerleader, on Fox’s musical comedy ‘Glee’. The fact that the role gave her an opportunity to sing, dance and act all at the same time was exciting enough for her. Furthermore, she was a big fan of Ryan Murphy’s work.

For her role in ‘Glee’, Rivera took inspiration from her own high school experience. It was during the last nine episodes of the first season of ‘Glee’ that Santana’s character of a mean, headstrong ‘bad’ girl came out explicitly. Her brilliant portrayal of the character earned her a regular spot at the beginning of the second season.

The masterpiece of Rivera’s career came with her role as Santana Lopez in ‘Glee’. Her character of a lesbian cheerleader who was mean, vicious and headstrong was put across brilliantly by her. Critics lauded her effortless portrayal of a ‘bitchy sophomore’ who was wrecking havoc in people’s life and posing as a high school terror. Rivera’s to point portrayal of her villainous bad girl earned her a name in the acting circuit as one of the promising stars of the future to look out for. She also earned herself a couple of awards and nominations.