Roberta Colindrez is a Mexican-American actor and writer known for originating the role of Joan in the musical ''

Fun Home ''Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'' is a 2006 Graphic novel, graphic memoir by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, author of the comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For''. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, Uni ...

.'' Colindrez is also known for roles in the TV shows ''

I Love Dick ''I Love Dick'' is a novel by American artist and author Chris Kraus. Published by Semiotext(e) in 1997, ''I Love Dick'' merges fiction and memoir formats to explore the writer's psycho-sexual obsession with the eponymous "Dick", a media theoris ...

,'' '' Vida, and'' Amazon Prime's ''

A League of Their Own ''A League of Their Own'' is a 1992 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Penny Marshall that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). The film stars Tom Hanks, Geena ...

''.

Early life

Born in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

with

Argentinian Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

and Honduran heritage, Colindrez grew up in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

and Austin in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. She first realized she wanted to become an actor at age 12, when she and her brother took a theater class together. She moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

when starting out as a professional actor.

Career

Colindrez made her off-Broadway debut in 2006, starring in ''

Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind ''Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes'' (Too Much Light or TML) was the longest running show in the history of theater in Chicago and was the only open-run Off-Off-Broadway show in New York. The show was originally perfor ...

''. She appeared in several short films and regional theatre productions after that, and in 2011 she wrote and starred in the film ''Otis Under Sky''. In 2013, she began playing Joan, a "confident young lesbian", in the musical ''

'' off-Broadway. The show closed in early 2014, and after a cameo in the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning film '' Birdman'', ''Fun Home'' opened on Broadway in 2015, where it won 5

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

and was nominated for 7 more. Colindrez has also made guest appearances on several television series and her performance on ''

'' as a butch artist was described as a " breakout" in an interview with '' Vanity Fair''; showrunner

Joey Soloway Joey Soloway (previously Jill Soloway; born September 26, 1965) is an American television creator, showrunner, director and writer. Soloway is known for creating, writing, executive producing and directing the Amazon original series ''Transparent' ...

described Colindrez's performance as "masterful", portraying "a queer cowboy masculinity". In 2019, Colindrez joined the cast of

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

TV drama '' Vida'' as a series regular from the second season. She also does

voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

work, most notably in the podcast '' Alice Isn't Dead''. In 2020, Colindrez joined the cast of

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

's comedy pilot ''

.'' Colindrez also writes for the stage, preferring "dark, heavy, comedic nuance".

Personal life

Colindrez identifies as queer and butch and nearly passed on '' Vida'' because she was worried about being

typecast In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

. Prior to ''Vida'', she had faced difficulty establishing her acting career because of her sexuality and

gender nonconformity Gender variance or gender nonconformity is behavior or gender expression by an individual that does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A gender-nonconforming person may be variant in their gender identity, being transgender or non-bina ...

and has spoken about Hollywood being "a place where people who are queer will only be seen as queers". She accepted the role after showrunner

Tanya Saracho Tanya Selene Saracho is a Mexican-American actress, playwright, dramaturge and screenwriter. With a background in theater before writing for television, she co-founded in 2000 and was its co-artistic director for ten years. She also co-founded ...

persuaded her that the character would not be a stereotype. Colindrez became close friends with Bobbi Salvör Menuez on the set of ''I Love Dick'', which she found helpful when filming a

sex scene Sex in film, the presentation of aspects of human sexuality, sexuality in film, specially human sexuality, has been controversial since the development of the medium. Films which display or suggest sexual behavior have been criticized by religi ...

with Menuez. Menuez gave Colindrez a stick and poke tattoo as a memento of their friendship.

Credits

Film

Television

Theatre

* ''Water'',

NPR Playhouse ''NPR Playhouse'' was a series of radio dramas from National Public Radio. The series was a successor to the NPR series '' Earplay'' and was discontinued in September 2002. Beginning on March 1, 1981, the ''Playhouse'' production of the first of ...

* '' The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill: Vol. 2'' * ''

'', off-Broadway, 2006 * ''Song for the Disappeared'', Sundance Theatre Lab * ''

'', Joan, off-Broadway, Sep. 30, 2013 – Jan. 12, 2014 * ''Mala Hierba'', Maritza,

Second Stage Theatre Second Stage Theater is a theater company founded in 1979 by Robyn Goodman and Carole Rothman and located in Manhattan, New York City. It produces both new plays and revivals of contemporary American plays by new playwrights and established wri ...

, 2014 * ''

'', Joan, Broadway, Apr. 19, 2015 – September, 2016 * ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'',

Rosencrantz Rosenkranz is the German word for rosary. Rosenkranz, Rosenkrantz, Rosencrance, Rosencrans or Rosencrantz may refer to: * Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two characters in Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' * ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'', a 1966 ...

, off-Broadway, 2017

Podcasts

* '' Alice Isn't Dead'', 6 episodes, 2016–2017 * ''It Makes a Sound'', Pam Orland, 1 episode, 2018

References

External links

* * *
archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colindrez, Roberta Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) American stage actresses American musical theatre actresses American television actresses American people of Argentine descent American people of Honduran descent Mexican stage actresses Mexican musical theatre actresses Mexican television actresses Mexican people of Argentine descent Mexican people of Honduran descent 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American women writers 21st-century Mexican actresses 21st-century Mexican women writers Queer women Queer actresses LGBT actors from Mexico LGBT writers from Mexico American LGBT writers LGBT Hispanic and Latino American people Hispanic and Latino American actresses Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights