By Elia Esparza

There is no splendid beginning without a spectacular ending, and for Gina Torres, she is living the actor’s dream– as one TV series ends, another one awaits. Pearson premieres on July 17, 2019, where Torres portrays Jessica Pearson, the super cool and calculating lawyer she played for seven seasons on the top-rated drama, Suits. And. Pearson will mark the first time she is a producer aside from the lead actress.

Torres is well known for her Jessica Pearson role on Suits and now, she is taking her character to Chicago, where she will topline the spinoff series, Pearson.

The role of Jessica has been a life-changing one, earning Torres an ALMA Award, an Imagen Award (as well as multiple additional Imagen nominations), and the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s Award for Outstanding Performance in a Television Series and the Visionary Award from the LA Femme Film Festival.

Born in New York City, Torres is the youngest of three children in a close-knit Cuban-American 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. She is a gifted mezzo-soprano and also sang in a gospel choir. She was married to actor Laurence Fishburn, who divorced in 2018 after 16 years together. This marriage produced a daughter, Delilah Fishburne, born in 2007.

When speaking about how she views herself with regard to being of Afro-Cuban descent, she has said:

“My view of myself doesn’t change. I know who I am. I am a Cuban-American. Both my parents are Cuban– one was a little browner than the other. That’s who I am. I feel sorry that it’s taken so long for the film industry to figure it out and to catch up.”

Since the start of her acting career, Torres has consistently worked and amongst her most notable television credits are her performances on Alias, Firefly, and Angel with dozens more. Torres also recently appeared on The Catch. She has also voiced the roles of Vixen in The Justice League series and Superwoman in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. But it was her collaboration with producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert on four different shows – MANTIS, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess and Cleopatra 2525 (the latter of which earned her an ALMA Award) – that brought her to the masses and promptly shifted her career. Torres’s film credits include The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Jam, South of Pico, I Think I Love My Wife with Chris Rock, Hair Show with Mo’Nique, Five Fingers opposite Laurence Fishburne and Don’t Let Me Drown.

On July 17th, Torres will take the reins of Pearson, and her character will drive the show’s drama of twist and turns. If you remember Jessica Pearson on Suits, well here she is all that and everything that makes Chicago politics sizzle! Brace yourselves, we’re in for a gloriously, deliciously addicting TV series!

No doubt, this is a monumental moment in Torres’ career, considering that Pearson was her idea and successfully pitched it. She stated in a media interview that Suits wrote her exit as a woman who had to take care of some family matters. “Sometimes there are characters that stay with you,” Torres said in her interview. “so I was like, ‘Well, I wonder what Jessica would be doing?’ I was obsessed with the 2016 election and was seeing the best and worst of us…” she explained. “I looked at Kellyanne Conway as a personality. There’s a lot there, and I began to wonder what was happening. ‘Is that person a believer? Is it an opportunistic sort of ambition?’ I sort of superimposed Jessica on top of her because I realized that’s kind of what Jessica did– she would hop across the line and blur it, all for the sake of what she truly believed was the greater good. I wanted to put her in a political arena. That was the genesis of the show.”

Pearson cast: Gina Torres, Morgan Spector, Bethany Joy Lenz, Chantel Riley, El Goree, Simon Kassianides, Isabel Arraiza, and Doug Liman.

Torres is repped by Domain Talent (Agent), Framework Entertainment (Management), Artist & Brand Management (Talent Commercial Agent), and 42West (Publicist).

Follow Gina Torres on Instagram: @Iamginatorres

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