Monica Maria Raymund is an American actress, known for her roles as Maria "Ria" Torres in the Fox crime drama Lie to Me, Dana Lodge in the CBSlegal dramaThe Good Wife, Gabriela Dawson in the NBC drama Chicago Fire and Jackie Quińones in the Starzcrime dramaHightown.
Early life and education
Raymund was born in St. Petersburg, Florida, to Steve Raymund, the board chairman and retired CEO of Tech Data Corp., a Clearwater-based distributor of computer components and software, and Sonia, "a community volunteer co-founder of the Soulful Arts Dance Academy in St. Petersburg," who hails from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Her father was of German and Eastern EuropeanJewish descent. Her mother is Dominican and attended a Reform Judaism temple. Her paternal grandfather was businessman and philanthropist Edward C. Raymund. Raymund's younger brother, Will was a graduate of Berklee College of Music, and a sound and lighting engineer and music promoter. He died in August 2015. She was raised Jewish and celebrated a bat mitzvah. In high school, she participated in the "Broadway Theater Project" in Tampa and at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem." Raymund graduated from Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2004, and from the Juilliard School in New York City in 2008.
Career
Reportedly, Raymund performed in Cymbeline directed by Richard Feldman, The Diviners, and Animal Farm all at the Juilliard School. Raymund also appeared in her native St. Petersburg, Florida, in the LiveArts Peninsula Foundation's original production of Manhattan Casino where she originated the leading role of Althea Dunbar and Webb's City: The Musical." Raymund "is a three-year alumna of Ann Reinking's Broadway Theater Project, where she has been a featured performer." Raymund has also "worked with playwright José Rivera on Boleros for the Disenchanted at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston" in 2008. In April 2008, she appeared the NBC legal drama , in season 9 episode 17 titled "" in the opening scene as a strip search prank call victim. From 2009 to 2011, she starred in the Fox crime drama Lie to Me, where she played Maria "Ria" Torres, a human lie detector who is a "natural", meaning she has no formal training in detecting lies or the emotions of others. She was using crutches because of a knee injury when she auditioned for this role. From 2011 until 2012, Raymund had a recurring role in the third season of the CBS legal drama The Good Wife, where she played Dana Lodge, an assistant states attorney. In 2012, Raymund began starring in the NBC drama Chicago Fire. She played Gabriela Dawson Casey, the paramedic in charge and a firefighter candidate. On May 15, 2018, Raymund confirmed that she was leaving the show after six seasons. That September, she briefly appeared on the show in the seventh-season premiere "A Closer Eye". On November 8, 2018, it was announced that she was unsure if she would ever return to the show, but the door has remained open for her. In November 2019, she returned to the show in the eighth-season fall finale "Bestfriend Magic". In 2020, Raymund began starring as Jackie Quiñones in the Starz crime drama Hightown.
Personal life
On June 11, 2011, Raymund married writer Neil Patrick Stewart. They separated in early 2013 and divorced in 2014. Raymund is an ardent supporter of LGBT rights. In February 2014, she came out publicly as bisexualfor the first time via Twitter. Before that, she had been out privately for over ten years. On September 16, 2015, Raymund announced via Twitter that she had begun dating Tari Segal.
