Naya Rivera
Naya Marie Rivera was an American actress, singer, and model. She began her career as a child actress and model, appearing in national television commercials before landing the role of Hillary Winston on the short-lived CBS sitcom The Royal Family at the age of four. For the part she received a nomination for a Young Artist Award. After a series of recurring television roles and guest spots as a teenager, Rivera got her breakthrough role in 2009 as lesbian cheerleader Santana Lopez on the Fox television series Glee. For the role, she received critical acclaim and nominations for numerous awards.
Rivera was signed to Columbia Records as a solo musical artist in 2011 and — despite never releasing a studio album — released her only single, "Sorry", in 2013. On film, Rivera made her debut as Vera in the horror film At the Devil's Door before playing a supporting role in the comedy film Mad Families. Her personal life garnered significant press and media attention throughout her career, and in 2016 she published a memoir titled Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up. Because of her varied roles across her three decades as a performer, Rivera is seen as having been a vanguard of Afro-Latinx and queer representation on television.
On July 8, 2020, Rivera drowned at Lake Piru, near Santa Clarita, California while swimming with her four-year-old son Josey, who was found alone on their rented boat. Her body was recovered from the lake on the morning of July 13, following a five-day search.
Early life
Naya Marie Rivera was born in Santa Clarita, California, on January 12, 1987, and raised in Santa Clarita's Valencia neighborhood. She lived in or around Los Angeles for most of her life. She was of African American, German, and Puerto Rican descent. When the term "Afro-Latinx" became widespread in the 2010s she was often identified as such. Her parents are Yolanda Previtire, a former model, and George Rivera, who worked various jobs including at Disney and the Universal Music Publishing Group. George and Yolanda had married in 1986 but divorced in 1996, and Yolanda married Charles Previtire in 1999; Rivera was close with her stepfather. Rivera was the oldest of three children: her younger brother is former NFL tight end Mychal Rivera, and her younger sister is runway model Nickayla Rivera. During the time her parents were married, the family income would fluctuate dramatically, sometimes living lavishly and other times struggling. Rivera said that her family went boating rather than camping when she was young, which she enjoyed though she did not like to get her hair wet, adding that they had a scary experience when their anchor got stuck and her father injured himself on the propeller trying to free the boat.At 8 or 9 months old, Rivera began to be represented by the same talent agent as her mother, who had moved to Los Angeles to pursue modeling. Rivera was a fan of Michael Jackson from a young age and became friends with one of Jackson's nieces as a child actress, visiting Neverland Ranch twice. She also met Tupac Shakur as a child; he was a fan of her acting and went over to introduce himself after spotting her family at LAX. Rivera attended Valencia High School in Santa Clarita. Her mother had convinced her to join a choir in her freshman year, but she quit it after a few weeks because she was constantly overlooked for classmate Nazanin Mandi. She challenged Mandi to a sing-off for a solo, but Mandi declined and so Rivera left. She instead spent her free time at acting auditions. She suffered with anorexia as a teenager, something she opened up about as an adult.
Career
1991–2008: Career beginnings
Rivera appeared in commercials for Kmart as a baby, but her first significant acting job was at age 4 when she appeared as Hillary Winston in The Royal Family sitcom in 1991. As she could not read the scripts, she would learn her lines through recitation and memorize them. This skill stayed with her, as she was known for learning lines quickly and never messing up on set. The show received positive reviews and high ratings initially, but it was canceled soon after star Redd Foxx suffered a sudden heart attack on set, which Rivera witnessed. Watching Foxx die in front of her at a young age affected her for the rest of her life, with a colleague from her final role saying that since the incident, for Rivera, season finales "were devastating could represent the end of her life as she knew it". She received a Young Artist Award nomination for her performance in the series.As a child and teen actor between 1992 and 2002, Rivera was part of the golden age of Black sitcoms, and had small roles in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters, Live Shot, Baywatch, Smart Guy, House Blend, Even Stevens and The Master of Disguise. In 2002, she also appeared in the music video for B2K's "Why I Love You". She then had a guest appearance on The Bernie Mac Show in 2002, before returning to the show for ten episodes throughout its five-season run. Growing up mixed-race in the entertainment industry, she found that her ethnicity could both help and stifle her opportunities: sometimes she found that she could not be typecast by casting directors because she "wasn't Black enough, or Latina enough" and struggled to get roles as either ethnicity, but has also said that she "could play a lot of different ethnicities, from just plain old dark-skinned white girl, to Latino, to African-American", broadening the roles she could audition for. As she got older, she was featured in episodes of 8 Simple Rules and . By this point, roles dried up and she was working less frequently. In between auditions and roles, Rivera worked jobs as a telemarketer, a nanny and a greeter at an Abercrombie & Fitch store. In 2006 and 2007, Rivera took part in a production of Mark E. Swinton's play, U Don't Know Me: The Musical, both in Los Angeles and when the production was taken on national tour. Rivera auditioned for an unspecified season of American Idol during the San Francisco auditions, but was cut in the first round.
2009–2011: Breakthrough and acclaim with ''Glee''
In 2009, Rivera was cast as Santana Lopez, a high school cheerleader, on Fox's musical comedy series Glee, about a high school glee club. She auditioned for the opportunity "to sing, dance and act all in the same show," and because she was a fan of co-creator Ryan Murphy's previous work on Nip/Tuck. She drew on her own high school experience of unpopularity to prepare for the role, as well as watching films such as Mean Girls to "really get in the zone and feel like a bitchy sophomore". She described her character Santana as "your typical high school cheerleader, for the most part," explaining: "She's really mean and loves boys. She's really witty so I love playing her", as well as characterizing her as "a bit of a bad girl" who is "really snarky and always has these really witty one-liners she throws out there." Rivera enjoyed the fact Santana is competitive and headstrong, as they shared those traits, but disliked Santana's mean streak. She found the show's pacing challenging, especially the dancing, and commented in June 2009 that her most memorable moment on Glee was performing the Cheerios' glee club audition piece, "I Say a Little Prayer". Santana played a more prominent part in the last nine episodes of Glee first season, with Rivera commenting at the time: "Santana's been wreaking havoc with people's boyfriends and people's babies and teachers – she's the high school terror, and she's going to continue to be the villain".at the Manchester Arena during the Glee concert tour in 2011.
After having her screen time and musical involvement increased in the second half of the first season, Rivera was promoted to series regular as of the beginning of the second season. She was given her first solo in the fifth episode of season two, "The Rocky Horror Glee Show", and performed several others as the season progressed. During the second season, Rivera's role in the show was radically changed when it was revealed that her character was a lesbian. Rivera portrayed Santana struggling to come to terms with her sexuality, with her love for her best friend, and with her inability to come out of the closet. She received favorable reviews for her performance. A BBC retrospective in 2020 looked at the impact of Rivera's role as Santana, and the important representation it gave internationally for young queer women and the idea of being out in the music industry. The article did note that casting a straight actress for the role may have been frowned upon in later years, but that just having the representation was revolutionary at the time and it was positive that Rivera openly embraced playing the lesbian character. In January 2011, Rivera appeared in a Funny or Die parody of "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang", called "Nuthin' But a Glee Thang", which had been co-written by her Glee co-star Heather Morris. Morris and Rivera, who played girlfriends and ultimately wives on the show, remained close friends for the rest of Rivera's life.
In July 2011, Rivera was nominated for two ALMA Awards, in the categories of Favorite Female Music Artist and Favorite TV Actress – Leading Role in a Comedy. Rivera received a great amount of critical praise for both her acting and her singing performances in the latter part of season two and the beginning of season three. As 2011 ended, she or her character were on many "Best Of" lists, including HitFix's 25 Breakout Stars of 2011, TV Guide Best Performances of 2011, MTV Best TV Characters of 2011, as well as others. In the second half of the series' third season, she was given the opportunity to do a duet with Ricky Martin, and worked with Gloria Estefan, who was cast as Santana's mother. As the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards approached, Rivera was listed by many critics and media outlets as deserving of a nomination; The Hollywood Reporter included her in their "Emmy 2012: Supporting Players" photo shoot, and Rivera was also honored by E!, HitFix, TV Guide, and others. She was also chosen by the TV Academy to take part in a promotional video for the upcoming awards ceremony.
2011–2014: Musical solo debut and film debut
In May 2011, it was announced that Rivera had signed a deal with Columbia Records to produce a solo album. The musical duo 2Cellos released the second single to their second album, a cover of Muse's "Supermassive Black Hole" featuring vocals by Rivera. She also starred in the music video for the song. Her debut single "Sorry", featuring rapper Big Sean, was released as a digital download on September 17, 2013. However, production on the album "kind of halted" due to "so many things going on". Rivera said: "Politics got involved so I've been putting it on the back burner; there are a lot of things that I'm doing that I'm excited about". She voiced a rebellious reindeer character called Sparkle in the 2013 Christmas movie The Naughty List, for which she won a voice acting award.On May 1, 2014, it was reported that Columbia had dropped Rivera because her debut single had underperformed. Rivera's representative released a statement to news outlets stating that any claims were falsified, and that legal action would be potentially taken to ensure Rivera's creditability; at the time of publishing, Columbia Records could not be reached for comment. Rivera subsequently worked on an immigrant project with Guillermo Diaz, directing a short film PSA about the effect of immigration on children and their parents. While Diaz's part is about telling the stories of young dreamers and the fear they have of their mothers being deported, Rivera's PSA is about the problems immigrants deal with or face in the United States.
At the Devil's Door, Rivera's debut feature film, premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas on March 9, 2014. The film has been described by its director, Nicholas McCarthy, as "a unique kind of genre film I think, almost like a Rubik's cube of a horror movie". The film was released through video on demand on August 8, 2014, and theatrically released on September 12, 2014. The film continued to play at festivals, receiving mixed reviews. Rivera's acting, however, received praise. Edgar Chaput, of Sound on Sight, called Rivera "the standout... the most natural performance in the film" and Marsha McCreadie of Film Journal wrote, "At the Devil's Door doesn't pick up steam until late in the story, when Rivera carries the narrative". Jeremy Kibler of Diabolique magazine wrote: "Coming primarily from a TV background and fun to watch the eye-grabbing Naya Rivera adjusts to the big screen with ease in front of the camera. Her Vera is headstrong and rigid but cut with just the right amount of vulnerability".
2015–2020: Return to television
In 2015, Rivera portrayed the recurring role of Blanca Alvarez in the third season of Lifetime's drama series Devious Maids, and from 2014 to 2015 was a recurring guest host of The View. She wrote a memoir titled Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up in September 2016. She starred in another film, Mad Families, in 2017. The film focuses on three families – one white, one Latino, and one African-American – being forced together on a camping trip, with Rivera's "peacemaker" character Felipa as one of the Latinos. In 2018, she auditioned for the role of Anita in the 2020 remake of West Side Story with the song "America", a song and role that she had performed on Glee. In 2019, it was reported that the comic was being adapted into a, with Rivera voicing one of the main roles. Both parts of the film were expected to be released in 2020, though it was still in production in June 2020 and currently has no release date.Rivera was announced as part of the cast for the YouTube Red series Step Up: High Water, taking the leading role of school administrator and dance instructor Collette Jones, alongside Ne-Yo in 2018. The show's executive producer, Adam Shankman, had directed Rivera in "The Rocky Horror Glee Show" episode and helped her prepare for her first solo in it. He said that Rivera took the leading role in Step Up as "a favor" to him before becoming "the mother of whole cast" and the show's North Star. Showrunner Holly Sorensen recalled that Collette was one of the last characters to be cast; Shankman called Rivera as soon as she was discussed for the role and Rivera was immediately enthusiastic. Rivera said during the second season that the show felt like home in the way making Glee did. The series moved to Starz in May 2020, and Rivera was announced to be continuing her role; at the time, the third season was in production, but no timetable for its release was given. Of the renewal, Sorensen said Rivera was "more excited than she's ever been for a season of TV". After Rivera's death, Deadline reported that the third season would be rewritten, but "not right away" as the cast and crew took time away to process the loss.
In February 2020, shortly before filming was shut down, Rivera recorded a guest spot in an episode of the Netflix show Sugar Rush, to be released on July 31, 2020. Following her death shortly before this date, Netflix entered discussions with Rivera's family and manager about releasing the episode; it was announced on the day before the season's release that it would be airing as planned, with the episode dedicated to her.
Public image
During her career, Rivera appeared on the covers of several magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Maxim, Rolling Stone, FHM, Complex, Glow, Prestige, The Hollywood Reporter, Cosmo for Latinas, Latina, Fit Pregnancy and Baby and Galore. She was selected by People en Español for their 2012 '50 Most Beautiful' list, and in May 2012 she made FHM's 100 Sexiest Women list, coming in at number 39. She made the Maxim Hot 100 list in 2012 for the third year in a row, moving up sixteen spots to number 27. In May 2013, Rivera posed nude in an issue of Allure magazine. Rivera was ranked at number one on AfterEllen.com's "Hot 100" list in 2011 and 2012, and at number three in 2013.In October 2012, Rivera was featured in the third episode of MTV's series This Is How I Made It. In the episode, Rivera recounted her childhood career as an actress and a model, as well as the lean times that came between the age of 16 and 21, leading up to her big break of being cast on Glee. In December 2011 she was named a celebrity spokesperson for Proactiv. She starred in an M&Ms commercial that aired during Super Bowl XLVII on February 3, 2013 as the girl to whom "Red" is referring.
With her diverse acting roles, Rivera was seen as one of the earliest and most profound examples of both Afro-Latinx representation and queer Latinx representation on prime time television.
Personal life
Relationships and family
Rivera dated actor Tahj Mowry between 2000 and 2004, after having first met shooting a commercial when Rivera was four and later working together on Smart Guy in the 1990s. She remained close with Tahj and his sisters, Tia and Tamera Mowry, for many years, including helping the sisters find an apartment when they got kicked out of their house and appearing on Tia Mowry at Home in 2017. In an Instagram tribute post on July 12, the day before Rivera's body was found, Mowry professed his love for his ex-girlfriend, writing: "You were my first experience with everything; love, intimacy, heartbreak. No woman has ever measured up what you gave me or how you made me feel". He also said he never stopped loving her and "wished for the day where God would bring us back together to be what we dreamt we could have been". Rivera then dated Glee co-star Mark Salling between 2008 and 2010. The two had a rocky relationship and ultimately split at the request of Salling's publicist; she later said that Salling breaking up with her felt like "the worst thing ever" at the time. Salling was arrested in 2015 for possessing child pornography; in her book, Rivera expressed that she was not "totally shocked" at this, but it still took her by surprise. She began dating recording artist Big Sean in April 2013. They announced their engagement in October 2013, but ended their relationship in April 2014. In her memoir, Rivera wrote that she found out their relationship was over "at the same time as the rest of the world" when Big Sean published it on the internet. After they broke up, she asked Big Sean not to write a song about her; this instead encouraged him to do so, writing "I Don't Fuck with You", the lead single from his 2015 album Dark Sky Paradise. The song peaked at number one on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and at number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Rivera performed the song on a 2018 episode of Lip Sync Battle.Soon after her split from Big Sean, Rivera began dating actor Ryan Dorsey, who she had previously dated four years earlier. They were married in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in July 2014. On February 24, 2015, Rivera announced that she and Dorsey were expecting their first child and their son, Josey Hollis, was born in September 2015. In her memoir, Rivera revealed that she had an abortion in 2010, shortly after splitting from Dorsey, due to the fact that her career was taking off with the success of Glee, something which she had not told Dorsey until they got back together. In November 2016, she filed for divorce after two years of marriage, but called off the separation in October 2017. In late November 2017, Rivera was arrested and charged in Kanawha County, West Virginia with misdemeanor domestic battery against Dorsey after she allegedly hit him in the head during an altercation over their child. Her bond was set at $1,000, and she was released and picked up from the courthouse by her father-in-law. She subsequently refiled for divorce in December 2017. Later that month, Rivera and Dorsey agreed to temporarily share joint custody of their son. In January 2018, the domestic battery charge was dismissed at the request of Dorsey, who "notified both the prosecution and the defense counsel that he was no longer seeking prosecution and has confirmed he was never at any time injured by the conduct of Ms. Rivera". On June 14, 2018, Rivera and Dorsey finalized their divorce.
In January 2015, during an appearance as a guest host on The View, Rivera alluded to her possible bisexuality. Rosie O'Donnell remarked on a study showing that bisexual women were more likely to have mental health problems than lesbians, to which Rivera replied, "Rosie, no wonder I'm crazy. This just solves it all".
Philanthropy
Rivera dedicated her time to various charitable organizations including GLAAD, Stand Up to Cancer, The Trevor Project, The Elephant Project, and The Sunshine Foundation. In May 2011, Rivera hosted the San Francisco GLAAD Media Awards and in November 2011, Rivera and her Glee co-star Amber Riley performed at the 10th Annual Celebration of Dreams Event for the Dream Foundation On March 24, 2012, she co-hosted the 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York with Glee co-star Cory Monteith. Along with John Stamos, a guest star on the show, both hosts auctioned off kisses to the crowd, raising $15,000. This tradition had started with Rivera when she hosted the 22nd GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco. In October 2012, along with other members of the Glee cast, Rivera took part in "The Biggest Show", a performance of young writers' scripts for the literacy non-profit Young Storytellers, and in December 2012 she attended the annual Trevor Live! event, where she performed a cover of the song "Silent Night".Rivera's favorite charity was Alexandria House, a women's shelter in Los Angeles, which she organized fundraisers for and volunteered at in 2019 and 2020. After her death, a GoFundMe drive she had started for Alexandria House saw an influx of donations in her memory. On June 5, 2020, Rivera attended a Black Lives Matter protest, on what would have been Breonna Taylor's birthday.
Disappearance and death
On July 8, 2020, Rivera was declared a missing person after her four-year-old son, Josey, was found alone in Rivera's rented boat at Lake Piru, a man-made reservoir in the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County, California. The search for both Rivera and Josey had begun at 4:00 p.m. PDT, three hours after they left the dock, when their rental was over and they had not returned. Another boater discovered Josey alone, asleep on the boat with his life jacket on, around 5:00 p.m. The boat was in the Narrows, an area at the north of the lake that can be quite deep and windy. An adult life jacket was found on board, along with Rivera's identification. Josey told investigators that they were swimming. His mother had helped him climb back into the boat but she was unable to climb back onboard herself, and then she disappeared underwater. He also stated that his mother was not wearing a life jacket. Lake Piru is known locally for strong, unpredictable currents and whirlpools that have caused the deaths of swimmers in the past. Rivera's vehicle, a black Mercedes G-Wagen, was found in the parking lot.The Ventura County Sheriff's Office suspended the search and rescue operation that evening and resumed again the following day. The lake was closed to the public, with dive teams from across the region taking part in the search. On July 9, the sheriff's department confirmed to NBC that Rivera was presumed dead and that rescue efforts would now shift to recovery efforts: on the first day of the search, efforts had been made on land to determine if Rivera had made it out of the lake; a lack of evidence and Josey telling officers that he saw his mother disappear underwater led them to change the search to recovery. They also released closed-circuit television footage of Rivera and her son arriving in the parking lot and leaving the dock on the boat, and on July 10 the number of divers involved was cut from around 100 to around 40. The sheriff's department explained that the visibility was so poor it was more probable Rivera would be found by using sonar devices. As well as dive teams and sonar, sniffer dogs were taken out on the lake.
On July 11 and 12, Rivera's parents and stepfather, brother, ex-husband Ryan Dorsey and Glee co-star Heather Morris joined the search team at the lake. Morris had wanted to conduct her own search, and was in contact with the sheriff's captain in charge of the search, Eric Buschow, who she already knew, several times. The sheriff's office dissuaded more civilians from joining the search because of dangerous terrain. They restated that they were searching on land as well as in the lake. On July 11, the sheriff's office had announced that other counties and a private contractor were assisting with the search.
On July 13, it was announced that a body had been found floating in Lake Piru by divers when the search resumed in the morning, at around 9:30 a.m.; the body was confirmed to be Rivera's at a press conference held later that day. She was officially declared dead on July 13, which is reflected on her death certificate, though this document does state that she died "within minutes". The Ventura County sheriff suggested that Rivera and Josey may have found themselves caught in a rip current – these can be common in the area of the lake they were in, especially during the afternoon – and struggled to get back to the boat, which was found unanchored and so may have drifted from where they entered the water. He concluded that she likely "mustered enough energy to save her son, but not enough to save herself", noting that Josey described being pushed back onto the boat by his mother. On July 14, the Ventura County medical examiner released an autopsy report stating that the cause of death was an accidental drowning, and that there was no evidence of injury or intoxication. Buschow told the media that the body had been found just north of Diablo Cove. Rivera was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, Hollywood, a cemetery known for its many entertainment industry burials, following a private service attended by family and close friends, including members of the Glee cast, on July 24, 2020.
Reactions
Rivera's ex-fiancé Big Sean wrote a tribute post on July 19, saying she was "a hero because of the barriers knocked down for so many people to make them feel confident in themselves". Her ex-husband Dorsey made no public statement until after Rivera's funeral, when he posted on Instagram to say that he was still finding her death hard to believe, but that having their son makes coping easier "because a part of will always be with ", promising to raise Josey knowing who his mother was. Other tributes came from Rivera's many Glee co-stars, a group of which had gathered at the lake on July 13 to say prayers, shortly before her body was found. Jane Lynch was one of the first to react after her death, tweeting "Rest sweet, Naya. What a force you were"; several other members of the cast also described her as "". The show's creators, Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk, announced that they planned to start a college fund for Rivera's son, Josey. Co-star Heather Morris posted photos of their sons together, calling her a "consistent and loving friend" who was the "strongest and most resilient human being ". On July 21, Morris also posted a video of herself dancing to Rivera's song "Radio Silence" in tribute.The media noted that Rivera's body was found on the anniversary of the death of her co-star Cory Monteith seven years earlier; a tribute she had sung for him, the song "If I Die Young", saw a surge of views. Lea Michele posted black-and-white images of Monteith and Rivera on Instagram to remember both of the actors, while Max Adler tweeted "Hey July 13th" followed by a middle finger emoji as a reaction to the deaths of his co-stars. Another member of the cast, Kevin McHale, tweeted that " not religious by any means, but you'd be hard-pressed to convince that Cory didn't help find our girl today". Monteith's mother, Ann McGregor, also posted a lengthy tribute, writing how much Rivera's friendship had meant to her son and their family and saying: "We'll carry you in our hearts forever. We miss you. Friends reunited for eternity".
U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a tribute, saying that "As a Latina, it's rare to have rich, complex characters reflect us in media. Naya worked hard to give that gift to so many", and California senator Kamala Harris wrote in a tweet that Rivera inspired "countless young LGBTQ+ people to unapologetically be themselves". Singer Demi Lovato, who played the girlfriend of Rivera's character on Glee in its fifth season, expressed similar sentiments, writing: "The character you played was groundbreaking for tons of closeted queer girls like me and your ambition and accomplishments were inspiring to Latina women all over the world". A memorial to Rivera was constructed under the Lake Piru sign in the days after her death.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
| 1991–92 | The Royal Family | Hillary Winston | 15 episodes | |
| 1992–93 | Family Matters | Gwendolyn | 3 episodes | |
| 1993 | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air | Cindy | Episode: "Bundle of Joy" | |
| 1993 | The Sinbad Show | Party Guest | Episode: "It's My Party, I'll Cry If I Want To" | |
| 1994 | Sirens | Shelly | 1 episode | |
| 1995 | Live Shot | Ann | Episode: "Another Day, Another Story" | |
| 1996 | Baywatch | Willa | Episode: "Scorcher" | |
| 1997–99 | Smart Guy | Tanya Kelly | Episodes: "Baby, It's You and You and You" "Never Too Young" | |
| 2002 | House Blend | Chloe | Pilot episode | |
| 2002 | Even Stevens | Charlene | Episode: "Short Story" | |
| 2002 | My Wife and Kids | Amber | 1 episode | |
| 2002–06 | The Bernie Mac Show | Donna | 11 episodes | |
| 2003 | Soul Food | Lauryn | 2 episodes | |
| 2004 | 8 Simple Rules | Nice Girl | Episode: "Halloween" | |
| 2008 | Girlfriends | Karin | Episode: "Stand and Deliver" | |
| 2008 | Rachel Calvado | Episode: "Power Trip" | ||
| 2009–15 | Glee | Santana Lopez | Recurring role Main role | |
| 2015 | Devious Maids | Blanca Alvarez | 5 episodes | |
| 2016 | American Dad! | Lolo Fuentes | Episode: "The Unincludeds" | |
| 2017 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Herself | Guest judge; episode: "Good Morning Bitches" | |
| 2018–19 | Step Up: High Water | Collette Jones | 20 episodes Season 3 in production at the time of her death | |
| 2020 | Sugar Rush: Extra Sweet | Herself | Guest judge; episode: "Birds of a Feather" Posthumous release |
| Year | Artist | Song title |
| 2002 | B2K | "Why I Love You" |
| 2012 | 2Cellos | "Supermassive Black Hole" |