Naya Rivera

Naya Rivera

Personal life[]

Naya was born to George and Yolanda Rivera.^[1] She was raised in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, attended Valencia High School and has lived in or around Los Angeles for most of her life. Rivera has a brother, Mychal, and a sister, Mikayla. Mychal is a former football player and Nickayla is a model.

Rivera attended Valencia High School in Santa Clarita and graduated in 2005.

Rivera and Big Sean went public with their relationship at the premiere of42 in April 2013.^[2] They became engaged in October 2013, after less than a year of dating.^[3] The engagement was announced to be called off after six months in April 2014, via a statement released by Big Sean.^[4]

She married Ryan Dorsey on 19 July 2014 and it was reported on 23 July 2014; they began to date after Rivera's relationship with Big Sean ended.^[5] Rivera announced that she and Dorsey were expecting their first child in February 2015.^[6] The couple's child, a son named Josey Hollis, was born on September 17, 2015.^[7] In November 2016, Rivera would file for divorce and is seeking primary custody of Josey while Dorsey would get visitation rights.

Rivera revealed in her memoir that she had an abortion in 2010 of her and ex-boyfriend (then-husband)'s child and that she had anorexia as a teenager. On October 9, 2017 it was announced, that Naya has called off the divorce, but it is back on now. In June 2018, both Naya Rivera and Ryan Dorsey finalized their divorce. They both agree to share custody of their son Josey. 

Disappearance and death[]

On July 8th, 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. About three hours after they left the dock, another boater discovered Josey asleep on the boat with his life jacket on. An adult life jacket was also found on board, along with Rivera’s identification. Josey is said to have told investigators that his mother was swimming and could not make it back to the boat. Her vehicle, a black Mercedes G Wagon was found in the parking lot. The Ventura County Sheriff's Department suspended the search and rescue operation that evening but announced their intention to resume their efforts at daybreak.

After a second day of searching for her, Rivera was still not found and as they suspended the investigation for yet another night, it was confirmed that she was presumed to have passed away. They changed the investigation from a search-and-rescue mission to a recovery mission.

On July 10th, it was announced that they would begin to use dogs that are trained to smell gasses that come from the human corpse.

On July 13th, it was announced that, in the search for Rivera, a body had been found at Lake Piru;the sheriff's department announced they would hold a press conference at 2:00 pm PDT.The sheriff's department captain, speaking with the Los Angeles Times before the press conference, confirmed the body found was that of Rivera's. He said that it had been discovered by divers almost immediately when the search had resumed in the morning, as it had resurfaced and was floating in the lake. Rivera’s co-stars,Dot-Marie Jones, andKevin McHale shared they felt their late co-star and friend,Cory Monteith had “helped” to find Rivera since her body was found on the 7th anniversary of the day that Monteith died.

Burial[]

She was laid to rest on July 24, 2020, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California.

Career[]

As a baby, Rivera appeared in commercials for Kmart, but her first significant acting job was at the age of four when she starred as Hillary Winston in the Eddie Murphy produced sitcomThe Royal Family in 1991. When The Royal Family ended after one season Naya continued acting, having small roles in many TV shows as well as appearing in commercials.

In 2009, Rivera was cast as Cheerios cheerleading squad member Santana Lopez onFox's musical comedy seriesGlee, about a high schoolglee club. Rivera's character comes off as a cold-hearted and vicious cheerleader. Rivera auditioned for the opportunity "to sing, dance and act all in the same show," and because she was a fan of co-creatorRyan Murphy's previous work onNip/Tuck. Rivera drew on her own high school experience of unpopularity to prepare for the role, as well as watching films such asMean Girls to "really get in the zone and feel like a bitchy Sophomore."

She 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, both her character and herself were on many "Best Of" lists, including HitFix.com's 25 Breakout Stars of 2011, TV Guide's Best Performances of 2011, MTV's Best TV Characters of 2011, Yahoo!'s Television Without Pity 2011 TV's Most Valuable Performers, as well as others.

Rivera is also a model and has appeared on many magazine covers. She was on the Cover of 2011 November issue of FHM magazine in the US, UK, and Australia. She is also a cover girl of the Latina Magazine May 2012 and September 2013 Issue andGlow Summer 2013 Cover. She is currently the Spokesperson of Proactiv Solution and the popular beer, Bud Light. Rivera is currently working on an immigrant project with Guillermo Diaz, which will be 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 US.^[8]

It was confirmed on the 4th February 2015 that she has signed on for a recurring role on Marc Cherry's "Devious Maids". Her character is; "Blanca, a new maid in the neighborhood who has landed a job with the seemingly picture-perfect Beverly Hills family. But she soon discovers a terrible secret–something that could change her life forever."Source

She is also set to co-host more episodes of The View.Source

Music[]

Rivera was announced in June 2011 to have signed with Columbia Records.^[9] Her first single "Sorry," featuring Big Sean, was released on August 9^[10] and was released digitally on September 17, 2013.^[11] She is going to record a Spanish version of "Sorry" featuring Pitbull, which was revealed in October 2013.^[12]Rivera’s album was slated for an early 2014 release date,^[13] however production on the album was kind of halted due to the fact there were so many things going on as of June 2014.^[14]

Author[]

Rivera announced in June 2015, that she wrote a memoir titledSorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up.Sorry Not Sorry was sold to Tarcher and was originally set for a spring 2016 release,^[15] before being moved to September.^[16] Rivera gave behind the scenes photos of her at herSorry Not Sorry cover shoot in February 2016.^[17]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Television[]

Awards and nominations[]

Links and Social Networks[]

• Facebook
• IMDb
• Instagram
• iTunes
• Pinterest
• Tumblr
• Twitter
• Vine

Quotes[]

Trivia[]

• Her vital statistic was 34-22-32.
• Her nicknames were Bee, NayNay, Nay Nay Rivers, Na Nay, Little Bee, The Veiled Fairy, and Snix.^[25]
• If she were not an actress, she would be a writer.
• She didn't like to throw things out.^[25]
• She had a crush on Robin Thicke.^[26]
• She liked sushi and Mexican food.^[25]
• She hated papercuts, and she always thought of getting one on her eye when she thinks of them.^[25]
• She liked to wear her make-up natural.
• She had been best friends withHeather Morris for years, who plays her wife on the show.
• She did planks and side planks to keep her stomach toned.
• There were rumors that she trashedMark Salling's car (as he had been talking to other girls when they had a "thing"), but these rumors are not confirmed and Mark denied them on Twitter.
• Rivera loved to read and was a fan ofNip/Tuck.
• When she was tired, she didn't talk, but mumbled.^[25]
• Her first concert wasNo Doubt.^[25]
• She was very good impersonator.^[25]
• When she was bored, she would drive somewhere, but would always take the longest route.^[25]
• On Valentine's Day, she and her friends would sit in the car, listen to Dashboard Confessional and cry.^[25]
• She was left-handed.
• She had tried to pay a taxi cab ride only in pennies.
• She had six tattoos ("love" in Hebrew on her right wrist, a peace sign on her left ankle, a cross on her lower back, a shooting star on her right foot, and a ribbon on her nape and an unknown one mentioned in FHM).
• She was a fan of the Hunger Games Trilogy and she wanted to play Johanna in the second installment of theHunger Games films.^[27][28]
• She watchedPretty Little Liars and playedPretty Little Liars fantasy games with friends where she is Emily.
• She invented a dance that can be seen on YouTube called "The Naya Dance."
• She was not fluent in Spanish, stated in a Livestream, but she was apparently drunk and/or joking since Amber said, "No you don't, you're a liar." (she really was drunk during the Livestream though).
• She had women propose to her due to her lesbian storyline.
• She was a high contralto and had a 2.6-octave range. Her vocal range was C3-B5.[6]
• For the July 2 show on the Glee tour in Ireland, Naya wore "Lebanese for Irish Girls" that was given to her by a fan, instead of "Lebanese."
• She was seen smoking on a break from filming in New York. She was also seen smoking on her Instagram posts from New Year's Eve of 2018 with her sister. 
• She was a huge Amy Winehouse fan andValerie was her second favorite song ever.
• She auditioned for Glee with the songEmotion by the Bee Gees.
• She starred in the music video "Why I Love You" by B2K.
• She played a prank on the cast by using her extra phone to send mystery texts to the cast and signing them with xoxo -A, like in Pretty Little Liars.
• She was voted by the cast to be the most likely to join the cast of Jersey Shore.
• She worked at Hooters.^[29]
• Her all-time favorite song was 'A Song For You' by Donny Hathaway.^[30]
• Her favorite childhood show was Boy Meets World or Doug.
• Her favorite accessory was a nice watch.^[31]
• In May 2011, it was announced that Rivera had signed a deal withColumbia Records to produce a solo album, however, she has since been dropped after the release of her debut single, Sorry.
• Naya Rivera hosted the San Francisco GLAAD Media Awards in 2011 and the 2012 GLAAD Media Awards, along with co-star,Cory Monteith.
• She took up songwriting at the age of 15.
• When she was 17, she was a fan of Paris Hilton and watched "The Simple Life." She also bought the same dog as Paris.^[26]
• She has been to Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch twice as a child.Source
• Her nickname forKevin McHale was Little Bee.[7]
• Her favorite color was pink.
• Her favorite band was Coldplay.
• She preferred red wine to white wine.
• She preferred pancakes over waffles, though she still loved waffles especially with chicken.
• She worked at Abercrombie as a greeter and was very flattered, knowing they only hire people based on looks.
• She had a Maltese named Callie, but then gave it to her mom when she pooped in her car.
• She took a computer class in high school, but hated it.
• She was not popular in high school and was bullied.
• She named her SAG award Alejandro.
• She won theCause You're Hot award at the 2012 NewNowNext Awards.
• She had a girl crush on Coco.Source
• She was filmed pole dancing when she was 20 years old.
• BuddyTV ranked her #3 on its "TV's 100 Sexiest Women of 2011" list.
• She was number 39 inFHM's 100 Sexiest Women In The World 2012.Source
• In 2010, Rivera made the Maxim Hot 100 list, coming in at number 61. The following year, she was ranked number 43. She was ranked number 27 in 2012 and number 44 in 2013 in Maxim's Hot 100.Source
• She found beatboxing sexy.
• She also made the Afterellen Hot 100 list in 2010, 2011, and 2012, premiering at 62 in 2010, jumping to 1 in 2011, and still at number 1 once again in 2012.
• Naya was number 24 on Complex's 100 Hottest Women Right Now list in 2013.Source
• Her favorite animal was the penguin.
• She worked as a nanny while filmingSeason One of Glee, and stopped when episode 3 aired.Source
• She had a Cavalier King Charles puppy named Lucy Ann Rivera.
• She joined her high school choir, but then left after two weeks because she thought it wasn't cool and didn't want to be yelled at.
• Elton John signed her to his management company on 9/9/12.Source
• AlongsideAmber Riley, Naya auditioned for American Idol, but didn't make the cut.
• Naya, alongside Glee, co-stars Amber Riley andDarren Criss, performed at the 2013 Obama's Inauguration kids concert in Washington DC.
• Her favorite book wasThe Perks of Being a Wallflower.
• Her prom date told her she was too thin and didn't end up dancing with her at all. When the dance was over he wanted her to go to the hotel with her so they could have sex, but she refused so her father picked her up.
• If she could be any Power Ranger, she would be the pink one.
• The most random gift she had ever received was a glass pig from her brother that he named Penelope.
• Her name comes from the 1970s television showFantasy Island after her mother watched an episode where this water goddess emerged from the water and said: "I am Naya".^[32]
• She was not allowed to celebrate Halloween as a child except for one time, which her mom dressed her up as Snow White.Source
• One of her best friends wasKat Graham fromThe Vampire Diaries.
• She andErinn Westbrook shared the same birthday.
• One of her post-Glee activities was filming forDevious Maids, which June Squibb (Maggie Banks),Jennifer Aspen (Kendra Giardi), andValerie Mahaffey (Rose Pillsbury) also guest star.

Gallery[]

Videos[]

References[]

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