Judy Reyes Biography

Judy Reyes (born November 5, 1967 in The Bronx, New York) is an American actress of Dominican heritage. She is best known for her portrayal of nurse Carla Espinosa on the TV comedy Scrubs.

Early life

A native of The Bronx, Reyes has three sisters, including a twin sister named Joselin, who played a paramedic on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Reyes grew up on Bainbridge Avenue, from the age of 13 to the age of 25 or 26. She attended Hunter College in Manhattan, where she began her acting career.

Career

Reyes had a short stint on The Sopranos as the girlfriend of Paulie Walnuts. She also made a brief appearance on the American television series Oz, where she played the wife of the blind Correctional Officer Eugene Rivera. She made an appearance in the Law & Order episode "Sisters of Mercy". She has also starred in The Fuzz Show as Girl #1 and also in NYPD Blue S04E05 as Anna Ortiz.

She is best known for her portrayal of nurse Carla Espinosa on the NBC comedy Scrubs from 2001 to 2009. "I really admire Carla " she's smart and sassy and a very good nurse", says Reyes of her character. "I like that she remains confident and unapologetic in a world where nurses don't receive the same respect as doctors". Carla was introduced in the show's pilot episode, "My First Day", and starred in eight of the nine seasons, last appearing in the eighth season finale, "My Finale".

Reyes' other film credits include Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead, and the independent film Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God, Be Back by Five. She can also be seen in the film Washington Heights. Additionally Reyes acted in and co-produced (with her husband) Taino, a short film which was screened at the 1999 New York International Latino Film Festival and at the 2001 Los Angeles Latino Film Festival. She has also made an appearance in the TV show Castle as the adoptive mother of an abducted girl in season 1, episode 9: "Little Girl Lost".

Reyes' television credits include 100 Centre Street, Paulie Walnuts' girlfriend Michelle in Season 2 of The Sopranos and a guest stint on Third Watch. Her made-for-television movies include John Sanford's Mind Prey, with Eriq La Salle, The Prosecutors, the role of Luz Cuevas, the mother of a baby kidnapped from her crib during an arson-set fire, in the Lifetime Movie Network drama Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story, a homeless woman in the 2006 Hallmark Channel movie, Our House, and as a concerned mother in the ABC drama Off the Map. In 2009 she starred in HawthoRNe as a victim of abuse and concerned mother. In 2012, she starred as Cesar's wife in Happily Divorced on TV Land.

In 2011 she starred as Angela, a mother dealing with the return of her estranged husband into her life after a stint in prison in the family drama Gun Hill Road. The film is set in Reyes' native Bronx, and its title refers to a real-life street that intersects Bainbridge Avenue on which Reyes herself grew up. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2011.

Reyes is currently playing the role of Zoila Diaz on the Lifetime comedy-drama series Devious Maids.

Personal life

Reyes was married to writer/director Edwin M. Figueroa for 11 years before they divorced.

Reyes and her boyfriend George Valencia have a daughter, Leila Rey, born on November 27, 2009.