Full name: Sara Ramirez
Grey's character: Dr. Callie Torres
Nickname: None — but Sara retains the Spanish pronunciation of her name, phonetically pronounced [sada].
Date of birth: August 31, 1976
Hometown: Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico
Currently residing in: Los Angeles, California
Education: San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, then the Juilliard School in New York City
Bet you didn't know... Sara once said, "Nobody from the show said I was too heavy. Instead, they wanted me to dance in my underwear."
Mexican-born, California-raised Sara Ramirez followed a traditional track toward stage stardom: she began acting as a teenager and later attended New York's prestigious Juilliard School to hone her craft. Sara made her Broadway debut in Paul Simon's The Capeman in 1998, and the accolades came quickly for the talented actress: Her next performance, in The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm, earned her an Outer Critics Circle Award.
Bit parts on TV procedurals helped Sara develop her on-screen acting chops, but her true breakout was a starring role in Broadway's Spamalot in 2005, for which she won a Tony Award. ABC executives were so impressed by her performance that they offered her a role in any ABC show she wanted. Sara was already a fan of Grey's Anatomy (natch), so the writers wrote the character of Callie Torres specifically for her. NBD. She joined the cast in the second season, and Callie was soon bumped up from a recurring to a starring role. Her stage career has slowed as a result, but the praise hasn't stopped coming: along with the rest of her Grey's castmates, Sara won a 2007 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble.
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Video: Sara Ramierz's Muppet Ad
Gallery: Callie's Haircut Through the Years
Sara Ramirez Says Callie Might No Be a Lesbian
Video: Sara Ramierz on NYPD Blue
MORE ON SARA RAMIREZ BELOW!
