Marisa Maguire Ramirez[1] (born September 15, 1977)[2] is an American actress, known for her work on television soap operas and for her role on the police procedural television drama series Blue Bloods as Detective Maria Baez.
Early life
Ramirez graduated from All Saints Catholic School and then attended an all-girls school in Alhambra, California at Ramona Convent Secondary School. She grew up with her mother after her parents' divorce.[3] She has described her background as Mexican, American Indian, and Irish.[4] As a teenager, she attended a New Kids on the Block concert featuring her future Blue Bloods co-star and regular scene partner Donnie Wahlberg.[5][6] Her career began at age 12 when she was brought to the attention of a major L.A. modeling agency, which led to an international modeling career. After modeling she transitioned into hosting and acting.[citation needed]
Career
Ramirez is known to TV audiences from starring roles on four prime time and two notable daytime series. Currently, she plays NYPD Detective Maria Baez in Blue Bloods and recurred as Officer Riley Dunn in Body of Proof.[7] She started on Blue Bloods as a guest star[8][9] before becoming a regular character in the fourth season.[10][11] In 2011, she was a series regular on Lifetime's Against the Wall, playing Detective Lina Flores. Despite respectable ratings, the series was not renewed for a second season. Immediately prior to landing that role, Ramirez starred as Melitta on Starz's Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, which was filmed in New Zealand.
In April 2006[clarify] she joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as Jabot Cosmetics public relations consultant Carmen Mesta for five months. The character of Carmen was killed off. Ramirez briefly returned to the show in early 2007 as Carmen's cousin, Ines Vargas.
In interviews given soon after she joined General Hospital, she said her parents divorced when she was four and remarried when she was 19, soon after which her younger brother was born.[13][14]
Ramirez married Nathan Lavezoli[15] on September 22, 2002, and divorced him in 2011. On January 22, 2016, Ramirez announced she was expecting a baby due in May.[16] In May 2016, she gave birth to a daughter.[17][18], whose father is a former crew member of Blue Bloods[19]
She told a Mexican news outlet that she wished she knew more about her Mexican-American heritage, and that on her father's side she also had Native-American ancestry and ties to Arizona.[20]
