«

»

Marisa Ramirez is in Two Places (and on Two Networks) at Once

Beautiful, talented, and very busy, Marisa shows up as two different cops on two different shows: Blue Bloods and Body of Proof.

Marisa Ramirez has been walkin’ the walk and talkin’ the talk for a decade now. She did her time in the soaps (General Hospital, The Young and the Restless), did a few ‘crazy’ comedies and thrillers in feature films, and showed up in a wide range of hour-long TV dramas, from Castle to Bones to Supernatural. Throughout, she managed to play Latinos as often as not…though her first big-notice break was as a decidedly non-Latina in Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, just a couple of years ago.

Since then, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind: starring in the short-lived series Against the Wall and in the infamous TV movie Prosecuting Casey Anthony, with Oscar Nuñez and Rob Lowe. And now she’s appearing in two places at once–as Officer Riley Dunn in ABC’s Body of Proof and as Detective Maria Baez, Donnie Wahlberg’s new partner, in even more episodes of CBS’ Blue Bloods. 

Donnie Wahlberg and Marisa
on the set of Blue Bloods

TV Fanatic.com has a pretty cool Q&A with Marisa, mostly about the Blue Bloods gig…and showing that the actress, like the rest of us, can still be starstruck. She admits still being stunned by working with Tom Selleck–and who wouldn’t be? “I can’t even say hi to him,” she says, “because I’m a little nervous. I just smile a shy little girl smile and keep walking. I don’t know what to say.”

And then there’s Officer Riley Dunn on Body of Proof, who came in to solve one case and hasn’t left yet. And here, too, she’s working with a long-time TV star with a strong image: Dana Delany. “Working with Dana was great for me,” she said. “I watched her on China Beach. It is such an accomplishment to be a woman of her background, her history and body of work…and to lead this show for three seasons now. She just does it so easily and gracefully. It was nice to watch her and be a part of it.”

As many series are on hiatus or winding down, it’s nice to see some life (and Latinos) on a set of popular shows. Blue Bloods airs Fridays at 10P on CBS; Body of Proof shows up on Tuesdays at 10P on ABC. And just for fun, you can see Marisa in an entirely different role on a off-network showing of Bones, Thursday April 4 at 1P on TNT.