Gina Torres is well known for her role as Jessica Pearson on USA Network’s hit original series “Suits.”  Now, Torres is taking her character to Chicago, where she will topline the new spinoff series, “Pearson.” The role of Jessica has been a life changing one, earning Torres an ALMA Award, an Imagen Award (as well as multiple additional Imagen nominations), and the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s Award for Outstanding Performance in a Television Series and the Visionary Award from the LA Femme Film Festival. 

Included amongst Torres’s most notable television credits are her performances on “Alias,” “Firefly” and “Angel.” Torres also recently appeared on “The Catch,” starring Peter Krause and Mireille Enos. Additional television credits include “Hannibal,” “Revenge,” “Huge,” “The Shield,” “24,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Flash Forward,” “Gossip Girl,” “Boondocks” and “The Vampire Diaries.” Torres has also voiced the roles of Vixen in “The Justice League” series and Superwoman in “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths” opposite James Woods. She began her onscreen career with roles on “Law & Order,” “One Life to Live,” “Any Day Now” and “La Femme Nikita” but it was her collaboration with producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert on four different shows – “MANTIS,” “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,” “Xena: Warrior Princess” and “Cleopatra 2525” (the latter of which earned her an ALMA Award) - that brought her to the masses and promptly shifted her career. Torres’s film credits include “The Matrix Reloaded, “The Matrix Revolutions,” “Jam,” “South of Pico,” “I Think I Love My Wife” with Chris Rock, “Hair Show with Mo’Nique, “Five Fingers” opposite Laurence Fishburne and “Don’t Let Me Drown.” 

The youngest of three children, Torres was born in Manhattan and raised in The Bronx with her close-knit Cuban family. She graduated from Fiorello LaGuardia School of Arts where, before entering the world of acting, she studied opera and jazz as a vocal major. Within a year of graduating, she was cast as Deena Jones in “Dreamgirls,” her first professional acting job. It wasn’t long before she started appearing on Broadway, being directed by such legends as Tommy Tune and Pete Masterson in “Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public” and Jerry Zaks in “Face Value.” Her additional theater credits include Off and Off-Off Broadway plays and musicals that spanned genres such as classic “Greek tragedy in Antigone” and “Amphytrion,” Shakespeare’s “Pericles of Tyre” and “Julius Cesar,” contemporary classics such as “Lorca’s Blood Wedding” and the world premieres of “Sheila’s Day” and “Heliotrope Bouquet.”