‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Star Sara Ramirez Brings Empathy And Activism To Acting

*Sara Ramirez, an immigrant from Mazatlan, Mexico, spends part of her off-camera time on the board of the True Colors Fund, that seeks to end homelessness among LGBT youth. VL

By Jeff Yang, Code Switch

This week, Code Switch takes a look at the past and present of immigrants on TV with video profiles of a quartet of groundbreaking artists who are changing the game for how immigrants are depicted on the small screen. Read the intro essay for this package, “Fresh On The Screen: How TV Is Redefining Whom We Think Of As ‘American.'”

“My mom brought me up by herself, so I was a latchkey kid,” says actress, singer and activist Sara Ramirez, best known for her portrayal of Dr. Callie Torres on ABC’s long-running hit medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. “I would walk myself back from school and spent a lot of time at home alone, watching TV.” Ramirez remembers not seeing a lot of people who looked like her onscreen. “There weren’t a lot of Latinas — or any women of color. And the ones I saw were usually presented as stereotypes or treated like jokes.” She never dreamed she might have the opportunity to change that firsthand.

Born in Mazatlan, Mexico, to a Mexican-Irish-American mother and a Mexican-American father, she moved with her mother to San Diego at the age of 8.

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