Naya Rivera facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Naya Rivera
Rivera in September 2012
Born	(1987-01-12)January 12, 1987 Valencia, California, U.S.
Died	July 8, 2020(2020-07-08) (aged 33) Lake Piru, California
Body discovered	July 13, 2020
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), California
Other names	Naya Rivera Dorsey
Occupation	Actress singer model
Years active	1991–2020
Spouse(s)	Ryan Dorsey ​ ​ (m. 2014; div. 2018)​
Children	1
Relatives	Mychal Rivera (brother)
Musical career
Genres	Pop R&B
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	Columbia

Naya Marie Rivera (/ˈnaɪə rɪˈvɛərə/; January 12, 1987 – July 8, 2020) was an American actress, singer, and model. Recognized for her work on the popular musical comedy-drama series Glee, she received various awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award and nominations for two Grammy Awards.

She began her career as a child actress and model, first appearing in national television commercials. At the age of four, she landed the role of Hillary Winston on the short-lived CBS sitcom The Royal Family (1991–1992), earning a nomination for a Young Artist Award at age five. After a series of recurring television roles and then guest spots as a teenager, she got her breakthrough role in 2009 as lesbian cheerleader Santana Lopez on the Fox television series Glee (2009–2015). For the role, she received critical acclaim and various awards, including a SAG Award and ALMA Award, as well as earning nominations with the rest of the cast for two Grammy Awards and one Brit Award.

She was signed to Columbia Records as a solo musical artist in 2011 and – despite never releasing a studio album – released a single, "Sorry", in 2013. She won two ALMA Awards as a music artist. On the big screen, Rivera made her debut in the horror film At the Devil's Door (2014) before playing a supporting role in the comedy Mad Families (2017). Besides performing, Rivera championed various charitable causes, particularly for LGBT rights, immigrants' rights, and women's rights. She also spoke out against racism, especially in entertainment. Her personal life garnered significant press and media attention throughout her career, and in 2016 she published a memoir titled Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up. Because of her varied roles across her three decades as a performer, Rivera is seen as having been a vanguard of Afro-Latino and LGBT representation on television.

Early life

Naya Marie Rivera was born in Valencia, California, on January 12, 1987. She was raised in Valencia and lived in or around Los Angeles for most of her life. She was of African-American, German, and Puerto Rican descent. When the term "Afro-Latinx" became widespread in the 2010s, she was often identified as such. Her mother, Yolanda Previtire (née White), is a real estate agent and former model, while her father, George Rivera, worked various IT jobs including positions at Disney and Universal Music. Her parents had married in 1986, but divorced in 1996, and her mother was remarried to Charles Previtire in 1999; Rivera was close with her stepfather, but did not really know her grandparents. Her maternal grandmother was Clara White, an activist and figure in the civil rights movement who was involved in the March on Washington, Selma to Montgomery marches, and 1968 Chicago riots, and who organized protests with and was represented by activist and lawyer Lloyd Barbee.

Rivera did not grow up speaking Spanish at home, but understood it and later learned to speak it. She was the oldest of three children: her younger brother is former NFL tight end Mychal Rivera (b. 1990), and her younger sister is runway model Nickayla Rivera (b. 1994). During the time her parents were married, the family's income would fluctuate dramatically, sometimes living lavishly and other times struggling; when they were in financial difficulty, Rivera approved the use of some of the money she earned as a child that was set aside in her Coogan account. The family owned a boat and often went boating when Rivera was a child; she still enjoyed boating as an adult and took many trips to Lake Piru near her home, which she considered a "sanctuary".

At 8 or 9 months old, Rivera began to be represented by the same talent agent as her mother, who had moved to Los Angeles to pursue modeling. Rivera was a fan of Michael Jackson from a young age and became friends with one of Jackson's nieces as a child actress on the audition circuit, visiting Neverland Ranch twice (though not with Jackson present). She also met Tupac Shakur as a child; he was a fan of her acting and went over to introduce himself after spotting her family at LAX. Rivera attended Valencia High School in Santa Clarita and graduated in 2005. Her mother had convinced her to join a choir in her freshman year, but she quit it after a few weeks because she was constantly overlooked for classmate Nazanin Mandi. She challenged Mandi to a sing-off for a solo, but Mandi declined and so Rivera left. She had wanted to be a cheerleader, but her family could not afford this. Instead of high school activities, Rivera spent her free time at acting auditions. She suffered with anorexia as a teenager, something she opened up about as an adult. In 2019, Rivera described her high school experience as "terrible", indicating at other times that part of this was her attitude towards education (compared to her career), the lack of coffee served there, and racism.

Career

1991–2008: The Royal Family and early career

Rivera appeared in commercials for Kmart as a baby, but her first significant acting job was at the age of four when she appeared as Hillary Winston on the CBS sitcom The Royal Family in 1991. As she could not read the scripts, she would learn her lines through recitation and memorize them. This skill stayed with her, as she was known for learning lines quickly and never messing up on set. The show received positive reviews and high ratings initially, but it was canceled soon after star Redd Foxx suffered a sudden heart attack on set, which Rivera witnessed. Rivera wrote that she and Foxx "were intergenerational BFFs from the moment [they] met", and that she considered him like a grandfather. Watching Foxx die in front of her at a young age affected her for the rest of her life, particularly around filming season finales. Still, she said that on The Royal Family she "fell in love with being on TV"; she received a Young Artist Award nomination for her performance in the series.

As a child and teen actor between 1992 and 2002, Rivera was part of the golden age of black sitcoms, and had roles in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters, The Jersey, Live Shot, Baywatch, Smart Guy, House Blend, Even Stevens and The Master of Disguise. In 2002, she also appeared in the music video for B2K's "Why I Love You". She then had a guest appearance on The Bernie Mac Show in 2002, before returning to the show for ten episodes throughout its five-season run. Growing up mixed-race in the entertainment industry, she found that her ethnicity could both help and stifle her opportunities: sometimes she found that she could not be typecast by casting directors because she "wasn't Black enough, or Latina enough" and struggled to get roles as either ethnicity, but has also said that she "could play a lot of different ethnicities, from just plain old dark-skinned white girl, to Latino, to African-American", broadening the roles she could audition for. This also concerned her, feeling that she may have been picked for modeling jobs to be the "ethnic girl". In 2016 she discussed how she still faced racism in casting at this point in her career, using the example of an audition where she was told that she lost the part to a white woman because "the size of [her] lips [was] distracting to male execs", saying: "does she know that's racist? I'm Hispanic and black; you can't say that".

As she got older, she was featured in episodes of 8 Simple Rules and CSI: Miami. She also recorded music as a teenager, with her father sneaking her into his workplace, and worked with Al B. Sure! at the age of fourteen. By this point, roles dried up and she was working less frequently. In between auditions and roles, Rivera worked jobs as a telemarketer, a nanny, and a greeter at an Abercrombie & Fitch store. In 2006 and 2007, she took part in a production of Mark E. Swinton's play, U Don't Know Me: The Musical, both in Los Angeles and when the production was taken on national tour. She also auditioned for an unspecified season of American Idol during the San Francisco auditions, but was cut in the first round. In March 2008, Rivera began studying screenwriting at New York Film Academy, graduating the same year.

2009–2011: Breakthrough with Glee

In 2009, Rivera was cast as Santana Lopez, a high school cheerleader, on Fox's musical comedy series Glee, about a high school glee club. She auditioned for the opportunity "to sing, dance and act all in the same show", and because she was a fan of co-creator Ryan Murphy's previous work on Nip/Tuck. She drew on her own high school experience of unpopularity to prepare for the role, as well as watching films including Mean Girls to "really get in the zone and feel like a bitchy sophomore". Rivera described her character Santana as "a bit of a bad girl" and "your typical high school cheerleader, for the most part", saying that she enjoyed playing Santana because she "always has these really witty one-liners she throws out there". The LA Times wrote that Rivera was "woefully underused for much of Glee's first season", though Santana played a more prominent part in the last nine episodes of it; Rivera said at the time that "Santana's been wreaking havoc with people's boyfriends and people's babies and teachers – she's the high school terror, and she's going to continue to be the villain". Rivera kept her job as a nanny while working on the first three episodes of Glee, not knowing if they would bring her back; Murphy was so impressed by her that he "convinced the network" to contract her at this point.

Rivera performing the song "Valerie" in character as Santana Lopez at the Manchester Arena during the Glee concert tour in 2011.

After having her screen time and musical involvement increased in the second half of the first season, Rivera was promoted to series regular as of the beginning of the second season, something said to be earned because her "magnetism on screen was undeniable". She was given her first solo in the fifth episode of season two, "The Rocky Horror Glee Show", and performed several others as the season progressed. During the second season, Rivera's role in the show was radically changed. Rivera received favorable reviews for her performance. In 2013, Santana's second season coming-out scene was described as "one of the hallmarks of the entire series".

In 2011, Rivera won her first ALMA Award, as Favorite Female Music Artist; she won two more in 2012, in the categories of Favorite TV Actress – Leading Role in a Comedy and Female Music Artist. She received a great amount of critical praise for both her acting and her singing performances in the latter part of season two and the beginning of season three of Glee. As 2011 ended, she or her character were on many "Best Of" lists, including HitFix's 25 Breakout Stars of 2011, TV Guide's Best Performances of 2011, and MTV's Best TV Characters of 2011 – in 2020, Santana appeared on the Thrillist list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters of the 21st Century, ranking at number 85 and the only Glee character included.

As the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards approached in 2012, Rivera was listed by many critics and media outlets as deserving of a nomination; The Hollywood Reporter included her in their "Emmys 2012: Supporting Players" photoshoot, the annual class photo of the 25 top contenders across the various Supporting performance categories, and she was honored by media outlets like E!, HitFix, and TV Guide. She was chosen by the Television Academy to host the "Countdown to the Emmys" video for the upcoming awards ceremony, a video introduction to each year's ceremony that is watched by an estimated 25 million people. For the awards, Rivera submitted the Glee episode "Mash Off" for consideration in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category – an episode that had generated much Emmy buzz – because it "was so well rounded. [Glee is] a comedy but [she] also got to show off some dramatic aspects of the character" in it. Despite this, Rivera was not nominated for an Emmy in 2012, nor in her lifetime, with the media generally considering this a snub; The Daily Beast argued that she and other actors were overlooked because of their characters being young, while in 2020 criticism was leveled at the Television Academy for years of Latin under-representation at the Emmys.

2012–2014: Musical solo debut and film debut

Rivera released two singles with Croatian cellist duo 2Cellos.

Rivera remained in a principal role on Glee in its fourth and fifth seasons from 2012 to 2014. While working on the later seasons of Glee, Rivera undertook other projects. In May 2011, it was announced that she had signed a deal with Columbia Records to produce a solo album; she said she had "been waiting for this day ever since [she] was a little girl" and that "it's always been [her] dream to release [her] own music". In 2012, the musical duo 2Cellos released the second single to their second album, a cover of Muse's "Supermassive Black Hole" featuring vocals by Rivera. She also starred in the music video for the song. Rivera and 2Cellos had first met and worked together with Grant Gustin for a song featured on Glee, with the cellists thinking that Rivera's voice would be perfect for their Muse cover. At a point in the early production of the 2012 movie adaptation of The Hunger Games, Rivera had been considered for the role of Katniss Everdeen, a part she did not get, and was later a favorite to be cast as Johanna Mason in the sequel Catching Fire, a role she said she "would love to play".

When the fourth season of Glee went into production, Rivera expressed a desire for more of her character's family to be shown and for her to have more Spanish dialogue to "really celebrate the culture", saying that there should be more Latin characters; as it began airing she said that Santana was "in limbo" and directionless. Vulture said that Rivera was "the best part of [the fourth season], even if she hasn't been in every episode"; Santana's stories included breaking up with Morris' character Brittany and moving to New York City. In the summer of 2013, Complex described her as "the biggest star on the [show]" with her own "cult-like fan base". Production of the fifth season of Glee was briefly postponed following the death of actor Cory Monteith as it was due to begin filming in July 2013; Rivera was close to Monteith and provided a statement that said he "always will be a part of [her] own family", as well as leading a moment of silence for him at the Giffoni Film Festival on July 24, 2013. In the fifth season, Santana embarks on a new relationship with Demi Lovato's character Dani before returning to Brittany, though Rivera did not appear in the season finale.

Rivera's debut single "Sorry", featuring rapper Big Sean, was released as a digital download on September 17, 2013. While her most popular performances on Glee were softer ballads, she chose to write "something a little more glossy and soulful" for her own music and worked with her own team, including Glee drummer John Lock, rather than go with Columbia's suggestions; she said she told the label: "This is what I'm doing. Get on or get off. I think ["Sorry"] is a summer song, and I want it on the radio by the end of the summer". The single quickly reached the top 40 on the Billboard Rhythmic chart and the top 10 of the iTunes download chart. However, production on the album "kind of halted" due to "so many things going on". Rivera said: "Politics got involved so I've been putting it on the back burner". During this period she starred in an M&Ms commercial titled "Love Ballad" that aired during Super Bowl XLVII on February 3, 2013, as the girlfriend of the anthropomorphic "Red" M&M character, and voiced a rebellious reindeer character called Sparkle in the 2013 Christmas movie The Naughty List, for which she won a voice acting award.

At the Devil's Door, Rivera's debut feature film, in which she played the lead role of Vera, premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, on March 9, 2014. The film has been described by its director, Nicholas McCarthy, as "a unique kind of genre film I think, almost like a Rubik's Cube of a horror movie". Rivera explained that "there wasn't much screaming. It's not a jumpy film." The film was released through video on demand on August 8, 2014, and theatrically released on September 12, 2014. It continued to play at festivals, receiving mixed reviews. Rivera's acting, however, received praise. Edgar Chaput of Sound on Sight called Rivera "the standout [and] the most natural performance in the film", and Marsha McCreadie of Film Journal wrote that the film "doesn't pick up steam until late in the story, when Rivera carries the narrative". Diabolique magazine's Jeremy Kibler wrote: "Coming primarily from a TV background and fun to watch [...] the eye-grabbing Naya Rivera adjusts to the big screen with ease in front of the camera. Her Vera is headstrong and rigid but cut with just the right amount of vulnerability".

On May 1, 2014, it was reported that Columbia had dropped Rivera because her debut single had underperformed, but Rivera's representative released a statement to news outlets stating that such claims were false, and they may pursue legal action to ensure Rivera's creditability. Rivera subsequently worked on a project with Guillermo Díaz, directing a short film PSA about the effect of immigration on children and their parents. Díaz's part of the project focuses on telling the stories of young DREAMers and the fear they have of their mothers being deported, and Rivera's part explores the culture of immigrants in the United States. The film is visually very stylized, and incorporates 360-degree shots. Rivera told Buzzfeed at the time that "immigration shows how beautiful America is as a country, how diverse it is [...] it's what you get when you have different cultures in one place. If everybody thought that way, [immigration] would be more of a no-brainer".

2015–2020: Return to television

In 2015, Rivera portrayed the recurring role of Blanca Alvarez in the third season of Lifetime's drama series Devious Maids, and from 2014 to 2015 was a recurring guest host of The View. She appeared in the final season of Glee in 2015, but had asked for her role to be reduced so that she could focus on other work. She was initially set to only host a few episodes of The View, but her appearances all produced "soundbites that have gone viral" and gave the show a boost on social media; it was reported that the producers were considering "bigger plans" for Rivera before she was made a more regular guest host. Rivera was the first person considered for the role of Blanca on Devious Maids, as the producers were "very interested in having a name actress play the role"; they initially did not really think that Rivera would be interested. Showrunner Brian Tanen described the character as "pivotal". Mitchel Broussard for We Got This Covered said that she was "maybe [the] most interesting" part of the season, and that her storyline "oozed the show's telenovela origins". Rivera was also working on music with Gloria Estefan around this time after having met on Glee; Rivera's pregnancy "sidetracked" this partnership and they did not produce anything.

Rivera and Heather Morris at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con

Rivera wrote a memoir called Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up, published in September 2016.

After the birth of her son, Josey, in September 2015, Rivera chose to take some time off acting to spend with him. She returned with a secondary character role in another film, Mad Families, in 2017. The film focuses on three families – one white, one Latino, and one African-American – being forced together on a camping trip, with Rivera's "peacemaker" character Felipa being involved with both the Latino and Black families. In 2018, she auditioned for the role of Anita in the 2021 remake of West Side Story with the song "America", a song and role that she had performed on Glee.

Rivera was announced as part of the cast for the YouTube Red series Step Up: High Water in 2017, taking the leading role of school administrator and dance instructor Collette Jones, alongside Ne-Yo and Faizon Love. The show's executive producer, Adam Shankman, had directed Rivera in the Glee episode "The Rocky Horror Glee Show" and helped her prepare for her first solo in it. He said that Rivera took the leading role in Step Up as "a favor" to him before becoming "the mother of [the] whole cast" and the show's "North Star". Showrunner Holly Sorensen recalled that Collette was one of the last characters to be cast; Shankman called Rivera as soon as she was discussed for the role and Rivera was immediately enthusiastic. Rivera said during the second season that the show felt like home in the way making Glee did. The series moved to Starz in May 2020, and Rivera was announced to be continuing her role; at the time, the third season was in production, but no timetable for its release was given. Of the renewal, Sorensen said Rivera was "more excited than she's ever been for a season of TV". After Rivera's death, Deadline reported that the third season would be rewritten, but "not right away" as the cast and crew took time away to process the loss.

In 2019, it had been reported that the comic Batman: The Long Halloween was being adapted into a two-part animated movie for DC Universe Animated Original Movies, with Rivera voicing Catwoman. The first part was released on June 22, 2021, and is dedicated in her memory.

Death

Memorial for Rivera at Lake Piru

On July 8, 2020, Rivera was declared a missing person after her four-year-old son, Josey, was found alone in Rivera's rented boat at Lake Piru, a reservoir in the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County, California. Rivera had been visiting the lake for years, and was considered a strong swimmer.

The search for both Rivera and Josey had begun at 4:00 p.m. PDT, three hours after they left the dock, when their rental was over and they had not returned. Josey was found alone, asleep on the boat with his life jacket on, around 5:00 p.m. Josey told investigators that he and Rivera were swimming when she told him to get back onto the boat. Police reports state that he recalled that she helped him climb back into the boat but was unable to climb back onboard herself and then disappeared underwater. Both accounts state that he watched his mother reaching up and calling out for help; he searched for a rope on the boat to help while she was struggling. He also stated that his mother was not wearing a life jacket.

Following a five-day search, her body was recovered from the lake on the morning of July 13.

Rivera was interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, a cemetery known for its many entertainment industry burials, following a private service on July 24, 2020.

Personal life

Relationships and family

Rivera dated actor Tahj Mowry between 2000 and 2004. She remained close with Tahj and his family, particularly his sisters, Tia and Tamera Mowry, for many years.

Between 2008 and 2010, Rivera dated Glee co-star Mark Salling. The two had a rocky relationship and ultimately split.

She then briefly dated actor Ryan Dorsey, whom she would later marry.

In April 2013 she began dating recording artist Big Sean, and the couple announced their engagement in October 2013 but split up in April 2014.

Soon after her split from Big Sean, Rivera rekindled her relationship with Ryan Dorsey and they were married in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on July 19, 2014; they did not announce the engagement or wedding until July 23. In February 2015, Rivera announced that she and Dorsey were expecting their first child, and their son, Josey Hollis, was born on September 17, 2015. Rivera was raising Josey as bilingual in Spanish and English, having improved her own knowledge of Spanish with this intention.

On June 14, 2018, Rivera and Dorsey finalized their divorce, sharing joint custody of Josey, with both waiving rights to child support. After Rivera's death, Dorsey took sole custody. Rivera was in a relationship with retired soccer player Jermaine Jones in 2020.

Philanthropy and advocacy

Rivera performing at the Young Storytellers "The Biggest Show" in 2012 with other actors from Glee and Baby Daddy.

Rivera notably supported various charities, particularly for the LGBT+ community and immigrants. She dedicated her time to organizations including GLAAD, Stand Up to Cancer, The Trevor Project, The Elephant Project, The Sunshine Foundation, I Am an Immigrant, Alliance of Moms, Point Foundation, the Thirst Project, FEED, Los Angeles Mission, Get Schooled, and Kindred Foundation. In 2009 she said: "I feel like [...] participating in charity events or giving back to the community [...] is really important to do because I feel like I am so blessed with my job and my life right now that I would love to take time to bowl for a cause. I hope to raise money to help some other people that are in a really tough situation." Her publicist from her time on Glee described Rivera as "ahead of her time" in terms of being an advocate, saying that she "really wanted to use her platform and her voice for good, whether it was for anti-bullying, for equal rights, for women of color, she wanted to use this role to help talk about a bigger message".

Best known for lesbian character Santana, Rivera also championed LGBT+ rights off-screen. In May 2011, she hosted the San Francisco GLAAD Media Awards, and on March 24, 2012, she hosted the event again, this time in New York City as a co-host with Glee co-star Cory Monteith. Along with John Stamos, a guest star on the show, both hosts auctioned off kisses to the crowd, raising $15,000. In December 2012 she attended the annual Trevor Live! event, where she performed a cover of the song "Silent Night", and for Pride Month in 2017 she was invited to write for Billboard, composing "Love Letter to the LGBTQ Community", thanking fans for embracing her character and reiterating her active support for the community.

In other charitable endeavors, Rivera volunteered at Los Angeles area food banks and homeless shelters and the Foothill AIDS Project in 2009, and performed with Amber Riley at the 10th Annual Celebration of Dreams Event for the Dream Foundation in November 2011. In October 2012, along with other members of the Glee cast, Rivera took part in "The Biggest Show", a performance of young writers' scripts for the literacy non-profit Young Storytellers.

Rivera's favorite charity was Alexandria House, a women's shelter in Los Angeles, which she organized fundraisers for and volunteered at during 2019 and 2020. After her death, a GoFundMe drive she had started for Alexandria House saw an influx of donations in her memory. On June 5, 2020, Rivera attended a Black Lives Matter protest, on what would have been Breonna Taylor's birthday. She gave her support to Black Lives Matter on other occasions. In August 2020, Entertainment Tonight announced that, to "continue [honoring] Rivera's legacy", they would be promoting some of the causes closest to the late star. In December 2020, members of the Glee cast launched a campaign called Snixxmas to benefit Alexandria House, continuing a Christmas charity tradition Rivera had started among their friends.

A lifelong Democrat, Rivera performed with the cast of Glee at the White House during the first Obama administration, as well as with Amber Riley and Darren Criss at his second inauguration. She campaigned with Everyone Votes and Rock the Vote in 2016 to promote voter participation and took part in a Funny or Die celebrity campaign song that supported Hillary Clinton.

Religion

Rivera wrote on her religion in her memoir, and was a lifelong Christian.

Filmography

Stage

Discography

In 2012, Rivera was featured on a single by the music duo 2Cellos, performing a cover of the Muse song "Supermassive Black Hole". The single, from the album In2ition, spent two weeks on the charts, reaching number 16 on the iTunes Top 100 Classical chart in the week of July 13 to July 19, 2020, and dropping to number 81 the week after. The Japanese collector's edition of In2ition also included the Glee cast feat. 2Cellos version of "Smooth Criminal", on which Rivera sang. This version of the album went to number 1 in Japan and won a Japan Gold Disc Award. In her own musical career, she released her debut single "Sorry", featuring then-boyfriend Big Sean, in 2013. The planned album had been stuck in development before being canceled entirely. Rivera's next and last release was a six-track EP titled My Heart in April 2019, containing the tracks "Seven Days", "Prayer for the Broken", "My Heart", "Think You Slick", "Beautiful Boy", and "Radio Silence". She also contributed to the original soundtrack for Step Up: High Water, singing a piano version of "Amazing Grace". In 2023, Rivera's vocals were featured on a single called "You and I" by Jaffa Moore, son of James Bond actor, Roger. At the beginning of February 2023, the single had climbed to number 21 on Rockefella TV's/Talking Pictures TV's Heritage Chart show.

Singles

With Glee

As a featured singer in the cast of Glee, Rivera and her castmates released many singles and held numerous accolades; in 2011 they were collectively nominated for a Grammy Award for their version of "Don't Stop Believin'", receiving an album Grammy nomination and a Brit Award nomination, and by the start of the sixth season they were the most-charting act in history – a record held until March 2020. Rivera's first Glee single as a lead vocalist was a duet cover of "The Boy Is Mine" performed with Amber Riley (as Mercedes Jones). The last Glee single to chart during the show's run was Rivera's cover of "If I Die Young". Besides her charting singles, several other performances by Rivera have been particularly highlighted, including "Girl on Fire" in season 4; "Don't Rain on My Parade" and "Doo Wop (That Thing)" in season 5; and "Science Fiction Double Feature" and the original song "Trouty Mouth" in season 2. She was a featured singer on the original song "Loser like Me", which is certified Gold; it and five other songs she performed charted in the World top 40.

Awards and nominations

Rivera was first nominated for an award at the age of 5, in 1992, but did not win one until 2010, eighteen years later. After this she was consistently nominated for – and won – awards for acting, singing, and her public image, including various audience awards. For her work on Glee, she won 9 awards from 24 nominations. Her last award, given in 2018, 26 years after her first nomination, was for the cast and production of Step Up: High Water providing equal female representation.

See also

In Spanish: Naya Rivera para niños

• List of Afro-Latinos