Liza Colón-Zayas Shares Powerful Election-Year Message After Historic Emmys Win

Liza Colón-Zayas admitted that she didn’t have a speech prepared when she became the first Latina to win the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series on Sunday.

“To all the Latinas, who are looking at me — keep believing and vote. Vote for your rights,” she said as she claimed the award.

Colón-Zayas — a Bronx native who grew up in a Puerto Rican family — was honored for her role as line cook Tina Marrero in “ The Bear ,” which received 23 nominations at this year’s Emmys.

She said she’d declined to follow the advice of her husband, David Zayas, to pen remarks ahead of time because she didn’t “think it would be possible” to win in the category, which put her up against Meryl Streep , Carol Burnett , Sheryl Lee Ralph , Janelle James and Hannah Einbinder .

“Anyway, I love you all. I revere you to the bottom of my heart,” Colón-Zayas told her fellow nominees, before thanking her mother, her grandchildren as well as those involved with “The Bear” for giving her “new life” with the show.

Colón-Zayas previously told Variety that the Emmy nomination, her first at the award show, let her know at the very least she’d “run a good race.”

“And that all the struggle has been seen and acknowledged. That I have a gift. Because it’s been a lifetime of doubting it,” she continued.

“To have the world say, ‘We see you,’ and I will dare to say, ‘Here are my peers.’ Carol Burnett raised me. Meryl Streep is a queen. Sheryl Lee Ralph, too. Being in that company with those women is beyond.”

You can check out her reaction to her Emmys win and her speech below.