Sara Ramirez

Member, Board of Directors

Last season, Tony Award© winner Sara Ramirez joined CBS’s hit drama “Madam Secretary” as a series regular playing policy advisor Kat Sandoval. Previously Ramirez had been best known from ABC’s top-rated drama “Grey’s Anatomy” where for over a decade Ramirez played the ground-breaking character orthopedic surgeon Dr. Callie Torres – the longest running LGBTQ+ character in television history. They were also the voice of Queen Miranda for the past 5 seasons of the Disney Channel’s animated series, “Sofia The First” and can also be heard as Mamá Calaca in Disney’s animated series “Vampirina.” Ramirez was last seen on Broadway in the smash-hit Monty Python’s Spamalot as Lady of the Lake, for which they earned both a Tony Award© for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical and an Outer Critics Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. Ramirez graduated from the Juilliard Drama School. Shortly after graduation, they made their Broadway debut starring in Paul Simon’s The Capeman. Following that, they starred on Broadway in Fascinating Rhythm and A Class Act, as well as Off Broadway in The Vagina Monologues. They have also appeared on “NYPD Blue”, “Law & Order: SVU”, “Third Watch”, and “Spin City”. In Spring 2011, Ramirez captured a whole new audience after singing the most prominent songs in the special music event episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” and the releasing their own EP on iTunes. Sara co-hosted, and performed Michael Pemberton’s song “Rollercoaster”, at TED TALKS LIVE NYC on PBS, and has produced three films: Loserville (released in theaters in fall of 2016 in partnership with the Pacer Foundation’s Center for Bullying Prevention & Stomp Out Bullying); virtual reality film experience Out of Exile: Daniel’s Story (Official Selection Sundance Film Festival and Lumiere Award nominee) directed by “Godmother of Virtual Reality” Nonny de la Peña; and The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, a documentary by award-winning filmmaker David France of How to Survive a Plague about LGBTQ civil rights transgender pioneers Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera (Official Selection in over 25 international film festivals including Tribeca Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival and Sheffield Doc Fest). The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson was released in theaters and on Netflix in October 2017. Sara has been honored with the Trailblazers Award by the New York LGBT Center; by the City of Los Angeles as an activist and artist working to advance equality as part of 2017’s Los Angeles Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Heritage Month, and with the Ally for Equality Award by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. In addition to their role as a member of True Colors United’s Board of Directors and a member of The Biden Foundation’s LGBTQ Advisory Council, organizations they supports include: Bisexual Organizing Project, ACLU, NDLON, Mujerez De Maiz, The Task Force, and The Los Angeles/San Diego/New York/San Francisco LGBT Centers.