Naya Rivera Dorsey (born Naya Marie Rivera; January 12, 1987) is an American actress and singer, known for playing Santana Lopez on Fox's musical comedy-drama television series Glee. She also played the role of Hillary Winston on The Royal Family at the age of 4, for which she received a Young Artist Award nomination. Her first solo single "Sorry", featuring American rapper Big Sean, was released on September 17, 2013.

Biography

Relationships
Rivera briefly dated Glee co-star Mark Salling in 2010. After their breakup she was accused of egging and keying his car due to his alleged infidelity; she denied these allegations. Rivera began dating recording artist Big Sean in April 2013. They announced their engagement that October but ended their relationship in April 2014. Soon after, Rivera began dating actor Ryan Dorsey (b. July 19, 1983) a friend of four years. They were married in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on July 19, 2014. On February 24, 2015, Rivera announced via Twitter that she and Dorsey are expecting their first child. On September 17, 2015, Rivera gave birth to the couple's first child, a son named Josey Hollis Dorsey.

During Rivera's appearance as a guest host on The View on January 14, 2015, Rosie O'Donnell remarked on a recent study that showed that bisexual women were more likely to have mental health problems than lesbians, to which Rivera replied, "Rosie, no wonder I'm crazy. This just solves it all."


Charities
Rivera dedicates her time to various charitable organizations, including GLAAD, The Trevor Project, Stand Up to Cancer, The Elephant Project and The Sunshine Foundation.


Media appearances
In 2011, Rivera hosted the San Francisco GLAAD Media Awards. In November 2011, Rivera and her Glee co-star Amber Riley performed at the 10th Annual Celebration of Dreams Event for the Dream Foundation. In December 2011, Rivera was revealed as the newest celebrity spokesperson for Proactiv. On March 24, 2012, she co-hosted the 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York with Glee co-star Cory Monteith. Along with John Stamos, both hosts auctioned off kisses to the crowd, raising $15,000. This tradition started with Rivera when she hosted the 22nd Annual Media Awards in San Francisco. In October 2012, Rivera was featured in the third episode of MTV's new show, This Is How I Made It. In the episode, Rivera recounted her childhood career as an actress and a model, as well as the lean times that came between the age of 16 and 21, leading up to her big break of being cast on Glee. In December 2012, Rivera attended the annual Trevor Live! event, where she performed a cover of the song "Silent Night". Rivera starred in an M&M's commercial that aired during Super Bowl XLVII on February 3, 2013, as the girl that "Red" is referring to (and who is essentially trying to eat him) with a cover of Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)".


Public image
In April 2012, Rivera was featured on the cover of Latina magazine. The following month she was also featured in the inaugural issue of Cosmo for Latinas, and was selected by People en Español for their 50 Most Beautiful list. In May 2012, Rivera made FHM's 100 Sexiest Women list, coming in at number 39. She made the Maxim Hot 100 list for the third year in a row, moving up sixteen spots to number 27. On the 2012 AfterEllen Hot 100 list, she was again ranked number 1. In May 2013, Rivera posed nude in an issue of Allure magazine. Rivera was ranked number 37 in the Men's Health Hottest Women of 2014.

Rivera took up songwriting at the age of 15, declaring in one interview, "...my passion for music is one of my greatest loves." In 2008, Rivera completed an 8-week screenwriting workshop at the New York Film Academy. She has stated that if she could not act or sing, she would work as a writer.

Concerning her religious views, Rivera noted in an interview with Latina magazine that she was raised a devout Christian but is very private about it, noting the conflict that can result from revealing such information. She stated, "It's hard and sort of sad that you do feel the need to tread lightly when you say, 'Yes, I do go to church and I do read the Bible,' because once you do that, people will be like, 'Why are her boobs out? Why is her midriff showing? Why is she playing a lesbian?' I don't want to deal with that stuff, so I've never really discussed it. It's very personal."