Liza Colón-Zayas of "The Bear" speaks honestly about her struggles with faith

About this episode

Liza Colón-Zayas discusses her spiritual journey and struggles with faith in an interview with Fr. James Martin, S.J.

If you’ve watched “The Bear” you’ve seen the incredible talent of the Emmy award-winning supporting actress, Liza Colón-Zayas, who plays Tina. But you might not know that Liza has overcome great spiritual hardship on her journey to noterirty. She joins her friend and host of “The Spiritual Life” podcast Fr. James Martin, S.J. to talk about her Catholic upbringing, how she escaped a cult, persevered through the ups and downs of the entertainment industry, and where she finds hope in her ancestral roots today. 0:00 Faith at its best reflects social justice 2:15 Liza plays a Puerto Rican Mother Teresa 5:10 How Liza persevered in Hollywood 9:20 Liza’s early struggles with faith communities 14:09 Doing away with the “parole officer” image of God 22:45 A spiritual practice of breathing meditations and gratitude 25:37 The power of discovering ancestral roots 33:00 The Catholic church and sexual abuse 34:55 Dealing with success and imposter’s syndrome 36:34 Audience Question: Taking less money for a spiritually fulfilling job? Link to Father Jim’s spiritual advice article on this episode: ‘The Bear’ actress Liza Colón-Zayas’s spiritual journey—to agnosticism…

People in this episode

Host: Fr. James Martin, S.J.

Guest: Liza Colón-Zayas

Topics covered

• faith struggles
• spiritual journey
• Catholic upbringing
• entertainment industry
• ancestral roots
• social justice
• imposter syndrome

Keywords

• faith
• spirituality
• Hollywood
• Catholicism
• cult
• social justice
• imposter syndrome
• ancestral roots
• gratitude
• breathing meditations

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: America Media, Catholic church

Books & works: The Bear

Places: Puerto Rico

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