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

2026-05-12 · 45 min · 8 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

→ discusses Religion & Spirituality concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Religion & Spirituality
→ discusses Christianity concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Christianity
→ discusses Spirituality concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Spirituality
→ hosted by America Media company

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: America Media

Entities found in this episode

concepts 6

mentioned Religion & Spirituality concept

0.50

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Religion & Spirituality
mentioned Christianity concept

0.50

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Christianity
mentioned Spirituality concept

0.50

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Spirituality
discusses Religion & Spirituality concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Religion & Spirituality
discusses Christianity concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Christianity
discusses Spirituality concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Spirituality

companys 2

mentioned America Media company

0.70

evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: America Media
hosted by America Media company

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: America Media

Episode description as stored

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 https://www.americamagazine.org/podcasts/2026/05/11/liza-colon-zayas-spiritual-life/ Do you have a spiritual question for Father Jim? You can write to us at: thespirituallife@americamedia.org Become a subscriber today at Americamagazine.org/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices