About
The Brooklyn-born and raised native New Yorker is a Latina of mixed heritage. Her parents were immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Jessica is best known as an actress in her role as Maria Ruiz on the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black, earning 3 Screen Actors Guild Award wins and one nomination.
She is a graduate of the High School for the Performing Arts (a.k.a. "Fame") in New York City and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she holds a degree in Theater Arts, was awarded the Cleavon Little scholarship, and was a member of the professional acting company.
Music Career
Jessica began playing music at a very young age and has traveled around the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Japan as both a classical violinist and heavy metal/hardcore musician, playing venues from CBGB and Carnegie Hall to the Landmark's Mayan Theatre.
She is the lead vocalist and recording guitarist for Brooklyn-based heavy metal band Alekhine's Gun and featured vocalist in the iconic heavy music band Brujeria. She is also a featured and endorsed artist for Spector basses, Gibson guitars, and Darkglass Amps.
Other Interests
Jessica is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, logic, debate, and meditation in the Gelugpa Tradition of the Dalai Lama, having studied under the former abbot of Sera Mey Monastery beginning in 1994.
She is a lover of mathematics and science — cosmology, astronomy, physics, and chemistry — having taken classes with Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku. She is also a student of many styles of dance and martial arts.
Theatre
Theatre credits include the American Stage production of the Pulitzer Prize–winning play Anna in the Tropics, Shakespeare Theater's A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, and Seattle Repertory Theater's The Cook. In 2008 she played Juliet on a Theatreworks USA national tour and originated the role of Lupita in the Off-Broadway show Aliens with Extraordinary Skills.