Stephanie Beatriz Bischoff Alvizuri is an Argentine-born American actor best known for playing Detective Rosa Diaz on the Fox comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013–2021).
Beatriz was born in Argentina in 1981 to a Colombian father and a Bolivian mother. The family moved to the US when she was two, and Stephanie grew up in the suburbs outside of Houston, Texas, and became an American citizen when she was 18. Beatriz first took an interest in acting after taking an elective course on speeches and debating, and it soon became a passion she chose to pursue as her calling.
Her first acting role on screen was a bit part on a 2009 episode of the crime procedural The Closer (2005–2012). From there, Beatriz worked her way up to more prominent roles in movies and series such as Into The Heights (2021), Encanto (2021) Catwoman: The Hunted (2022), Bob’s Burgers (2011-), Twisted Metal (2023–), (Hazbin Hotel (2024–), and of course, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. To date, Beatriz has appeared or voice acted in more than 75 films and shows, including The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019), Modern Family (2009–2020), BoJack Horseman (2014–2020), Reno 911! (2003–), Robot Chicken (2001–2022), Family Guy (1999–), and A Man on the Inside (2024–).
In July 2016, Stephanie Beatriz came out as bi on Twitter with one short word.
Since then she has continued to affirm her bisexuality.
In a 2018 Vulture interview, she was asked when she first knew she was bi.
My mom took us to see this Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Houston Museum of Art when I was, like, 11. And all I did was stare at the boobs. There were boobs everywhere.[1]
In a case of fiction mirroring reality, Beatriz’s character on Brooklyn Nine-Nine came out as bi on the show’s 99th episode. In a 2017 interview with Variety, she said:
I was so excited about it because as somebody who identifies as bi — queer — I just had nothing like that when I was growing up, […] The gay characters I can remember were most often stereotypes. Even a show like ‘Friends,’ you watch back, and you’re like, ‘Ooh, I can’t believe that’s the choice they made.’ And as someone who’s bi, you have absolutely nothing — no representation at all. And to be able to try to do something like that on our show and have a character come out as bi was really important for me.
In a later interview with Variety, she spoke about bi erasure in media and visibility for the Latin community. Notably, in 2019, Beatriz and her co-star Melissa Fumero hosted the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s Impact Awards.
In October 2018, she married actor Brad Hoss and in August 2021 she gave birth to their daughter, Rosaline. That hasn’t stopped her from continuing to raise awareness and publicly bust myths about bisexuality.