Naya Marie Rivera (born 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.
Rivera was born and raised in the Valencia neighborhood of Santa Clarita, California, and has lived in or around Los Angeles for most of her life. She is of Puerto Rican, African American, and German descent. Her parents are Yolanda, a former model, and George Rivera. Her 3-year-younger brother is NFL tight end Mychal Rivera, and her 7-year-younger sister is runway model Nickayla Rivera. At 8 or 9 months old, Rivera began to be represented by the same talent agent as her mother, who had moved to Los Angeles to pursue modelling.