Meet the Honorees of the 2015 HOLA Awards: SELENIS LEYVA

Selenis Leyva (HOLA José Ferrer Tespis Award) is one of the breakout stars of Netflix's hit series “Orange Is The New Black”, which recently won the 2015 coveted Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble Cast in a Comedy Series and where she plays series regular (and fan favorite) Gloria Mendoza. She also made history as the first Latina senator on HBO's Emmy-winning series “Veep”, starring opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She recently wrapped production in the highly anticipated feature film Custody, starring opposite Catalina Sandino Moreno, Viola Davis and Raúl Esparza in NYC. Her numerous television credits include recurring roles on hit shows like “Law & Order: SVU”,“Blue Bloods”,“The Good Wife”, “Girls”,“Elementary”, “The Following”, “The Sopranos” and “Third Watch”. On the big screen, she's been seen in Sex & The City 2, the Oscar-nominated film María Full of Grace, and the animated films Ice Age: Continental Drift, Epic and Ice Age: Dawn of Dinosaurs. 

A triple threat, she also has numerous acting credits on the New York stage, including the iconic role of Celia Cruz in the off-Broadway hit Celia, and the critically-acclaimed plays Ana in the Tropics and Doña Flor & Her Two Husbands. Expanding her career further she is working behind the camera as executive producer to her first indie film called Romeo & Romeo (to be released in 2016). Born and raised in New York City, she is a proud Latina of Cuban and Dominican descent. In addition to being the first Hispanic Ambassador for the Gabrielle's Angel Foundation for Cancer Research (her brother is a two-time cancer survivor), she is also the recipient of a 2014 ALMA Award, a Special Achievement Award for breaking barriers in the arts. She is also an advocate for LGBT rights and works closely with LGBT human rights organizations and anti-bullying Campaigns.

The 2015 HOLA Awards will be on Monday, October 12, 2015 at the Battery Gardens, in Battery Park at the southernmost tip of Manhattan, in New York City.