Naya Rivera’s age isn’t really well known. As an American actress for most of her life while she also enjoyed singing and modeling. Born in Valencia on 12 January 1987, a populated community in the United States Santa Clarita, Naya’s star sign was Capricorn while her religion was Christianity, she was never the religious type. Before we go on about her life and struggles, let’s quickly go over Naya Rivera’s age and where did Naya Rivera live? Stay tuned as later on, we will get into the juicy stuff like how much did Naya Rivera’s house cost or what brand is Naya Rivera’s car and more.
Table of Contents
Naya Rivera’s Age, Height & Physical Appearance
Naya Rivera was a beautiful woman, with an attractive body figure. She had a height of 5 feet 5 inches or 165 cm and weighed approximately 115-120 pounds. Her body measurements were 35-25-34, meaning the circumference of her chest was 35 inches, with a 25 inch waist and 35 inch hips. Her dress size was 6 (US) and her bra size was 32C. Her shoe size was about 9 (US). Naya Rivera was 33 years old (January 12, 1987 – July 8, 2020) when she passed away, heroically saving her son Josey before accidentally drowning. You can show respect to send flowers to this great actress grave.
Naya Rivera’s Ethnicity
Rivera was an American but Naya Rivera’s ethnicity was of African-American descent. She was born in an unstable family where her mother, Yolanda Rivera was in the entertainment industry who pushed her to pursue this field later on in her life. Including her father, one brother, and a sister, Naya Rivera had an average-sized family of 5 people. Soon after she was born, her parents had decided to split ways which had an impact on her relationships later on in her life.
Naya Rivera Early Life
Being born in a family where the mother was an actress, Rivera was encouraged by her mother who not only played a role as a friend in her life but also arranged her first-ever audition with her modeling manager. Later on, she secured a role in a commercial making it Rivera’s first-ever appearance on TV.
Naya Rivera lived in Los Angeles where she looked to pursue career opportunities. She was an inspiration for many people due to her many achievements in the field of acting, modeling, and singing. Because of her career achievements, family commitments, and kindness, she had won many hearts not only in the United States but across the world.
Naya Rivera was married to Ryan Dorsey but the marriage didn’t last long with the two going for a divorce in 2016. They had one son together by the name of Josey Hollis Dorsey.
Rivera had a slim figure and if you’re wondering what Naya Rivera’s height was you’d be shocked to know that she stood only 5’5”. Her attitude as Santana perfectly matched her character’s body measurements. She was a fitness enthusiast and focused her exercises on her abs and hips. The celebrity liked to eat lots of fruit and vegetables, and fish rich in omega-3 to keep up her health. Although she was a fitness enthusiast and liked to keep fit, her main aim in life was to be a successful actress so that she could use her status to bring a change in society.
Naya Rivera saw her being nominated for a Young Artist Award when she was five. After doing many television roles, Rivera got her popular role in 2009 as a lesbian cheerleader in the series Glee which was aired on Fox television. She received various awards for the role and left a lasting impact on all her fans.
In 2011, River won multiple awards for singing. Securing a role on the most popular show at the time, “Glee”, Naya made a breakthrough in her career in Hollywood. She managed to prove herself as a great actress winning 11 awards throughout her career. She used her status and the Glee platform to inspire teenagers and young adults alike. Rivera always looked towards helping the unfortunate and spreading the message of equality. Her fans instantly clicked with what Rivera stood for and she soon became a role model for many because of her kindness and helping nature.
She remained an influence on the LGBT community until the very end where the world saw the sudden death of a superstar. On July 8, 2020, Rivera had decided to take her son on a boating trip but the two never returned. A search party was dispatched that day only to find Rivera’s son on the boat but the star was nowhere to be found. According to the incident retold by her son when taken to safety demonstrated that Rivera was no less than an ironwoman. She used her last strength to help her only son which was the talking point all over social media for weeks after her sudden demise. Her body was later found on the 13th of July 2020 floating in the lake.
Naya Rivera’s Family & Ethnicity
Although Rivera’s nationality was American, her ethnicity however was a combination of German, Puerto Rican, and more. As mentioned earlier, her childhood was rocky since she was raised by a single parent. Her father worked in sales at Disney just before her parents separated in 1996.
Nickayla, Rivera’s only brother, had a passion for American football and is currently pursuing opportunities in the sport while her sister is slowly becoming a rising star in the modeling industry. Rivera was the oldest among her siblings which made her realize that the responsibility on her shoulders was burdening since a young age. Since she was raised by a single mother at the time, her acting roles brought in the money to sustain her family in hard times.
Naya Rivera’s Relationships
Since she saw a fragmented relationship in her early childhood, Rivera faced many problems later on in her relationships as well. Not only that but Rivera always believed in being independent which made her realize that some relationships are not worth the time. She started off strong with Tahj Mowry but ended things after four years of being in a relationship with him. After a couple of years of focusing on her career, Rivera decided to once again start dating and soon met Mark Salling.
Mark found that the life of an actress didn’t work out well for his relationship with Rivera and decided to break things off after two years of dating. After a few more years of living a single life, Rivera announced her relationship and engagement with the legend himself, Big Sean. However, things didn’t work out between the two and the relationship came to a halt almost immediately.
Rivera finally decided to settle down and focus on her life and giving back to the community. During this phase of her life, she met Ryan Dorsey and fell in love almost immediately. The two tied a knot in 2014 in Mexico and soon had a child who they named Josey Hollis in 2015. However, Rivera soon found out that it was getting very difficult for her to manage her relationship and philanthropic causes, she and Ryan decided to mutually end things on a good note in the year 2018.
Naya Rivera’s Early Life
When Rivera was born, her family was in financial difficulty. Sometimes struggling and other times living lavishly. She earned money as a child and approved the use of money.
Naya picked on certain interests earlier on in life from her family such as boating during the weekends. This was only possible because many of her family members enjoyed a family outing on a boat which resulted in them purchasing one. This interest of hers continued throughout Rivera’s life as before she passed away, Rivera had gone on a boating trip with her son.
Rivera early on had a knack for singing and had become friends with some of the legendary musicians in her childhood. She had become a huge fan of the “thriller” hype train back then and befriended relatives of the Jackson family. However, she personally never got the opportunity to interact with Michael. Besides singing, during her free time, Rivera would audition for acting roles. Some pressures in life had taken a toll on the young Rivera who had to endure anorexia during part of her childhood. Whenever she saw ups in life, there were plenty of downs that made her a resilient and determined woman according to people close to her.
Naya Rivera’s Education and Occupation
Naya Rivera was an actress, singer, model, and songwriter by occupation. She also went to school as she attended Valencia High School, Santa Clarita, California. She left high school shortly due to her personality. Being highly competitive, Rivera could not accept someone to stand and challenge her in events like cheerleading and therefore decided to leave school to pursue an acting career.
Naya Rivera’s Physical Appearance
Many of Naya’s fans say Naya Rivera had a perfect body physique. She worked tirelessly on her abs and butt. She managed to win several hearts all around the country with her quintessential good looks and her flawless personality. She had the complexion of a bronze goddess, with natural jet-black hair (dyed blonde and brown now and then), and her eye color was dark brown. She had naturally pouty lips. During the shooting of the series Glee, Naya Rivera started to really understand herself and realized that she was attracted to the same sex. She had defined cheekbones and her body was tattooed in various styles with some signifying defining moments in her life.
Naya Rivera’s Career
At the age of 4, Rivera started her career as a child. She began her career as a child model for a KMart commercial and started to appear in advertisements. She played the role of Hillary Winston in the series “The Royal Family” (1991). After that, she played several minor roles in series like “Family Matters”, “Smart Guy”, ” The Master of Disguise” and more. She made her feature film debut in the movie “The Master of Disguise ” which came out in the year 2002.
She also played roles in other films like “Frankenhood” as Hottie, “At the Devil’s Door” and many others. Rivera was known for learning lines quickly. She acted in the musical “You Don’t Know Me” during 2006-2007. Afterward, in 2009, she interviewed for the role of ‘Santana Lopez’ in the American series and was designated for this role in “Glee”. Joining the cast of the Fox Television series “Glee”, Rivera slowly started to gain popularity.
Fans loved the “attitude-filled” role she played as Santana. People fell in love with her after her personality started to shine through. After the first season, her role took a change in the series Glee giving her a huge breakthrough. She no longer became a character hidden in the shadows appearing now and then to become a major character of the series that even fans started to relate with. Rivera played an immense role in the series with her talent and magical voice. Nobody could forget her iconic monologues as Santana.
At the same time, her career in singing did not go well for her. With successes, there are several failures to come and her debut single became a huge flop forcing Columbia records to drop the actress. She realized how competitive the entertainment industry was and decided to stick with acting and honing the skill. In 2014 she made a strong comeback with her debut feature film “At the Devil’s Door”. In 2015 she played the role in a drama series “Devious Maids” and she played the role in a comedy film “Mad Families” as Felipa Jonas in 2017.
In 2018, Rivera played the role in the series “Step Up: High Water”. Naya contributed to the original soundtrack for “Step Up: High Water” by releasing a six-track EP titled ‘My Heart’ in 2019.
Singing Career
As mentioned before, Rivera was a singer too besides the other skills she had. She realized that Glee was the platform where not only could she show her acting skills but also become really good at singing. She was signed with Columbia Records in 2011, and she acted as a vocalist in the song by 2Cellos (Supermassive Black Hole) in 2012. She released her first debut single “Sorry” with Big Seam digitally in 2013 and got recognition and praise from viewers for her performances. However, as trends started to change in the music industry, she was unable to capitalize on those at the right time leading to a flop debut single the year after. This led the music records company to drop her instantly.
Achievements/Awards
She won many awards because of her amazing acting performances. In 2010, she won “Screen Actors Guild Awards” because of her stunning performance on the series “Glee”. She won Supporting Actress in a Comedy for Glee in My TV Awards in the year 2012. She won many ALMA Awards like Favourite Female Music Artist for 2 years in a row and also won Favourite TV Actress in the space of comedy in 2012.
Rivera won Ridiculously Good-Looking Female in My TV Awards for her absolutely stunning look. She had mentioned earlier that her mixed-race had things that worked and didn’t work in her favor and this was one of those moments. Her ethnicity and the physical traits associated put her on the charts of some of the most beautiful women in the world.
She won the People’s Choice Awards for Favorite TV Gal Pals in 2014. Rivera was included in the many “Best Of” lists like “50 Most Beautiful List of People”, “100 Sexiest Women List”, and many more. One of her biggest achievements was she ranked in the number one in Hot 100 list of Allure Magazine for 3 years in a row from 2011 to 2013. She won multiple awards for singing, acting, and also secured audience awards. From Glee alone, she secured 9 awards for her stunning performance.
Naya Rivera’s Lifestyle
Although she had started earning a large amount of money at a very young age, Naya never had the lavish life that one might assume she had. She lived humbly and in comparison to the other stars her age, she never flaunted her success in this case, wealth.
Naya Rivera’s Assets and Net-Worth
Rivers was raised in Valencia however this is not the place where she spent most of her life. After reading that many of you might be wondering “where did Naya Rivera live?”. Rivera spent a large part of her life in Los Angeles. She lived in a Los Feliz house worth a whopping $2.6 million. The home in Los Feliz, Los Angeles where she used to live was put for sale in 2021 for $2,695,000 after her sudden passing. The celebrity was caught getting in and leaving in a G63 gorgeous Mercedes suggesting that Naya Rivera’s car of choice was Mercedes.
Naya Rivera’s Net Worth and Salary
Naya Rivera earned a huge amount of salary from her professional career as an actor, model, and singer. She managed to earn quite a good salary because of her successful acting career since 1991. Before she passed away, the star had a staggering net worth of $5 million.
Naya Rivera’s Sudden Passing
On July 8, 2020, Naya went boating with her Son Josey. They went to Lake Piru in California and rented a Pontoon. After a few hours of boating around the lake, her boat rental never made it back which lead to a search team investigating the Naya and her son’s whereabouts. The team had found her son sleeping in the boat without Naya there where he had been sleeping for approximately 3-4 hours. After taking Naya’s son to safety, he was asked to recall the moments before his mother had disappeared. Rivera’s son had told the authorities that his mom pushed him back on the boat but never made it herself as she slowly started to disappear. This statement immediately changed the nature of the search from rescue to retrieve as the authorities believed that she was dead.
On 11 July, Rivera’s parents and brother joined the search team on boats at the lake. On July 13, a body was found at Lake Piru that confirmed Rivera’s death, and she was officially declared dead. Her funeral had come as a shock for her fans as nobody expected her to leave the world this soon. 2020 was a sad year for her family, friends, and her fans. She died because of accidental drowning, and there was no proof of injury. Rivera’s death was one of the saddest news for the entertainment industry in the year 2020. Her funeral announcement shattered fans across the world and brought tears to millions. Naya Rivera was a well-loved actress and her fans, family, the community she supported and the entertainment industry will never forget her contributions.
