General Hospital and The Young and the Restless alum Marisa Ramirez is bidding farewell to the character of Maria Baez, which she has played since 2010, on the CBS drama Blue Bloods. The show will wrap up its fourteen-season run on Friday, December 13th. Marisa is also well known to GH fans, where she played the character of Gia Campbell from 2000-2003, and to Y&R fans, where she starred as troublemaker Carmine Mesta. After Carmen was killed off, Ramirez returned to the show for a handful of episodes as Ines Vargas, Carmine’s cousin. Read on to hear her thoughts on the series finale, her time on soaps, and more!
Girl Power
Bryan Beckley: I met you when I was working for Soap Opera Digest back at Super Soap Weekend and when I looked at the year, I couldn’t believe how long ago it was! Clearly it is a mistake because you and I cannot possibly be old enough to have been there!
Marisa Ramirez: We were at Disneyland on Thanksgiving and I’m walking with my daughter down Main Street USA I was telling her about this restaurant, ABC Soap Bistro. I was explaining to her that it used to be [on GH]. We walked by this woman and she recognized me from GH. I had to explain to my daughter, “I was on this soap opera, and we came here, and we did event an event here, and we did a little parade down the street.” She says, “But my wait, mommy. How old are you? How long ago was that?” She was trying figure it out.
Bryan: And that was the day before she got put up for adoption, right?
Marisa: RIGHT!! [laughs]
Bryan: What was it like to join the cast of GH as Gia? You had been on The Bold and the Beautiful prior in day player roles, correct?
Marisa: Yeah, they were like one day…maybe a couple of scenes. On B&B, I think I was just a model in the background, and I was trying to figure out if I was going into acting or not. I think I only auditioned for that job because I was hosting an MTV show at the time [Senseless Acts On Video] and my co-host broke his neck on one of the stunts that he had to recreate for the show at the time. I auditioned for the soap, and I was shocked that I got it, and it ended up being like the best experience for me. It was just the best training ground.
Bryan: How was your experience playing Gia?
Marisa: It was so much fun. I had gotten a job on another show [Miracles] and I was shooting both shows at the same time. Then they recast Gia [with Andrea Pearson and I was really sad. I said to them, “I want to continue to play Gia too!’ But it was such a great experience.
Bryan: Even though it has been 22 years since you left, do you keep in touch with anyone?
Marisa: The only person I’ve run into a couple of times was, Steven Martines (Nikolas). We also messaged a couple of times on Instagram, but you know, that’s, that’s about it. Years and years ago I bumped into Amber Tamblyn (Emily) a couple of times. I still follow [other former co-stars] on Instagram just checking in every now and then see what they’re up to. It’s tough in this business to really keep those relationships going, especially when I’m moving to other cities or traveling to other countries working on other things. I wish that I had kept in better touch with a lot of people that I worked with there because they were just wonderful. It was such a wonderful experience for my first job.
Bryan: What first attracted you to the role?
Marisa: I felt like it was a very special character. You learned more and more about her as time went on. She was a woman of color, who had a brother on the show, who was of color. It was fun to bring a family of color to GH. Gia was fun. She was a super model but also had a bit of an attitude and bring that different attitude. She was great.
Bryan: How was your stint on Y&R as Carmen and later, Ines?
Marisa: That was great, too. I was working with the older crowd as opposed to GH. It had been so many years [in between characters], and of course, I had aged. I worked a lot with Kristoff St. John (Neil) who has now passed. I was really, really sad to hear that because he was such a wonderful human being. I had a really great time with him and Michelle Stafford (Phyllis).
Law and Order
Bryan: I cannot believe Blue Bloods is coming to an end. You have spent 11 years on the show!
Marisa: I can’t believe it’s ending. I’m so upset about it. I feel like some people are like, ‘What are you upset about? You should be grateful.’ I am so grateful, but [I am sad] because it had a great run, we were all so great together and we all made it work. We don’t want it to end.
Bryan: What was it like jumping into the role of Baez?
Marisa: I got the call for a guest spot in New York for an episode of Blue Bloods. You are going to be a detective and you’re going to be this guy’s partner. Blue Bloods was my grandpa’s favorite show. I went over to see him, and I said, “I’m going to go to New York for two weeks.” He said to me, ‘You should work on that show Blue Bloods! I can really see you on it!’ I excitedly told him that was what I was going there to do!
Then I get to New York, and I found out I was playing Donnie Wahlberg’s [who plays Danny] partner. I thought to myself, Well, that’s gonna be interesting because I was in [former New Kids on the Block bandmate] Jordan Knight’s music video before GH! I didn’t know any of the history of any of the [previous] partners until the driver picked me up to take me to a fitting. He said to me, ‘So you’re the new partner?” I asked him, “What do you mean the new partner? I am here for a couple of weeks. I am going to do this one episode.” He said to me, ‘No! You are the new partner.’ I said to him, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you are talking about!” He then began to fill me in on what had happened with Jennifer Esposito and some of other girls that had come in. Even in the pilot, there was somebody else that was playing Danny’s partner, and even after the pilot, before Jennifer came on, there was another partner. There were so many partners!
I went back to my hotel room, and I looked at some episodes of the different partners, and I said to myself, “I’m just going be a New York version of me as a detective because if I try to be so different and stand out differently from all of these other partners, it’s gonna look like I’m trying too hard,” and that’s not who I am or what I want to do.
When I met Donnie we just clicked and had an automatic friendship. We just worked so well together. But I still thought that I was going to be there for one episode. He said, ‘I really like having you here. We work really well together, and maybe you could stay for another episode.’ Then that happened, and then, ‘Oh, what about another episode?’ Then I stayed longer, and then soon enough, I was there for seven episodes at the end of season three. Then they asked me to move to New York and I just never would have imagined that happening to me. It was one of those moments where luck meets opportunity, and I was in the right place at the right time with the right people.
Bryan:Â Who could have imagined it would turn into, for you, an 11-season run? [The show itself has aired for 14 seasons]
Marisa: It doesn’t happen anymore. [CBS] is such a great network with so many other wonderful shows with wonderful actors on them. It was so special.
Bryan: In the retrospective episode that CBS aired leading up to the final two episodes of the series, you could really you could see how much you enjoyed working with Donnie.
Marisa: I can’t imagine my world without him now. We grew closer and closer as the years went on. I would get to work, and he was the one I was looking for to say hi because we got along so well. He became my best “girlfriend,” as I like to call him because I confided in him about everything in my life. He was graciously there for me, supportive and wonderful. We, as a cast and crew, went through so much together, from COVID to births, deaths, graduations, and so many things that we were all there for each other. We get to take that with us as we move forward in life, but it’s sad knowing that we’re not really gonna have those experiences together anymore.
Bryan: Do you wish a romance between Baez and Danny was explored or do you like the way they just stayed partners and didn’t muddy the waters?
Marisa: We talked about that because the fans wanted that because we have great chemistry together. We started to play with that a lot in the takes and with the material that we were given, and the writers kind of gave us the freedom to do that and make it our own. But Donnie and I talked about it because Will [Estes, Jamie] and Vanessa’s [Ray, Eddie] characters got together, and they didn’t work together anymore [in the field], and I just couldn’t imagine being a part of the show and just showing that part of our relationship of us being together and not showing us working together. Because once you are together in a relationship, we can’t work together anymore in the field. There was some talk about that nobody wants to see a happy couple in a happy relationship.
But then, you know, Donnie and I said people like to watch people fighting too, and we can fight and make it fun and get back together, and that could be fun too. I think it would have been fun to explore more of that and see even a bigger part of their relationship and dive into that. But then there would be less solving cases and telling those stories, which I think is what the show is really about.
Bryan: Did you ever get to be a part of one of the scenes the fans loved in every episode — the Reagan family dinner, and what was it like filming it?
Marisa: I got one! Actually, it was hard…..I am going to get emotional. [Prior to filming the episode] I had recently lost my grandmother and my father. My grandmother had always wanted me to be at the dinner table scenes. Tom Selleck was one of her favorites. I wanted to say that to him, but I couldn’t because I knew I would not be able to say anything to him without crying. That was what I was kind of thinking about the whole time. I wish my grandmother could have seen it. But other than that, it was cute and fun.
Bryan: What is, what is something that stands out for, both storyline standpoint and personally to you on set from your run on the show?
Marisa: It sounds weird, but I loved firing the gun even though there is not a real bullet [in it]. It was a sense of power [which] felt like more ownership of the character that I was playing and like a reminder of what I was playing as a detective as a powerful woman in this position. That was always something that was a great reminder and a kind of a grounding for me as an actor into getting back into the character. You start to forget, you start to have fun with everyone on set and with Donnie and then start to make jokes about walking into a room and saying, ‘Were there any witnesses?’ But then, when you have those moments of there being a bad guy here. I get have to catch, then I have to flip him over and cuff him. It really brings you back into the character that you’re playing, and I really appreciated those moments that I did have.
That’s A Wrap
Bryan: I wish I was not asking this question because I am a huge fan of the show, and it has meant so much to so many people….what was it like filming the final episode?
Marisa: Oh God, it was hard. There was so much emotion leading up to that day, and just knowing that it was gonna be the last day, I felt like every day leading up to that, I was really paying attention to everybody on set even moreso. I would stare off and watch everyone interact with each other, and because I knew I wasn’t gonna see it, and they had all become such a big part of my life.
I remember walking in, and right off the bat, I just got teary-eyed and emotional. Donnie and I comforted each other and it was just so hard. Every part of the day, from going into the makeup trailer and being that was our favorite place too, because we just had so much fun [in there]. That’s where our friends were. That’s where we [would] gossip. That’s where we had our breakfast most times. My daughter and her daddy were on set. They were in my dressing room and were there all day. I think if they weren’t there, I would have been a wreck. [My daughter] grounded me a bit because I did not want to lose it in front of her, but she was so compassionate and knew what I was going through. She is only eight years old, but she was very aware because she had been there since she was in my belly.
As we were filming our last scene, I felt like when I said the last word, my eyes started to water [Ramirez, choking back tears] because I knew that was the last thing that I was going to say in this episode and that was going be the last episode that aired. After that they said ‘and that’s a wrap on Marisa Ramirez and Donnie Wahlberg’ and all of the others who worked in that scene. Everybody just clapped and they just lost and cried. I am a very shy person so I don’t know how I got into this business [laughs] but I gave a little speech. Tom Selleck was there in the squad room watching our last scene which made it all the more special to have that support. me, which was it, it made that more special too just to have that support there. I talked a lot when I was thanking everybody and I cried a lot and I am always going to remember that, because everything that I said was from the heart. [The show] changed my life, it changed my world, it changed me as a person and I always will be so grateful for this experience and for being a part of this family.
Bryan: What are you looking forward to doing now that the show has wrapped?
Marisa: We relocated. It was always a plan to move back to L.A. when the show was done. So now we’re here, and I’m not sure that I’m happy here. My daughter hates it. It is just very different, and I’m from here. But I feel like either I’ve changed, or the city has changed, and the people here have changed, and it’s just a different energy that I’m not really feeling. So we’re trying to figure it out because I think we have to give it time and as far as work. I am always open to working and am looking for things that are out there. It’s kind of slow right now, and unfortunately, not a lot is shooting in L.A. or even in the States at this time. That makes it weird, and it makes me have to sit here with my feelings, and it doesn’t feel so good. But hopefully, it will come back, and the business will be revived in the States and in L.A. especially. That’s what the city is made for. I would love to have another run on a 10-year-long procedural, which would be amazing.
Bryan: Do you have a message for your fans who have followed you from daytime to primetime?
Marisa: The fans have just been so loving, sweet, supportive, generous, kind, and genuine every time we ever saw anybody in the streets [while filming]. I appreciate all the love and support, especially me coming in later to the show. I was still welcomed by the fans. Words can’t even express how grateful I am and how appreciative I am.
The series finale of Blue Bloods airs Friday, December 13th on CBS.
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