# Paola Lázaro
**Paola Lázaro** (born 1994) is a Puerto Rican actress and playwright, best known for playing Juanita "Princess" Sanchez on AMC's *The Walking Dead* and for stage plays including *Tell Hector I Miss Him* and *There's Always the Hudson*.[1](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Paola-Lazaro/) • [2](https://www.metro.pr/entretenimiento/2021/03/25/paola-lazaro-habla-personaje-boricua-the-walking-dead) She has been nominated for an Imagen Award for her television acting and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her role in *To the Bone*, and she received the 2021 Steinberg Playwright Award.[1](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Paola-Lazaro/) • [12](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/paola-lazaro/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1994, San Juan, Puerto Rico[3](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/paola-lazaro/) |
| Signature TV role | Juanita "Princess" Sanchez on *The Walking Dead*, October 2019 to November 2022[4](https://www.formulatv.com/personas/paola-lazaro/) |
| Acting recognition | Imagen Award nomination, Best Supporting Actress, for *The Walking Dead*[1](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Paola-Lazaro/) |
| Playwriting recognition | Drama Desk nominee for *To the Bone*; Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations; 2021 Steinberg Playwright Award ($10,000)[1](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Paola-Lazaro/) |
| Education | BFA in playwriting, SUNY Purchase; MFA, Columbia University[5](https://www.adorocinema.com/personalidades/personalidade-802920/biografia/) |
| Stage affiliations | Resident playwright at The Public Theater and Atlantic Theater Company; member of LAByrinth Theater Company[6](https://peopleenespanol.com/paola-lazaro-jon-bernthal-ebon-moss-bachrach-dog-day-afternoon-12001357) • [7](https://50playwrights.org/2018/08/20/paola-lazaro-munoz/) |
## Early life and education
Lázaro was born in 1994 in [San Juan, Puerto Rico](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-juan-puerto-rico).[3](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/paola-lazaro/) Most profiles identify her as being from San Juan, though one theater press biography states she was born in [Orlando, Florida](https://www.edgepedia.org/orlando-florida), to Puerto Rican parents and raised in [Kirkland, Washington](https://www.edgepedia.org/kirkland-washington).[8](https://7b9e8866-d5d3-4bee-b666-a014cf4484f0.filesusr.com/ugd/2d5685_9600f1c1e67f48a58d213f04aa054fde.pdf) She left the island as an adolescent for New York, where she continued her studies in dramatic writing.[2](https://www.metro.pr/entretenimiento/2021/03/25/paola-lazaro-habla-personaje-boricua-the-walking-dead)
She earned a [Bachelor of Fine Arts](https://www.edgepedia.org/bachelor-of-fine-arts) in playwriting from the [State University of New York at Purchase](https://www.edgepedia.org/state-university-of-new-york-at-purchase) and a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University.[5](https://www.adorocinema.com/personalidades/personalidade-802920/biografia/) In a 2018 interview she listed her affiliations as LAByrinth Theater Company, The Public Theater, Purchase College, and Columbia University, and identified herself as Puerto Rican.[7](https://50playwrights.org/2018/08/20/paola-lazaro-munoz/)
## Playwriting
**Tell Hector I Miss Him.** Lázaro made her New York debut as a playwright with *Tell Hector I Miss Him*, staged at the [Atlantic Theater Company](https://www.edgepedia.org/atlantic-theater-company)'s Stage 2 in 2017.[2](https://www.metro.pr/entretenimiento/2021/03/25/paola-lazaro-habla-personaje-boricua-the-walking-dead) • [9](https://remezcla.com/features/culture/paola-lazaro-playwright-interview/) The play is set in a San Juan populated by people down on their luck and yearning for connection, and its title figure is the salsa singer [Héctor Lavoe](https://www.edgepedia.org/hector-lavoe), who is not a character but whose presence looms over the story; a local shopkeeper plays old salsa records nonstop.[9](https://remezcla.com/features/culture/paola-lazaro-playwright-interview/) Lázaro has described 1970s salsa, including Roberto Roena, Lavoe, Willie Colón, and Ray Barretto, as a formative influence on her storytelling, comparing the chorus of commenting singers in salsa to the structure of Greek theater.[9](https://remezcla.com/features/culture/paola-lazaro-playwright-interview/) She has said the most defining moment of her playwriting career was sitting beside her mother in the theater during a monologue that expressed things her mother had stored up for 37 years without being able to say.[7](https://50playwrights.org/2018/08/20/paola-lazaro-munoz/)
**There's Always the Hudson.** Her play *There's Always the Hudson*, produced at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC, follows two Caribbean survivors of sexual abuse who met in a support group and decide to take revenge on the people who wronged them.[10](https://muckrack.com/paola-lazaro) • [7](https://50playwrights.org/2018/08/20/paola-lazaro-munoz/) A DC Theater review described it as "phenomenally fearless and effing funny".[10](https://muckrack.com/paola-lazaro)
Her work has drawn notice for writing Latino characters she has described as real and flawed rather than idealized; in her own words, "A person can be a macho asshole yet loving at the same time. I wasn't gonna lie about what I wanted to write about."[9](https://remezcla.com/features/culture/paola-lazaro-playwright-interview/) She has been a resident playwright at [The Public Theater](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-public-theater) and the Atlantic Theater Company and took part in the Sundance Institute Time Warner Storytelling Fellowship.[6](https://peopleenespanol.com/paola-lazaro-jon-bernthal-ebon-moss-bachrach-dog-day-afternoon-12001357) In 2021 she was one of ten early-to-mid-career playwrights honored with a Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust Playwright Award of $10,000.[1](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Paola-Lazaro/)
## Screen acting
Lázaro's television credits include Gutierrez on *Lethal Weapon* (September 2018 to February 2019), Itsy on *SMILF* (March 2019), and Tonya on *Wu-Tang: An American Saga* (September to October 2019).[4](https://www.formulatv.com/personas/paola-lazaro/) Her film work includes *Pimp* and *Black Bear* (2020), and she appeared in *Shelter* on NBC.[5](https://www.adorocinema.com/personalidades/personalidade-802920/biografia/) • [8](https://7b9e8866-d5d3-4bee-b666-a014cf4484f0.filesusr.com/ugd/2d5685_9600f1c1e67f48a58d213f04aa054fde.pdf) She later starred in Netflix's *Obliterated*.[1](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Paola-Lazaro/)
**Princess on The Walking Dead.** In October 2019 Lázaro joined *The Walking Dead* as Juanita "Princess" Sanchez, a role she played through November 2022.[4](https://www.formulatv.com/personas/paola-lazaro/) She came to the audition without knowing the character's comic-book story and said the writing made the character immediately clear to her.[11](https://www.amc.com/blogs/spoilers-the-walking-dead-qa-paola-lazaro-princess--1006779) Princess, a survivor who had been alone for a year and decorated her surroundings with dioramas, resonated with Lázaro's own experience of being seen as hyper and troublesome as a child; she noted that the diorama scenes resembled the vignettes she builds as a playwright.[11](https://www.amc.com/blogs/spoilers-the-walking-dead-qa-paola-lazaro-princess--1006779) In an interview with Metro Puerto Rico she explained how she worked to change the character's nationality so that Juanita would be Puerto Rican, and described the emotional depth of a character whose difficulties border on mental illness.[2](https://www.metro.pr/entretenimiento/2021/03/25/paola-lazaro-habla-personaje-boricua-the-walking-dead) The role earned her an Imagen Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.[1](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Paola-Lazaro/)
## Recent stage work
In 2026 Lázaro played [Guadalupe](https://www.edgepedia.org/guadalupe) in the Broadway stage adaptation of *Dog Day Afternoon*, the 1975 [Sidney Lumet](https://www.edgepedia.org/sidney-lumet) film, alongside [Jon Bernthal](https://www.edgepedia.org/jon-bernthal) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach; the production ran in New York through June 28.[6](https://peopleenespanol.com/paola-lazaro-jon-bernthal-ebon-moss-bachrach-dog-day-afternoon-12001357) She told *People en Español* that working on the play had let her explore new facets of her career, and that "the theater takes away the doubt about what is real".[6](https://peopleenespanol.com/paola-lazaro-jon-bernthal-ebon-moss-bachrach-dog-day-afternoon-12001357)
## References
1. [Paola Lazaro (Actor, Playwright) – Broadway & Theatre Credits, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Paola-Lazaro/)
2. [Paola Lázaro habla sobre su personaje boricua en The Walking Dead, Metro Puerto Rico](https://www.metro.pr/entretenimiento/2021/03/25/paola-lazaro-habla-personaje-boricua-the-walking-dead)
3. [Paola Lázaro – Actress, Writer, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/paola-lazaro/)
4. [Paola Lázaro – noticias y filmografía, FormulaTV](https://www.formulatv.com/personas/paola-lazaro/)
5. [Paola Lazaro: A biografia, AdoroCinema](https://www.adorocinema.com/personalidades/personalidade-802920/biografia/)
6. [Paola Lázaro se sincera sobre Dog Day Afternoon, People en Español](https://peopleenespanol.com/paola-lazaro-jon-bernthal-ebon-moss-bachrach-dog-day-afternoon-12001357)
7. [Paola Lázaro-Muñoz, 50 Playwrights Project](https://50playwrights.org/2018/08/20/paola-lazaro-munoz/)
8. [Press Contacts – There's Always the Hudson, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company](https://7b9e8866-d5d3-4bee-b666-a014cf4484f0.filesusr.com/ugd/2d5685_9600f1c1e67f48a58d213f04aa054fde.pdf)
9. [Puerto Rican Playwright Paola Lázaro is Writing Refreshing and Complex Latino Characters For the Stage, Remezcla](https://remezcla.com/features/culture/paola-lazaro-playwright-interview/)
10. [Paola Lazaro – journalist profile and articles, Muck Rack](https://muckrack.com/paola-lazaro)
11. [(SPOILERS) The Walking Dead Q&A — Paola Lázaro (Princess), AMC Talk](https://www.amc.com/blogs/spoilers-the-walking-dead-qa-paola-lazaro-princess--1006779)
12. [Paola Lázaro, Atlantic Theater](https://atlantictheater.org/bio/paola-lazaro/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of Latin America and Iberia › Caribbean screen actors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license