The Untold Truth Of Stephanie Beatriz

The following article includes mentions of disordered eating.

Stephanie Beatriz may not be the biggest star in Hollywood (yet?), however, fans of the actor absolutely adore her. Why? Well, for one thing, she takes on a range of roles. You may know her as the tough-as-nails Rosa Diaz from "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," a show that lets her show off her comedic skills. She also starred in 2017's "The Light of the Moon," which saw her take on a shatteringly serious and incredibly challenging role. Of course, anyone who loves musicals will know that she popped up as Carla in the 2021 big-screen version of "In the Heights." That's not to mention her performances on "Modern Family" and in "Pee-wee's Big Holiday," as well as her voice work on "Bob's Burgers" and "BoJack Horseman," just to name a few high-profile gigs.

Clearly, Beatriz has what it takes to mix things up, which is not only why she's done so much, but also why she's likely to be busy for years to come. And yet, there's much more to the star than what you see on the screen. Along with having a bright future ahead of her, this is one actor that happens to have an intriguing background and an interesting ongoing life both personally and professionally. Frankly, if you enjoy Beatriz's work in movies and television, then you'll likely love to find out what she's like in real life and what she's up to when the cameras aren't rolling. 

Keep scrolling to find out the untold truth about Stephanie Beatriz.

There are quite a few famous figures out there who don't go by their real or full names. For instance, did you know that Katy Perry's real name is Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (which means that she could have gone by Kate Hudson)? Olivia Wilde was born with the name Olivia Cockburn, while Jamie Foxx was once known as Eric Bishop, and if you knew Portia De Rossi before she was famous, you might have called her Amanda Lee Rogers. Bruno Mars was Peter Hernández, Natalie Portman is Neta-Lee Hershlag, and Vin Diesel was Mark Sinclair. 

As for Stephanie Beatriz, that is her real name, but it's not her full name. Born as Stephanie Beatriz Bischoff Alvizuri, according to IMDb, it doesn't appear as if the star has spoken out about why she chose to leave out her third and fourth names when it comes to how she's known professionally.

Beyond that, there's not a lot of information behind the name Alvizuri, but it is shared by former competitive swimmer Alejandro Alvizuri. As for Bischoff, according to Ancestry, the name comes from the Middle High German word "bischof" and Middle Low German word "bischop," which means "bishop." It was "probably applied as a nickname for someone with a pompous manner or as a metonymic occupational name for someone in the service of a bishop." Although both Bischoff and Alvizuri are great names, we wonder if Beatriz just wanted to go with something a little shorter than her full four-name moniker.

Stephanie Beatriz may look like she's totally in control of what she's doing when she's tackling roles like the fierce Rosa Diaz on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" — however, the truth is that she often can't totally see what's in front of her. 

Back in 2014, she told Backstage, "I don't work with my glasses on and contacts really bother my eyes." That's why she doesn't wear either when she's performing, meaning, as BuzzFeed explained, "When acting, she's almost legally blind." Indeed, Beatriz was once asked by someone on Twitter how bad her eyesight is, and she tweeted back, "So bad that first season I kept missing my marks because I couldn't see em." That's seriously saying something considering, the fact that she pointed out that "they are huge marks — and hot pink."

Fortunately for the star, she has a great sense of style when it comes to glasses. On top of that, Beatriz seems to have a wide range of choices, which is why she can be seen in eyewear like a tortoiseshell turquoise look and pretty pink rims (or are those red?). You might have also spotted her in both a thin frame and a darker, heavier pair. In 2016, she shared a pic of three of her options, writing, "You know what they say about girls who wear glasses. WE DOPE AF." With the potential to add glasses to her signature style, we can only assume that sometime in the future this star might be launching her own (surely successful) eyewear brand!

If you've seen a close-up photo of Stephanie Beatriz, then you may know that she has a noticeable facial scar that crosses through her eyebrow. It gives her the same kind of vibe as fellow eyebrow scar-adorned stars like "Aquaman" hero Jason Momoa, singer Charlie Puth, and the late Luke Perry. Beatriz once told the New York Daily News, "People have often been like, 'Do you shave that weird part in your eyebrow like Vanilla Ice?'" The answer is: Nope! Although it would certainly be interesting if that was true.

While chatting about her voice-work for 2019's "The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part," Beatriz told Collider about the "very embarrassing nerd story" behind how she got her scar. Coincidentally enough, the initial injury was caused by LEGO. "So, I was like 10 or 11 and LEGOs were one of my favorite toys, so I was a big collector of them and I had many sets," she said. Beatriz went on to recall that she had created her own LEGO city in her bedroom, and even though she had been told repeatedly that she needed to clean it up, you guessed it, she didn't and that led to disaster: "I tripped over a chunk of [the LEGO] and the scar in my eyebrow is from that accident." 

Ouch! Although, if you ask any parent, they could probably tell you how painful it is to step on one of those little blocks, so they most likely wouldn't be surprised to find out that they could cause such a lasting scar.

Stephanie Beatriz may be famous for her television role on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" while also making her name over in the big-screen scene, but as she told Esquire, "I used to work in theater. I did a lot of Shakespeare and American classic theater."

Frankly, Beatriz didn't just perform in the Bard's plays, she became a student of his work. "When I was learning about Shakespeare, I was deep-diving into the history of Shakespeare, and how Shakespeare affected people, and how going to see plays affected people," she explained. Beatriz continued to touch on that effect, saying that it "was the main form of entertainment, right? ... You pay literally your penny and you go stand in the front like a music show, and you watched the plays. That's where you're getting ideas about s**t."

The star also opened up to the Chicago Tribune about an unfortunate moment while performing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. While rotating between the late English playwright's work and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" by Tennessee Williams, she experienced a wardrobe malfunction that involved "'50s underwear, which is this big torpedo bra and a system that feels like a cage — it's a girdle and thigh-high stockings attached to a garter. It's a whole thing."

Fortunately for Beatriz, that didn't put her off acting. And as HuffPost noted, "after spending most of her career in theater, the actress decided to try television," which was definitely the right move.

Stephanie Beatriz first found herself dealing with an eating disorder while attending an all-women's university, and told the "Queery with Cameron Esposito" podcast in 2017 that the situation she was in "create[d] really gnarly behavior that became normalized within that group of women." 

When it came to Beatriz's career, she recalled for InStyle what she used to go through while preparing for publicity photoshoots, saying, "I'd stress. I'd look in the mirror and pick apart my body ... I'd zoom in on areas I hated, like my a** or my stomach. And then I'd start the obsessive food restriction and compulsive workouts." Explaining that she's "not a bulimic" and "not anorexic," Beatriz noted that she deals with "disordered eating," which "is an umbrella label because eating disorders can be hard to categorize."

Saying that she "often used food to self-medicate," and "thought by controlling what [she] ate [she] was controlling [her] fate," Beatriz eventually realized that she needed to change how she viewed food, others, and herself. While the actor still works toward a healthy relationship with her body, as well as with what she eats, Beatriz noted, "I'm going to keep moving in the direction of my most authentic self by reminding myself every day that I'm worthy."

If you are struggling with an eating disorder, or know someone who is, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).