Roma Maffia grew up in
Brooklyn, New York and is of mixed English, German and
West Indian descent. Her Italian surname reportedly comes from her stepfather. Maffia is a 1973 graduate of
St. Michael Academy. She began her official acting career in
off-Broadway and
off-off-Broadway productions. In 1994, she played Carmen in director
Ron Howard's film
The Paper. Soon after, she landed a role on the television series
Chicago Hope. Maffia's television career continued as she played Grace Alvarez, the
forensic pathologist for the Violent Crimes Task Force for four seasons on
Profiler. She has had guest-starring and recurring roles on shows such as
ER,
The West Wing, and
Law & Order. Her most widely seen performances may be playing Seattle attorney Catherine Alvarez in the 1994 film
Disclosure, starring
Michael Douglas and
Demi Moore. She followed this with a series of performances as Vanessa Galiano in the TV series
Law & Order and as Judge Victoria Peyton on
Boston Legal. From 2003 until 2010, Maffia appeared as Liz Cruz on the
FX Network series
Nip/Tuck, the
anesthesiologist colleague of two dysfunctional plastic surgeons. Maffia and
Julian McMahon also worked together on the TV show
Profiler. She had a supporting role on
Pretty Little Liars from seasons 4 to 7. Her character, Linda Tanner, is a savvy, no-nonsense state investigator working on unsolved murder cases in the fictional town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania. In 2012, Roma appeared in several episodes of ''
Grey's Anatomy. She appeared in Season 4 of In the Dark'' as Paula Romano, a drug dealer who deals a drug called "Bolt" both in and out of prison. ==Filmography==