Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticNaya Rivera was a fearsome screen presence who made meals out of whatever crumbs she got. While she began her TV career sparkling with winsome charm as a child actor on sitcoms like “Family Matters” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” it was on “Glee” that she got to prove the full breadth of what she could do.
In Santana Lopez, Rivera took a flat character and made her vital by the sheer force of her inarguable charisma.The role that made Rivera famous — and is now her most memorable, period, after her tragic death at just 33 years old — shouldn’t have been half as magnetic as it immediately became with her in it.
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