From teaching to the courtroom, to the silver screen
BY JASON COHEN
Pelham Gardens resident
Lisann Valentin has dabbled
in many professions, including
as an elementary school
teacher and attorney. But her
favorite role has been as an actress
on the silver screen.
Valentin has been on the
NBC drama series’ “The
Blacklist” and “New Amsterdam,”
and Netfl ix’s “Narcos.”
She was also cast in a recurring
role as “Offi cer Molinaro”
in the third season of the Netflix
show “Manifest” last year.
The science-fi ction series
centers on the passengers of a
plane that mysteriously lands
years after takeoff. The group
now faces strange, new realities
in a world that has moved
on without them.
“It’s always exciting to book
a role on network television,”
she said. “But now everyone I
know can binge the series and
send me pictures of their TV
when I pop up on their screen
– because that’s literally what
they’re doing and I wouldn’t
have it any other way.”
Raised in Sunset Park,
Brooklyn, Valentin wanted to
be an actor, but didn’t view it as
a viable career. However, after
watching “The Cosby Show,”
she soon pictured herself as a
powerful lawyer like “Claire
Huxtable.” With a father that
worked for NYCHA and her
mom, a retired computer engineer
for the city Department of
Education, they thought their
daughter becoming an attorney
would be great.
“They loved the lawyer
thing,” Valentin told the Bronx
Times. “They thought it was a
solution and we’ll have a lawyer
in the family now.”
Valentin attended St. Joseph’s
College in Brooklyn
where she was encouraged
to be a writer. One professor
even suggested she become a
teacher.
So, she took that advice, got
a degree in elementary education
in 2001 and taught third
and fi fth grade for two years in
Brooklyn. Yet, she still wasn’t
fulfi lled.
Valentin decided to switch
gears and enter the courtroom.
So she went to law school at
UMass Amherst, before working
as a personal injury attorney
in New York City for
several years while simultaneously
studying acting and
booking roles. However, litigation
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, F 36 FEB. 11-17, 2022 BTR
took over her life.
“I was in court all of the
time,” she said.
Knowing she could not master
her craft or satisfy her acting
bug while being stuck in
court all day, she soon quit
the legal profession. The day
she resigned from law, Valentin
cried while asking herself,
“God, did I do the right thing?”
Then a bird pooped on her —
some would call it a sign of
good fortune to come.
“I started acting because
there was something calling
me to it,” Valentin said. “I
started acting to see if I could
feel different about myself. It
was really challenging to handle
two careers at once.”
She soon landed her fi rst
role on a TV dating show and
from there auditions continued.
She’s had roles in the TV
series “Jessica Jones,” and
“Here Today,” a movie with
Billy Crystal and Tiffany
Haddish. Valentin can also
be seen on the last episode of
this season’s “Search Party”
on HBO.
When she was cast as a cop
for two episodes of “Manifest”
it was fun, yet challenging because
they fi lmed during COVID
19.
“I was super panicked because
it was my fi rst thing going
into the pandemic,” she
said. “I didn’t know how production
would go.”
Valentin told the Bronx
Times that although she grew
up idolizing actresses Linda
Carter, Rita Moreno and
Phylicia Rashad, she doesn’t
regret being a teacher and
lawyer. Those jobs helped
shape her to who she is today.
Since moving to Pelham
Gardens with her boyfriend,
Valentin has fallen in love
with the borough. From visiting
the Botanical Gardens
and Conti’s Bake Shoppe in
Morris Park, she is slowly becoming
a Bronxite.
Valentin said there is no
better feeling than being on
the silver screen.
“It’s very different when
you love what you do,” she
said.
Bronx actress Lisann Valentin stars in “Manifest.” Photo courtesy Lisann
Valentin
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