Rachel Ticotin

Ticotin is the daughter of a Puerto Rican mother and a Russian-Jewish father. Her father was a used-car salesman, and she has five siblings. She earned money for acting lessons by working as a babysitter, in addition to managing New York's Public Theater and working as an usher there. She also was a production assistant for some films made in New York. In her 50s she enrolled in Columbia University studying English, and graduated in 2019 as the first of six children with a college degree.In 1978, Ticotin made her film debut as a dancer in the film King of the Gypsies. She also acted in the off-Broadway production of Miguel Piñero's The Sun Always Shines for the Cool. During this period, she received an onscreen credit as a production assistant on Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill. Her first big break came when, working as a production assistant alongside her brother David in 1981, she was given a significant role as Isabella, Paul Newman's love interest in the movie Fort Apache, The Bronx. That same year, she was listed as one of 12 promising new actors in John Willis' Screen World Vol. 33.

In 1983, she landed a regular role on NBC's television drama Love and Honor. Other television series in which she has appeared include: Ohara (1987), Women on the Inside (1991), Crime & Punishment (1993), and Disney's Gargoyles (1994).

Ticotin's film work includes: Critical Condition (1987) as Rachel Atwood, Total Recall (1990) as Melina (alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone), Where the Day Takes You (1992) as Officer Landers, Falling Down (1993) as Detective Sandra Torres (alongside Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall), First Time Felon (1997) as McBride (alongside Omar Epps), and Con Air (1997) (alongside Nicolas Cage and John Malkovich), in which she earned an ALMA Award for her role as prison guard Sally Bishop. In 1995, she played the role of Doña Inez, the Mexican mother of Don Juan, in the tongue-in-cheek romantic comedy Don Juan DeMarco, with Johnny Depp playing the title role.

Ticotin has participated in over 40 films and television series, appearing in Man on Fire (2004), as Mariana, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005). Ticotin was cast as Vangie Gonzalez Taylor in the second season of PBS's television series American Family alongside Edward James Olmos, Esai Morales, Raquel Welch, and Kate del Castillo. Ticotin also appeared on television in season two of the ABC series Lost as Captain Teresa Cortez, mother of Michelle Rodriguez's character Ana Lucia Cortez.

In September 2010, she joined the cast of the NBC legal drama Law & Order: LA as Lieutenant Arleen Gonzales in place of Wanda De Jesus, who originally played the role. Ticotin reshot the scenes originally performed by De Jesus.

She also played Dr. Marie Cerone on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) medical drama television series Grey's Anatomy in 2018.