Tia Texada is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cruz on the NBC series Third Watch, and her recurring role as an undercover agent Ribera on The Unit for CBS. Other roles include, In Plain Sight, Saving Grace, Chuck for NBC, HBO's Mind of the Married Man, Everybody Hates Chris, The Amazing Spider-Man feature film, Batman Beyond, Static Shock, Firebreather, and Handy Manny. She was the voice of Maybelline New York for 15 years, the number-one selling cosmetic brand in the world, and during her campaign of "Maybe Shes Born With it... Maybe It's Maybelline ...", it was named Brand of the Year and Launch of the Year for Lash Sensational. She was first female live announcer for the Espy Awards, where she worked alongside Justin Timberlake, Jamie Foxx, LeBron James, and Samuel L. Jackson for seven years. She was the voice of the winning Golden Trailer award for RoboCop feature film. Tia was the voice for launching Super Bowl 50 for The NFL Today on CBS, Flesh and Bone for Starz, Lindt Gold Bunny, Zales, Unstoppable Collection, JC Penney World Cup Soccer IS for Girls, World Series of Poker Lady Luck for ESPN, and Skittles 'Taste the Rainbow'. Tia was born with severe strabismus and after surgery to correct this and wearing an eye patch, she took an acting class to help with her shyness, which led to her career as an actor.