Liza Colón-Zayas connects with her inner child in John Krasinski film 'IF'

Sometimes healing comes in the form of connecting with your inner child.
Puerto Rican actor Liza Colón-Zayas portrays a caring nurse in
director John Krasinski's new children's movie "IF" — an acronym for "imaginary friends."

The movie's message of holding onto the power of imagination is "so profound," Colón-Zayas told the Sun-Times in an interview. From her humble beginnings as a young girl in the Bronx, Colón-Zayas never stopped dreaming.

"I grew up in the projects. Nobody looked like me on TV," she said. When she was a little girl, her mom encouraged her to imitate Erica Kane from the decades-old soap opera "All My Children." That sparked her love of the craft.

"I just knew that I wanted to do this even though there was no path," she said.

Best known for portraying Tina Marrero on "The Bear," the Emmy Award-winning TV series set in Chicago, Colón-Zayas plays nurse Janet in the movie about a 12-year-old girl, Bea (Cailey Fleming), dealing with the loneliness and grief of losing her mother to cancer several years prior.

Bea only begins to see these imaginary friends while exploring her grandmother's apartment building in New York City. She's living there to be close to her dad (John Krasinski) while he's slated to undergo a life-saving heart procedure at a prestigious hospital in the city, where nurse Janet is on staff.

One of Bea's new friends is Blue (Steve Carell), an enormously large, purple... thing? Then there's Blossom (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), an animated butterfly , and Cal (Ryan Reynolds), her human neighbor. They introduce her to a retirement home full of downtrodden imaginary friends looking to be matched with new kids — one in particular spending his days cooped up in a hospital room with several broken limbs.

Colón-Zayas said she took inspiration from real-life working healthcare professionals to prepare for her role as Janet.

"I spent a lot of time, just because life is that way, being in situations watching people like Janet do what they gotta do," she said. "And so, the thing to give respect to is empathy and compassion."

Working alongside Krasinski and Fleming was the highlight of being a part of "IF," Colón-Zayas added.

"It's a great reminder that sets can be positive. They don't have to be toxic. You can have fun, and then just to see it all come together ... I'm pinching myself. I'm so, so lucky."

Next up, Colón-Zayas reprises her role as spunky chef Tina in the highly anticipated third season of "The Bear," set to hit Hulu on June 27. Tina's storyline will include more "challenges, growth, struggle and stress," Colón-Zayas revealed.

When Colón-Zayas is working in Chicago, her preferred post-filming food spot is Ponce Restaurant in Hermosa. Good pasteles, she said, are hard to find. Ponce's version of the traditional dish from Puerto Rico — made of root vegetables or plantain and filled with savory pork — is one of the best around, she said.

After long days on set, "I don't get out," she said. "I'm actually more of a hermit. But man, that's been a good spot to get delivery. The food is on point."