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Tessie Marie Santiago is a 27 year old, Miami-born Cuban-American, who grew up in a tight-knit
middle-class family of artists: a sculptor grandfather, musician father and painter mother. Tessie
Santiago's mother works on the University of Miami Medical School Campus and her father is an X-ray Technician
at Palmetto Hospital. Her grandfather and grandmother, who fled Cuba 40 years ago, helped raise her. Tessie
always had an interest in the arts. She played the piano, danced and sang. By age 7 she was already
performing. She studied drama at Coral Park High School in Miami Dade's Westchester, Florida, singing and
performing in every school musical. Although she was scouted by several modeling agencies when she was a
young girl, Tessie stuck to school projects. At the University of Miami, she starred in many independent student
films such as the film "Echo" portraying the lead role of Mia Rodger, a woman who fights irrationally with her
various personalities. Tessie became the resident - It Girl -, acting in many of her fellow student films. A May
1999 graduate from the University of Miami, she earned a double major in Film and Theater Arts and was able to
study Shakespeare in London, England and Film Production with the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical
University (FAMU) In Prague, Czech Republic. Tessie immersed herself in creative endeavors and filmed two
commercials in Spanish. After graduation, she interned with casting agent Lori Wyman on the film "The Crew."
Tessie believed it helped her to learn what a casting director looked for in an actor and also learned the best
strategy was to just show up and be yourself.
After signing with an agent, Tessie went to an open casting call as part of her first professional audition.
Fireworks Entertainment was conducting a nationwide search for the lead role in the action adventure television
series "QUEEN OF SWORDS". As a blonde with light skin and light eyes, Tessie knew that TV had a long
history of relying on clichés and stereotypes when looking for the right part, especially the typical look of a Latina.
Tessie dyed her hair black a week before the audition and read for the part. It led to several call-backs with a
final test-screening in Los Angeles. In the end, she won the lead role. The concept of the show required Tessie
to portray the roles of two characters: As Tessa Alvarado, she is a Spanish aristocrat in the early 1800s, who
returns to California after many years of living in Spain to claim her family's birthright and learns that the land is
being ruled by an iron-fisted military dictator. As the Queen of Swords, she dons a lace mask to become an
avenger, who wields her sword for justice to fight for the peasants and against oppression.
Being the star of her own TV show literally changed her life from one day to the next. She began an intense two
month, six days a week, nine hours a day training in Los Angeles, CA to prepare for her role. Tessie threw
herself into training for the QUEEN OF SWORDS; learning how to horseback ride, handle a whip, flamenco
dance, fight, and sword fence. She is particularly proud to play the part of a strong-willed Latina woman battling
oppression. Since most of Santiago’s family fled from Cuba after Castro and communism took hold of the
country, she easily identified with her character of the "QUEEN OF SWORDS". Tessie once said in an interview,
"I'm really proud of this part. I play not just a strong, intelligent woman, but a strong, intelligent Latin woman."
This first-generation American is passionate about keeping her Cuban heritage alive and passing it onto her own
children one day. She is an avid reader, who counts Henry Miller, Anais Nin and Milan Kundera among her
favorite authors. Tessie also aspires someday to work behind the camera, both as a writer and a director. She
loves visiting Miami, Florida where she attends plays and concerts, watches foreign films and spends time with
her family and lifelong friends. Tessie has moved to Southern California to expand on her acting career and calls
Los Angeles her new home.
A former restaurant hostess before her life changed overnight.
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