Background
Santiago"s father was a musician and her mother"s mother was described as a painter.
Santiago"s father was a musician and her mother"s mother was described as a painter.
She attended Miami Coral Park High School graduating class of 1993.
Family and education Tessie Santiago is a first generation American. Her grandfather was a sculptor. (Santiago"s mother went on to earn a college degree as a working adult in Florida and was employed for many years as an administrative assistant at the University of Miami Medical School) Santiago learned to play the piano at age seven.
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 Production with the Faculty of and of Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague, Czechoslovakian Republic.
She has always immersed herself in creative endeavors. At university, she starred in the independent film Echo and became the resident “lieutenant Girl,” acting in many student films.
While working in Spain on the Queen of Swords, Santiago rescued and adopted a dog she named Zion. She has reported aspiration to work behind the camera, both as a writer and a director
Santiago made her television debut in 2000 in the syndicated action/adventure television series Queen of Swords, playing Tessa Alvarado/The Queen.
She went on to appear on television shows including the first 11 episodes of the first season of the sitcom Good Morning, Miami, playing Lucia Rojas-Klein. And in episodes of Kitchen Confidential, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and One on One. In 2001, Santiago landed a co-starring role with Annabeth Gish and Kamar de los Reyes in the Video Hits One television-movie The Way She Moves, playing Christina Juarez, a Latina dancer with the dream of winning a dance exhibition.
Santiago then played Sarah Marshall in the independent film The Way Back Home.
In 2009, she starred in the movie The Cell 2, a direct-to-video spin-off of the 2000 film The Cell, playing psychic investigator Maya Casteneda. She was a cast regular on the 2010 television series Twentysixmiles, playing Jennifer Calderon.
She also had a role in the 2010 film Angel Camouflaged playing Desdemona. She guest starred in an episode of the television series Royal Pains in 2010, reuniting with her former Good Morning, Miami co-star, Mark Feuerstein.
She appeared in 3 episodes of the television series The Secret Life of the American Teenager in 2012.