Background
Santiago is the daughter of a Cuban father and a Puerto Rican mother.
Santiago is the daughter of a Cuban father and a Puerto Rican mother.
Raised in the South Bronx, New York City, where she attended Our Lady of Victory grammar school. Santiago graduated from South Dade Senior High School and attended the University of Miami on a scholarship, majoring in psychology.
She portrayed Detroit Gina Calabrese on 1980s television series Miami Vice. When she was 13 years old her family moved to Homestead, Florida. As a University of Miami student, she became interested in acting.
After graduation, she went on to post-graduate study in theater and arts at Southern Methodist University, eventually earning a master"s degree.
Santiago joined the company of regional summer stock theater, Timber Lake Playhouse, Mount Carroll, Illinois, performing many roles including Maria in West Side Story in the 1980 season. Santiago is best known for her role as Detective Gina Calabrese on the hit 1980s television show Miami Vice.
She spent three years playing the role of crime boss Carmen Santos on the long-running Columbia Broadcasting System soap opera Guiding Light. Additionally, on television, Santiago did a short-term role on the American Broadcasting Company soap opera One Life to Live after leaving Guiding Light.
She was a guest star on Law & Order in the 1992 episode "Prince of Darkness" (episode 38) and in the 2004 episode "Veteran"s Day" (episode 1415).
In 2009, she returned to One Life to Live, taking over the role of Carlotta Vega. In 2011, she took a guest role as Patti Doctorate"agostino in the Person of Interest episode Witness. In 2014, she portrayed Marciela Acosta, the wife of gang leader Javier Acosta, in the Fox television Series Gang Related.
In 2016, she played the role of Carmen Baez the mother of Detective Maria Baez in "Stomping Grounds" the 13th episode of the 6th season of the Columbia Broadcasting System police procedural drama Blue Bloods.