Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Santiago.
Hi Andrew, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where in my life I decided that performing would be my path. Was it my Puerto Rican upbringing and the stories my grandmother made up for me? Perhaps it was participating in every show in my middle school dance class. Maybe it was playing the lead of Kevin McCalister in my third-grade production of our made-up sequel: Home Alone 3 Lost In The World. What I do remember more than any of those moments was the first time I made someone laugh on purpose. Ms. Kennedy was my kindergarten teacher at PS 10 in Brooklyn and she introduced me to reading, math, art, and most importantly make-pretend. One day, I performed for her my impression of a giraffe eating. I must have seen the majestic animal chomping, chewing, and slurping leaves on some PBS show and had decided it was something I could imitate with my own goofy mug. I was unconsciously doing it to myself during arts and crafts when Ms. Kennedy came over and asked me what I was doing with a chuckle. I looked at her and said, “This is my impression of a giraffe eating,” and proceeded to show her my best version of it. She practically keeled over in laughter. And instinctually, I riffed. I kept building the joke until she couldn’t breathe. I’d stop, look away for a second, then turn back hard into the impression. The shock of it made her laugh harder. She proceeded to grab me by the wrist, brought me out into the hallway, and called over the other four kindergarten teachers. She then asked me to show them. I did. They all lost their collective minds.
It was at that moment I realized that with this silly thing I could do with my face I had caused five classrooms to be left teacherless and in various states of chaos. The sense of power I felt was immense. It wouldn’t be for years that I’d realize this was a seminal moment in my life, career, and path. I just wanted to make the ladies laugh and cause a little chaos in the process. Everything I did between kindergarten and college was lots of the latter and not enough of the former. I came from a rough background and a troubled family. Growing up, drugs and violence were ever-present. After my brother got shot and paralyzed, my aunt passed from HIV-related issues, I dropped out of high school and spent a year emotionally adrift. A year to the day of my aunt’s passing, she appeared to me in a dream. In my dream, she urged me to go back to school, that I had it within me to be something, and that if I’d only apply myself, I could change my life around. I cried. I listened. Then I got to work. I started by getting my GED. I used that GED to enroll at Borough of Manhattan Community College and finally became an exemplary student. I was awarded several scholarships and landed one that sent me on a full ride to Emerson College where I studied Writing for Film and Television while exploring every form of storytelling I could get my hands on. I ended up on Emerson Comedy Workshop, my first comedy team, my first experience with sketch comedy, and where I started to hone my comedic chops and get comfortable on stage. I signed up for improv classes at the UCB theater the week of graduation and have been chasing laughs at that theater ever since.
Many of the opportunities that have occurred since then were from just going for it. Reaching out to people I want to work with. Talking with people frankly about how to do the thing that they do. Optimism in the face of adversity has been my go-to, not always providing the answers but keeping me up and around long enough to find them. I got into acting on-screen through several different digital media companies who also liked what I could do with my face, and after the third company of that kind laid me off, I decided with much help and advice from the most important people in my life, almost all of whom are women of color who I trust and have all been mentors to me, that I should invest my time and efforts into myself and truly pursue what I had always wanted to do but was too scared to say out loud: a career in acting. With support and advice from my girlfriend, who is a comedic genius and tv writer herself and is the main reason I made it to LA and gave stand-up a real try, I got smart with my money and made a plan for how I could truly pursue the life of an artist. Shortly after, I did the NHMC Latino Scene Showcase, which paired Latino actors and writers together to perform scenes to an audience of industry folks. I got repped the same day. I started out in commercials. Then added voice acting to my repertoire. And after years of auditions, some new headshots, reels, demos, and new reps, I’m acting in film and tv for the first time.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I laughed a big sarcastic laugh when I read this question. Um, no it has not been a smooth road. I think I added lots of my challenges to the previous section, but if I can add more here, I’d start by saying that many of my hindrances started at home. My mom went to prison when I was three months old. My father has always been a shadowy stick figure in my mind with a question mark for a face. My grandmother raised me on her own, and being an orphan herself with no formal education, she struggled with me, a rambunctious, mischievous, curious, and endlessly energetic boy who wanted to talk and entertain all the f*ck*ng time. I’m sure every time she spanked me as a kid, she was just looking for the off-button. I don’t blame her.
I watched my grandmother’s apartment door get turned into a revolving one as all her children went to jail, came out of jail, slept on our sofa for a time, then went back to jail as another family member came out over and over, rinse and repeat. The rotating roster of family were some of the toughest most intimidating people in the neighborhood. Many of them sold, consumed, abused, or had their lives ruined by drugs. Many grew up learning that violence was their love language. So whenever I have thoughts about giving up, or moments when I start to think about if I’m cut out for the dreams I have, or I bomb on stage or don’t get a part I think I’m perfect for, I think back on my family, especially my grandmother, I think of all the hard times, and how badly it could’ve all turned out for me, it always gives me the perspective I need, and then I get back on the horse and do the thing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a comedian. I’ve tried just about every form of comedy I can. From writing to improv, to sketch, to stand-up, to on-camera acting, to voice acting – I’m trying to be funny in every medium that will have me. I’m good at voices and characters. If you ever see me on a sketch comedy show, I’m almost always going to be some sort of odd monster, loveable demon, or more recently I played a living Cinnabon sticky roll – I love personifying inanimate objects. Also, if there’s an opportunity to take my shirt off on stage, you know I’m going to take it. I like the absurd. I like going big and whacky. I’m proud of my work with my UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade) theater sketch team Moon Goon. We just finished a run of ‘City Walk: The Musical’ our first hour-long musical which got a standing ovation at each performance of it we’ve done. I’m proud of my stand-up, where I shine the light of humor into the darker parts of my life and the world I grew up in.
Off-stage, I’m known for my many appearances in commercials. A big one was a McDonald’s Superbowl commercial. Another was a Verizon commercial that aired so much one YouTube comment read, “If I see this commercial one more time, I’m going to blow my brains out.” I’m very proud of the guest star role I just had on the penultimate episode of season 5 on the CBS show “The Neighborhood.” I played Raynard, a slacker of an employee who gets fired for basically being hilarious. I also recently shot a big commercial that I’m not sure I can talk about until it airs, and I also recently booked a role in my first feature film; we shoot in two weeks and I can’t contain my excitement. I’m also known for my voice acting. I’ve been the voice of on-air promotions for Fuse-TV since 2019 and recently recorded my first animated character as a villain on a Disney project. I won’t rest until a character I voice gives children nightmares, like Scar and Jafar did to me as a kid.
What are your plans for the future?
I’m thinking very much about the actor showcases that happen every year, including the CBS diversity showcase that many of my friends have been in, as well as writing and preparing for next year’s JFL showcase, both of which are great opportunities for actors and comedians to be presented to larger audiences and people who make decisions about casting. This year especially, I plan on turning my attention to my stand-up, my character works, and potentially a one-man show, which I’ve been thinking about doing since watching John Leguizamo’s ‘Freak’ as a kid.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.andrewsantiago.com
- Instagram: @andrewsantiago1
- Facebook: @AndrewSantiagoComedy
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewsantiago
- Twitter: @andrewsantiago1
- Other: imdb.me/andrewsantiago
Image Credits
Sela Shiloni
