Today we’d like to introduce you to Renée Santos.
Hi Renée, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Thank you so much for your interest in my story, How I got started? Hmmmm… I looked at that inquiry and thought to myself, “How I got started as a Performing Artist? Or How I got started as a human???” Well, I guess I’ll tell you both…I am originally from Cape Cod Massachusetts, born to an immigrant father from Portugal and a first-generation Cuban Mother whose family is originally from Havana.
I am one of six siblings, I have four sisters and 1 brother. My parents divorced when I was only eight months old, so I have never seen my parents in the same room. I grew up pretty poor on Welfare although my Mother tried very hard to give us a different life. She chose to raise us in Cape Cod, Massachusetts because the school system was better and she believed we’d have more opportunities there. I grew up with a tribal spirit within my family and after my parents divorced my mother enlisted the help of my Aunt Lizzie who became our built-in family babysitter and my creative cohort. I had an affinity for performing and my Aunt Lizzie nurtured that, turning many daily tasks into a song and dance. When my siblings and I would get out of the bath as little munchkins, my aunt would turn the lights completely off and set a timer, playing Jermaine Stewart’s “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off.” In the dark, we would scuffle to get dressed as quickly as we could while she would stand in the corner quickly spinning a small flashlight during the countdown. Like clockwork, my sisters and I mastered getting dressed in our PJs in the designated window. For a while I didn’t notice the instability in my parent’s relationship, she subconsciously created the cohesion every kid needs. On October 26th, 1986, my Aunt went out after work and never returned, unexpectedly dying in a car accident. This was the turning point in my young life, things were never the same. In 1994 due to the tumults of raising children primarily on her own, and mourning the loss of her sister, my mother was unable to continue raising us and I was placed in the foster care system, and all of my siblings and I were separated.
High school was quite a ride because of this, during those 4 years I lived in 8 different homes and went to 4 different High Schools. I also discovered my sexuality and knew if I came out as a lesbian to my very religious Catholic parents I would be disowned, so I hid this secret and began hiding behind drugs and alcohol. My journey through Foster care launched a rebellion I was hard-pressed to navigate with grace and I got lost on the road of drug use, running away, listening to grunge music, chain-smoking cigarettes, and rocking blue corn rows in my hair as some kind of defiant silent scream. In the deepest darkest part of my active addiction, I almost overdosed losing my septum from doing too much cocaine and the wall between my nostrils collapsed and I passed out in a pool of blood. My addiction almost killed me many times, from the risks of playing Russian roulette at a drunken drug-induced party to using drugs while having the swine flu with a 106-degree fever. Somehow there still was a call to my purpose and I did have a strong pull to break the rules in the best way though and I remember hearing in an evaluation with my social worker and guidance counselor my senior year in high school that only 3% of foster kids went to college. I was determined to be a part of that number. I applied for scholarships like crazy and successfully got into Emerson College in Boston where I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Acting and Playwriting.
In the fall of 2002, I accepted an internship in Los Angeles through my Alma Mater and I drove across the country. I lived in LA for 13 years and discovered Stand-up Comedy in my journey through living in this performance metropolis. I had a degree in Acting and Writing and Stand-Up seemed to be the perfect combination of the two. I was auditioning for small parts and like a musician who is only allowed to pluck one guitar string every five years, I was eager to play a full song, and so I began to write…and learn guitar. I created my own voice and Stand-Up comedy became the healing platform for me to share who I was. For me, laughter is what prevented my pain from scaring. Although my life was unfolding in LA so was my addiction and in 2009 it got really bad.
Finally, with loving coercion from the people who witnessed my decline, I got clean.
My first sponsor was a Competitive Triathlete and when I turned my life around I was inspired to start training for my first race. Thirteen years after beginning my journey in addiction recovery, I have competed in 6 Olympic Distance Triathlons, Run 2 Marathons, Completed 2 Century Cycling rides, and finished a 70.3 IRONMAN Triathlon. My love for this sport flourished and I began training for my first Full IRONMAN triathlon in 2017. My life has taught me the beauty of being persistently patient and that lesson has circled back so many times in my life. 2017 was one of those years. After turning my whole life around and committing to a healthy lifestyle, I tore my Psoas muscle and developed Lumbar Spinal Stenosis, and started experiencing temporary paralysis in my right leg, I was unable to continue my training for the full IRONMAN and was thrust head-on into Physical Therapy trying to avoid the push from doctors to have a Spinal Fusion surgery. Now in 2022, I am still in the healing of my spinal injury and slowly but surely am returning to training as a triathlete. I hope to do an IRONMAN one day, but until then I accept the process of my healing, lean into work, and realize the universe is conspiring for my good.
I have always believed in being charmed into bold brave choices and my life has aligned me to do so. Spending years in the Foster system gave me a nomadic spirit so in 2015 with no carbon footprint on the planet and no children, I decided I had never explored the NYC Comedy and Acting market, so I moved across the country again and began my New York adventure. Contrary to popular theory, I actually began performing more as an actress once I moved to NYC. While I lived in NYC I booked a “Bank of America” Commercial, played the awesome role of Nurse Heidi on NBC’s new medical drama “New Amsterdam,” and a cop on TNT’s show “Murder in the First” staring Taye Digs, and wrote my own 1 Hour Stand-Up Comedy Special “Outside the Box.” I also received my Actors Equity card once I got to NYC and now I am a proud member of both performance Unions SAG/AFTRA and ActorsEquity. NYC was an amazing chapter in my life but in 2020 I decided to move back to LA right at the beginning of the Pandemic. Crazy timing…
In 2019, my self-written Special was produced and distributed by Uproar Entertainment and my Special began streaming on AmazonPRIME. I WAS PUMPED! Yes, it was happening! I booked a 22-date Comedy tour to promote the Special for 2020…and then all of society shut down. The tour was canceled. I went back to working at Starbucks because I was ineligible to collect unemployment as a freelance artist. It was a devasting time for me, but I persevered. Now that the world has opened back up, I have been blessed to start touring again. Since September of 2021, I have toured Portland OR, Sioux Falls SD, many stops in California, back to the east coast in Daytona Beach FL, NYC, Syracuse NY, Boston, and all the way up to Niagara Falls Canada. I just returned on November 4th of 2022 from Puerto Vallarta Mexico to end the year’s journey of being on the road…so I guess that nomadic spirit has really paid off.
Looking back at my journey so far I have always had a strong instinct to give back, so charity work is also a huge part of my experience. My sister Heather was diagnosed with Leukemia years ago, so I do all my endurance races through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Endurance Charity Training Program, Team-in-Training. I have raised over $14,000 for LLS. I also work with United Way NYC, a Foster care organization, and recently performed as their Headlining comedian at the Foster Parent Appreciation Luncheon this year. My volunteer work is ongoing through the Gay and Lesbian Center where I have served as a mentor to gay foster youth who have been displaced because of their sexuality or gender identification. In November of this year, after collaborating with Comedy Legend Craig Shoemaker, I was invited to run his Non-Profit 501 (c) (3) Foundation “Laughter Heals” with the vision to open doors, hearts, and businesses with the healing conduit of laughter. We bring 1-on-1 coaching programs, speaking engagements, and workshops to utilize laughter to get out of the most difficult times. Learning actionable techniques to relieve stress, boost your mood, to have an upbeat happier more joy-filled life.
This was such an interesting exercise to sit down and contemplate my pilgrimage through my life so far. The most valuable lesson I have ever learned is that if we don’t honor our pull to purpose, it metastasizes. We must take responsibility for the space we take up in the world. Thanks for helping me reflect on that…
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’d say it’s been more of a cobblestone road where dynamite was dropped in the center and then I was only given a bicycle to ride down that road. I’ve always processed the world through a comedic filter, I think it’s the only thing that has made this life palatable. A lot of what I shared in the last question I think truly illustrates the struggles I have had along the way. My life has been beautiful and tragic. It has been magical and it has brought me to my knees. I have learned to forgive myself for not knowing better and forgive others who will never apologize. I am grateful for my cobblestone road. I wouldn’t wish for it to be any other way. After many years of “trying to get it right”, I realized I had it all wrong. I didn’t come here to master unconditional love. That is where I come from and where I and all of us will return. All of us came here to learn personal love. Universal love. Messy love. Sweaty love. Crazy love. Broken love. Whole love…of ourselves and others. We are all infused with divinity. I have lived my life through the grace of stumbling. Demonstrated through the beauty of messing up often. I didn’t come here to be perfect, none of us did. We all already are. We came here to be gorgeously human. Flawed, fabulous, and constantly incomplete. I believe my life’s work is to rise again into the remembering of that.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your artistic/creative work?
I love that you characterized this section as Artist/Creative. I think that about sums it up. It’s been hard to pinpoint exactly what I am or what I do. I believe performing is my ministry and most of my creative work feels like my way of being of service to the world. Here’s my weird list so far…I have been acting for 20 years and I love bringing another artist’s vision to life, I have done it on Stage, TV, and in film. I have created and written my own Stand-Up Comedy content many times, culminating in a 1 Hour TV Special. I am in Pre-Production now for my Sophomore special. Each week I engage in a dialogue about what’s “Normal” in our societal structure on my Podcast “Never Normal” with fellow comedian Jackie Monahan, which we are now converting to a TV talk show format and shooting in early 2023. I have also written a full-length dramatic Screenplay called “In the Absence of You” that has competed in Screenwriting Film festivals. The newest endeavor I am embarking on is my very first Solo Show slated to hit the world in the summer of 2023. I am eclectic and strange and find a spiritual pull to do it all.
I think what separates me from others, is the fact that I don’t need to categorize or easily reference what it is I do definitively. I wake up each morning and say to my higher power…”Use me God, so I may know the joy of being used by you.” Then I get out of my own way and allow the universe to inspire me into action.
Hmmmm….what am I most known for? I’d say you probably know me best from “Beverly Hills Chihuahua #3”, direct to DVD role of “Waitress #1”! Hee, hee…THAT WAS A JOKE! Can you pick up tone and intonation in written form?! No, I would say realistically I am most known for my 1 hour Stand-Up Comedy Special “Outside the Box” on AmazonPrime, TubiTV, and RokuTV and my Comedy album titled the same on iTunes, GooglePlay, and Spotify. I also was in an ensemble Comedy Special on SHOWTIME called “PRIDE COMEDY JAM” which gets some recognition bites.
I am beyond grateful that I have been able to consistently work, even when life has really come at me. I think the thing I am most proud of is my endurance. My endurance to do the work because it is my purpose. I would love to manifest recognition for what I have put into the world because I believe I could make a larger difference with a larger platform, but I am proud that I truly feel happy, joyous, and free in my journey to my becoming. I am not attached to the results. One of my favorite quotes that I live by was said by American humorist Erma Bombeck. “My hope is that at the end of my life I would stand before God and say ‘I used everything you gave me.'”
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love the geographic space of Los Angeles and the amazing climate! I also adore the healthy lifestyle of so many people and the value of spiritual and mental health and fitness. What I don’t love about the city is the constant hustle, the traffic of course, and the sometimes segregated population even though this city is beautifully diverse. When I lived in NYC, you would see every kind of human being in the same subway car. I loved that.
Pricing:
- $2000 for 1 Hour of Stand-Up
Contact Info:
- Website: www.reneesantos.com
- Instagram: @reneesantoscomedy
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/ReneeSantosComedy
- Twitter: @ReneeSantosNYC
- Youtube: @MsReneeSantos
Image Credits
New Cadence Production