For the given name, see Tatiana.
Tatianna
Birth nameJoseph Michael Santolini
Birth dateDecember 1, 1987 (age 38)
Birth placeArlington, Virginia, USA
OccupationDrag queen, comedian, musician, reality television personality
Other namesJoey Santolini
Years active2007-present
Known for

Joseph Michael "Joey" Santolini[1][2] (born December 1, 1987), better known by his stage name Tatianna, is an American drag queen, musician, and reality television personality from Washington, D.C. He is best known for competing on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race and later the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars. She released her debut album, T1, in 2018.

Early life

Santolini was born on December 1, 1987[3] in Arlington, Virginia.[4] He is of Italian and African American descent. He originally attended Yorktown High School, but moved to Falls Church High School after his freshman year due to bullying.[5] He received a license in cosmetology after his senior year in high school, from where he graduated in 2006.[6][5] He started dressing as a girl when he was fourteen, occasionally attended school in drag, and started drag professionally in 2007; his first show was performed at Apex, a gay bar in Washington D.C.[5] He originally applied for season one of Drag Race, but was rejected at the time.[5] At the time of the cast reveal of Drag Race, he was residing in Falls Church with his grandparents, working at a hair salon in Arlington, and corresponding with his mother and stepfather, who were then living in Florida.[5]

Career

Tatianna was announced as one of twelve contestants for the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race in November 2009.[7] During the show, she won the first edition of the annual "Snatch Game" challenge, playing Britney Spears in episode four.[8] She overall placed fourth in the competition after losing a lip sync of Aretha Franklin's "Something He Can Feel" to competitor Jujubee.[9] Six years later, she was selected as one of ten contestants for the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, which was announced on June 17, 2016.[10] She placed in the top two in the first episode, but lost a lip sync to Roxxxy Andrews.[11] She was controversially eliminated by Alaska the following episode after placing in the bottom for his second snatch game as Ariana Grande.[12] She returned in episode five and won $5,000 with Alyssa Edwards after a double-save lip sync to Rihanna's "Shut Up and Drive".[13] She was controversially eliminated by Alaska again for placing in the bottom that following episode.[14] She finished in sixth place overall.

Outside of Drag Race, she hosted her own web show on WOWpresents called Tea With Tati which premiered in April 2018.[15][16] She announced on June 18, 2018, the release of a new fragrance called Choices produced by Xyrena.[17]

Tatianna performed live with Charli XCX on October 13, 2018, singing a duet of Charli's song "1999".[18]

She portrayed Ariana Grande in the music video for Taylor Swift's "You Need to Calm Down" on June 17, 2019.

On August 26, 2019, Tatianna performed alongside Taylor Swift during her 2019 MTV Video Music Awards performance.[19]

As a part of Pride Month 2023, she announced a partnership with the Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Eastern Shore branch of McDonald's.[20]

Personal life

In October 2019, Tatianna was detained outside of X Midtown, an Atlanta nightclub, when she entered an employee's only door and reportedly verbally assaulted an employee.[21] No charges were pressed.[22]

Music

Tatianna released her first single, "True" on November 8, 2010.[23] A second single, "Touch" was released on May 6, 2011.[24] Her third single, "Losing Control" was released on August 14, 2012.[25] After a four-year hiatus, Tatianna released "The Same Parts" on September 1, 2016.[26] He performed the single on the premiere episode of All Stars 2 as a spoken word version.[27] His fifth single, "Transform" was released on October 26, 2016.[28] She released "Use Me" on November 28, 2017.[29] Unlike his other singles, an official music video was released the same day as the single.[30] He released her eleven-track debut album, "T1" on May 28, 2018.[31] Rapper Cazwell and drag queen Salvadora Dali are featured guests on the album. A video for the fifth track, "CYA", was released on August 30, 2018.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotesRef
2020Workhouse QueenHerselfDocumentary[32]
2020Miss AmericanaHerselfDocumentary[33]

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2010RuPaul's Drag RaceHerselfContestant (4th place)
RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked
2016RuPaul's Drag Race All StarsContestant (6th place)
Watch What Happens Live with Andy CohenGuest
2021Guest[34]

Music videos

YearTitleArtistRef.
2016"The T"Alaska Thunderfuck[35]
2017"Use Me"Herself[36]
2018"CYA"[37]
2019"You Need to Calm Down"Taylor Swift[38]
"Hurt My Feelings"Herself

Web series

YearTitleRoleNotesRef.
2014Fashion Photo RuViewHerself[39]
2014Ring My BellGuest[40]
2016The Final LapSeason 2, Episode 2[41]
2018Tea with TatiHost[42]
Hey Qween!Guest[43]

Discography

Albums

TitleAlbum details
T1[31]

Singles

SingleYearAlbum
"True"2010rowspan="5"
"Touch"2011
"Losing Control"2012
"The Same Parts"2016
"Transform"
"Use Me"2017T1
"Try"
(featuring Salvadora Dali)		2018
"CYA"
"I Know"
(with ZEETS)		rowspan="4"
"Hurt My Feelings"2019
"Place I Want to Go"
(with ZEETS)
"Teenage Romance"2021

References

  1. ^ "The 10 Hottest "RuPaul's Drag Race" Contestants Out of Drag". LOGO News. Archived 2017-03-28 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  2. ^ "Joseph Michael Santolini". Ancestry Institute. Ancestry. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  3. ^ "Four celebrities born the same year as you". No. 1363822942459682816. 22 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Sitting with Spencer: An Interview with Tatianna -". werrrk.com. 2015-08-12. Archived 2022-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  5. ^ "Falls Church's Tatianna Rocks RuPaul's World - Falls Church News-Press Online". Falls Church News-Press Online. 2010-03-10. Archived 2018-06-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  6. ^ "10 Things You Didn't Know About Tatianna". Drag Official. Archived 2018-06-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  7. ^ "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Exclusive: Meet the season 2 cast and watch them werq!". EW.com. Archived 2022-09-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  8. ^ "Tatianna from RuPaul's Drag Race". Phoenix New Times. Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  9. ^ "The 10 Best Lip-Sync Battles From RuPaul's Drag Race". Vulture. 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  10. ^ "Logo Announces Contestants For "RuPaul's All Star Drag Race" Season 2". LOGO News. Archived 2017-03-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  11. ^ "Who went home on the first episode of 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'?". Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  12. ^ "Who won Snatch Game on 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'?". Archived 2019-03-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  13. ^ "The 15 Best Lip Syncs in 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Herstory". Billboard. Archived 2019-06-18 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  14. ^ "'All Stars 2' Tatianna serves tea on Alaska's borrowed crop top & double elimination". Screener. 2016-10-01. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  15. ^ "Frenemies: Tea With Tati 101". WOW Presents Plus. Archived 2018-06-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  16. ^ "New Show, Tea with Tati, Out on WOW Presents Plus and It's Spilling It All!". The WOW Report. 2018-04-05. Archived 2018-06-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  17. ^ "Tatianna on Instagram: "So I'm excited to announce I have a fragrance coming out with @xyrena called Choices! Be one of the first people in the world to get my…"". Instagram. Archived 2022-09-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  18. ^ "Charli XCX to play show at London's Heaven this Saturday". Crack Magazine. 2018-10-10. Archived 2018-10-14 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-10-14.
  19. ^ "Taylor Swift Just Backed the Equality Act in VMAs Opening Performance". Pride. Archived 2019-08-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  20. ^ "Happy Pride! So much fun #LivinMyTruth at my hometown Pride with @mcdonaldsdmv 🌈 #Ad". June 10, 2023.
  21. ^ "RuPaul's Drag Race star Tatianna addresses arrest: 'I was scared'". EW.com. EW. Archived 7 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  22. ^ Burkholder (17 October 2019). "Drag Queen Tatianna Arrested During Atlanta Pride". TheGAVoice.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
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  26. ^ "The Same Parts - Single by Tatianna", 2016-09-01, archived 2020-11-08 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2018-06-16
  27. ^ Winfred, Tim (2016-09-02). "EXCLUSIVE: Tatianna Reveals The Origins Of Her Provocative Spoken Word Piece". Archived 2018-06-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
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  29. ^ "Use Me - Single by Tatianna", 2017-11-28, retrieved 2018-06-16
  30. ^ TatiannaNow (2017-11-28), "Tatianna - Use Me [Official Music Video]", archived 2019-06-17 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2018-06-16
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  32. ^ Molloy, Tim (November 30, 2020). "'Greenlight Yourself': Slamdance Unveils Full Lineup, Showcase for Filmmakers With Disabilities". Movie Maker. Archived June 2, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  33. ^ Nolfi, Joey (January 22, 2020). "Taylor Swift feels 'f—ing awesome' in rousing Miss Americana trailer". EW.com. Archived September 11, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 11, 2021.
  34. ^ Annie Martin (February 17, 2021). "'Drag Race's Shea Coulee says 'things are all good' with Valentina". UPI. Archived February 17, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  35. ^ Alaska Thunderfuck (2016-10-13), "Alaska Thunderfuck - The T (feat. Adore Delano) [Official]", archived 2019-06-07 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2019-06-18
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