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]
In October 2019, Tatianna was detained outside of 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.
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