Saundra Santiago

An American actress, Saundra Santiago is best known for playing Detective Gina Calabrese in the NBC crime series Miami Vice, a role she held opposite Don Johnson for five seasons. Raised in the South Bronx, she studied at the University of Miami and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Southern Methodist University before performing at the Timber Lake Playhouse. She made her big-screen debut in the dance drama Beat Street in 1984, the same year she began Miami Vice. In the 1990s she appeared in television movies, including To Sir, with Love II (1996) opposite Sidney Poitier. She joined Guiding Light in 1999 as crime boss Carmen Santos, receiving a Daytime Emmy nomination for America's Favorite Villain in 2002. From 1999 to 2007 she had a recurring role on The Sopranos as Jeannie Cusamano and her twin sister Joan, and from 2009 to 2011 she played Carlotta Vega on One Life to Live.