Isabel Cristina Santos Téllez

Cuban actress. Graduated from the National School of Art (ENA) in 1982. She has developed an intense and successful career in television, theater, radio and film.

She was born in the city of Camagüey. From a very young age she felt a great affinity for acting. She grew up in the Senado batey, of the Camagüey central Noel Fernández, with her family. In unimaginable humility she dreamed of being an actress, while reading all kinds of classics of Cuban and universal literature. There she saw cinema for the first time in her life: thanks to the ICAIC Cinemóvil she was moved by the story of Manuela, starring Adela Legrá, directed by Cuban cinema master Humberto Solás (1941-2008).

She graduated from the National School of Art (ENA) in 1982, as a student of master Raúl Eguren, National Prize for Artistic Teaching; being classmate of the brothers Néstor and Luisa María Jiménez, Omar and Jorge Félix Alí, Lily Rentería, Sirito Soto, Enma Robaina, Jorge Martínez and Alberto Pujol. She had already made her television debut by then under the direction of her teacher Juan Vilar - National Television Prize.

She then began her film career, where she has accumulated—from 1984 to the present 2011—a total of 20 films, among feature films and short films, with filming in Cuba, Bolivia and Spain; she has also ventured briefly, but very successfully in theater and radio. She was several consecutive years among the strongest candidates for the Sunflower Prize from Opina magazine, as one of the most popular dramatic actresses in Cuba.

In 1983, Cuban troubadour Silvio Rodríguez dedicated the song "Camino a Camagüey" to her, which he included in Volume I of his award-winning album Tríptico. She was a model for Muchacha magazine when young and also in 2010 playing the grandmother of Liuba María Hevia in the video clip Con los hilos de la luna, by Liuba herself and directed by Pepe Hevia.

She has managed to play a diverse gallery of anthology leading and supporting characters in the most stellar spaces of national television since 1981, such as: Pasos hacia la montaña, Día y noche, El tiempo joven no muere, Diana, Algo más que soñar, Forense, Un bolero para Eduardo, La séptima familia, La botija, Conflictos, Los tres Villalobos, Pasión y prejuicio, La carretera, Todo al fuego, Entre mamparas, Memorias de un abuelo, the teleplay Los pasos azules, the comedy Los problemas de papá, the teletheater Aire frío and the Colombian telenovela Amor, amor, among others. She has acted in three theatrical works: Leoncio y Lena, directed by Michaelis Cué in 1986; "El apagón" with master Silvano Suárez in 1993 and a classic by José Triana, La noche de los inocentes in the version by filmmaker Pastor Vega in 2000, in Mexico.

She received the Distinction for National Culture in 1991 and participated as a guest artist in the Cantata Por la Patria, in the José Martí Revolution Square, on the eve of Fidel Castro Ruz's 80th birthday in August 2006.

She made her radio debut as Sandra in a serialized production for Radio Arte: Adrián, conceived by Ernesto Daranas, directed by Pablo Verbisky and premiered on Radio Rebelde in 1993.

In 2005, in Santiago de Cuba, renowned filmmaker Carlos Barba filmed Mujer que espera, a documentary dedicated to her with locations that evoked the most significant titles of her film career. Once again working with her on a team were Liuba María Hevia in the theme song and incidental music, and as director of photography Rafael Solís. The following year, she would be honored—along with two other favorite divas of Humberto Solás: Eslinda Núñez and Adela Legrá—at the International Festival of Poor Cinema in Gibara.

She ventured as a filmmaker, co-directing with her husband, director of photography Rafael Solís, a documentary made in Bolivia, precisely where Ernesto Che Guevara was assassinated in October 1967: San Ernesto nace en la Higuera, in 2006.

She has been interviewed by Vicente González Castro (TV en TV, Hasta el último aliento); Hilda Rabilero and Rakel Mayedo (Contacto); Isa Dobles (Isa da la hora); Raúl Garcés (Privadamente público); Maribel Rodríguez (La Revista Juvenil MIRA); Edith Massola (23 y M); Rosalía Arnáez (Estilos); Carlos Otero (Entrada libre, Justo al medio); Irela Bravo (Entre tú y yo) and Amaury Pérez Vidal (Con dos que se quieran); as well as by celebrated journalists from print and digital press over the last 30 years.

Cuban Television has paid tribute to her artistic life in the programs Cubanos en primer plano and Buena suerte, viviendo; in addition to segments in the programs Quién Sabe, Hurón azul and De cierta manera.

Critical Reviews
Talented actress, one of the essential faces of Cuban cinema

The best performance, without a doubt, of the group of debutants in the telenovela Pasos hacia la montaña

Her greatest weapons are discipline, study and sensitivity to internalize the most diverse characters.

An extraordinary actress with great strength and talent for difficult characters.

Her foray into comedy demonstrates her versatility.

One of the golden actresses of Cuban cinema

She marks her characters with a richness of nuances, moves with ingenious skill in different scenes and has an excellent way of speaking and articulating language.

An unforgettable artist in each of her characterizations

She interprets any character with total commitment, giving her best, with remarkable acting quality from her beginnings.

In Clandestinos and so many other films and television series she made us participants in the gift of her presence. Truly unique and unsurpassable.

The imaginary that revolves around her being is broad and complex, recognized with numerous national and international awards.

She is recognized as one of the most organic and convincing actresses of the Island.

She is and will always be a great actress in every sense of the word.

Great among the great actresses of our country.

She has made history in Cuban cinematography.

She possesses an abundance of vibrations in her gaze, full of emotions, conflicts and memorable scenes.

She is a virtuoso actress who rises to any character.

It is encouraging to know that Cuba has actors of her stature.

Her talent, her work and her awards prestige her as one of the best Cuban actresses.

Very young she played magistrally Ana in Lejanía

She impressively possesses the concentration, memory and discipline of a true artist.

She is The Bride of Cuba.

She is the one in charge of difficult passages in her films.

She radiates that brilliant naturalness that we have always admired in her.

Clandestinos: a film with anti-Batista rock and roll and an outstanding Isabel Santos.

Her performances prestige and are remembered for a long time for their organicity, coherence and emotional intensity.

She has interpreted magnificently Luz Marina Romaguera in Aire frío.

She has asserted herself in each performance, setting standards and completing a gallery of human types extraordinary for their brilliant complexity.

She projects her customary versatility and professionalism.

She is very professional and beloved by an audience that follows all her performances with interest.

She endows her characters with a psychological and coherent typology to interpret them with creative sense and professionalism.

She is the best actress of any era.

She has come to stay because of her versatility, her strength and her convincing characterizations.

She is a great, solid and growing revelation.

La Mascavidrios: Isabel surpassing herself.

She is a force, she has an interior detector, she feels her character and always knows where she is going.

In a short time she managed to place herself among the most promising actresses of Cuban cinema.

She is a very natural and sincere artist.

After being in Barrio Cuba a woman capable of turning the Earth upside down in order to conceive a child, she reappears the next day transformed into a Bolivian mother-grandmother in the film ¡Di buen día a papá!

She is an actress as great as a pine tree.

She delivers in each interpretation the vehemence, simplicity and emotion that we only appreciate in great artists.

She has different masks for her characters, gives them life in a difficult birth and projects them toward the light.

She has demonstrated from her beginnings a first-rate artistic development.

Because of her great talent she succeeds and valuably represents her generation.

The tangible humanity with which she incorporates her characters places her among the best actresses of Cuban cinema.

She always stands out for her professional rigor and her histrionic excellences.

A young actress with a solid and growing trajectory.

She is an artist with a magnet to attract everyone's gaze upon her and with the discipline and rigor of those who always give that extra needed to succeed.

Filmography
1983 Se permuta. Direction: Juan Carlos Tabío.
1985 Lejanía. Direction: Jesús Díaz.
1987 Clandestinos. Direction: Fernando Pérez.
1989 Transición. Direction: Danilo Lejardi
1991 Adorables mentiras. Direction: Gerardo Chijona.
1992 Vidas paralelas. Direction: Pastor Vega.
1996 El Sardina. Direction: Manolito Rodríguez.
1997 Cosas que dejé en La Habana (Cuba/Spain). Direction: Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón.
1998 La vida es silbar. Direction: Fernando Pérez.
1999 Las profecías de Amanda. Direction: Pastor Vega.
2001 Miel para Oshún. Direction: Humberto Solás.
2004 Leo y Julita. Direction: Patricia Reyes. Mata, que Dios perdona. Direction: Ismael Perdomo. Hormigas en la boca (Spain/Cuba). Direction: Mariano Barroso.
2005 Di buen día a papá. Direction: Fernando Vargas. Barrio Cuba. Direction: Humberto Solás. Mujer que espera. Director: Carlos Barba. El cayo de la muerte (Brazil-Cuba). Direction: Woodney Oliveira
2006 San Ernesto nace en La Higuera (Co-direction. Doc.). La pared. Direction: Alejandro Gil. El Benny. Direction: Jorge Luis Sánchez.
2008 Los dioses rotos. Direction: Ernesto Daranas.
2010 Cincuenta (Colombia/Cuba/Brazil). Direction: Manuela Montoya. Casa vieja (LM Ficc.). Direction: Léster Hamlet.

Awards
Golden Toucan Award for Best Female Performance at the First International Festival of Cinema, TV and Video in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1984 for Yolanda in "Se permuta"
UNEAC Mention for Best Female Film Performance at the Second Caracol Festival of Cinema, Radio and TV in 1985 for Ana in "Lejanía"
Coral Award for Best Female Film Performance at the Ninth International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, TV and Video in La Habana, 1987 / UNEAC Award for Best Female Film Performance at the Tenth National Contest of Performing Arts in 1988 / Award for Best Female Performance at the Second International Festival of Andean Cinema in Peru, in 1990 for Nereyda in "Clandestinos"
Coral Award for Best Female Television Performance at the Twelfth International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, TV and Video in La Habana, 1990 for Marthica, La Mascavidrios in "La botija"
UNEAC Award for Best Female Film Performance at the Fourteenth National Contest of Performing Arts in 1992 for Sissy in "Adorables mentiras"
DIVA Award for Best Performance at the Second International Festival of Television and Video "Spring Woman" in La Habana, 1993 for Justina in "Pasión y prejuicio"
India Catalina Gold Award for Best Female Supporting Performance at the IXL International Festival of Iberoamerican Cinema in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia 1999 for Rosa Ileana in "Cosas que dejé en La Habana"
Caricato Award for Best Female Lead Television Performance in Non-Series at the UNEAC National Contest of Performing Arts, 1999 for Luz Marina Romaguera in "Aire frío"
Honorable Mention for Female Performance at the International Film Festival in Lima, Peru, 2002 for Pilar in "Miel para Oshún".
TELESUR and UNEAC Awards for Best Documentary at the XXVIII International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in La Habana 2006 and Award for Best Film Directed by a Woman at the V International Festival of Poor Cinema in Gibara, 2007 for "San Ernesto nace en La Higuera"
Award for Best Female Performance at the Cinema, TV and Video Festival CINEPLAZA´2007 for María in "Los pasos azules"
Santa Lucía Award for Best Actress at the International In Vitro Visual Festival in Bogotá, Colombia 2010 for her leading role in the short film "Cincuenta"
UNEAC Caricato Award for Best Female Film Performance at the National Contest of Performing Arts´2010 for Flora in "Casa vieja"