Actress, Political Science PHD Candidate

Eleven years ago, last month, as I watched my Twitter feed go wild, I saw ‘Dani’ tweet. It wasn’t long after that I heard Eric Estrada (yes, the real Eric Estrada) utter the same words I now tell her nearly every time we talk today, “Dani, focus.”

Dani and I immediately became friends; and to me those two words have become not only a term of endearment, but of success and respect as well.

Dani has another life outside of the one where we had met. And she goes by a completely different name there. This is the Dani I’ll be talking with today and it’s time to…

‘Meet Vanesa Tomasino‘

For the first twelve years of her life, Vanesa lived through what had taken an estimated 75,000 lives as she was born in the midst of the civil war in El Salvadore.

Reminiscing in a soft and somber tone, Vanesa tells me, “We normalized the war violence and in 1989 they actually attacked my house. The two parties involved were shooting at each other and my house was in the middle. We were stuck inside the house during the shootout.”

Afterwards, the family fled their home leaving everything behind, recalled Vanesa who is an only child and was of the tender age of eight when it had it had occurred, and a mere three years removed from her parents’ divorce.

“I had many school activities,” she excitedly adds. “I was the captain of the volleyball team; I was in musicals, and I was an actor. I tried the scouts. My mom was the scout leader, but it wasn’t my thing.”

She additionally described her childhood as ‘very resilient’ and a time for exploration. “I wanted to know who I was and what my limitations were,” Vanesa says, of her early beginnings. “I tried every sport, every activity, every extra-curricular activity.”

She, also, played the piano, flute and drums, too, while singing and dancing her way to winning the ‘Prince Phillip Award’ for being the ‘Most Complete Student.’ Needless to say, Vanesa was a good student as well and compiled many other awards.

Immediately after graduation she attended ‘acting school,’ and enrolled part-time at university at 27. At 29 years of age, she began studying full-time at Simon Frase University, Canada, where she graduated with honors and a BA in Political Science. Later she earned her master’s at the University of York in Toronto, additionally in Political Science.

Acting, College and Politics

“I was on set from eleven AM to sometimes to two or three in the morning,” Vanesa tells me, before our paths crossed, after the making of Chupacabra vs The Alamo. “Then I had to drive back to my home which took like forty minutes in the morning. I’d have to take a shower because sometimes my hair would have fake blood in it.” She’d eventually get two or three hours of sleep before heading off to the university at six or seven in the morning.

“I remember studying in my trailer and these were my final exams, on set,” she continues. “I shot Chupacabra during my final semester during my final exams of my BA.”

She proceeds to tell me she had studied politics thinking she would eventually run for an office whether it be in her native El Salvadore or Canada. But the more she began to understand politics, Vanesa realized politics weren’t for her. “In order to maintain my integrity and my humanity then I had to not get involved in politics.” She says, and cites it as flawed in many ways.

“They asked me to run both in El Salvadore and Canada,” she added laughingly, “but I don’t think that’s a goal for me anymore.”

She did, however, work as a liaison for a few other candidates and worked for the Government of Canada as an Intern right after the filming of Chupacabra. There they wanted her to stay on full-time, but she chose to attend grad school.

Where’s Home

As long as I’ve known Vanesa, I believe the longest I’ve seen her stay put in one location, was during her days earing her master’s degree in Toronto. Thus, my inquiry led to “Where do you call home?”

“Vancouver and San Salvadore,” says the actress credited with 45 acting credits, per IMDb, along with another 15 credits ranging from producer to herself.

Podcast

Vanesa, also, has a podcast called ‘V Unfiltered,’ which I’ve included S2 E1 below.

Because of her and her co-hosts busy schedules, it’s taking a bit longer getting the newer episodes out. But if you’re like me, you can find some of the older broadcasts on YouTube.

A former morning talk show host, Vanesa says she missed people getting to know her as opposed to the actor they had been seeing in the movies and that’s how the podcast started.

“It’s a podcast like it says, ‘V Unfiltered,’ the ‘V’ in its title says. “I try to be myself as best as I can and try and get the audience to know me and my heartaches and everything that has made me the person I am now.”

“It’s about relationships and sexuality; being an actress as well,” she adds. “And being a ‘BIPOC actress‘ (BIPOC, stands for Black, Indigenous, People of Color) in a world that hasn’t been created to make BIPOC people successful. Especially not in film and TV.”

Mariners Baseball

Chupacabra came out in March of 2013, and it took us about a week to figure we were both huge baseball fans. Then the challenges began. We began to wager ‘shoutouts’ on Twitter every series her Mariners played my Tigers with the loser having to tweet “so and so is the best Twitter follower,” to the winner of the series. And to this day, that tradition continues.

One year she went ‘live’ on social against my Tigers from Seattle and I followed with a ‘suite’ view their next trip to the Motor City. We can go months without connecting but ‘For Love of the Game’ we’re always there when our two teams face one another.

Her love for the Mariners dates back to her teen years, Vanesa explains, “When I was a teenager, I’d spend my summers in Seattle and I feel like Seattle is, also, one of my hometowns. They are closer to Vancouver, and I have family members that live in Seattle.”

“I love an underdog,” ‘V’ goes on. “What can I say. I consider myself an underdog. I like teams that have a lot of heart. I tried, when I moved to Toronto for example, to be a Blue Jays supporter, I just couldn’t. I just feel like the Mariners need me more.”

Vanesa tells me afterwards, that she’s been to a lot of games and her favorite stadium has to be Seattle. Especially now that it’s all ‘pink.’ “When it was ‘Safeco Field’ it was kind of blueish. Now it’s all pink. How could I not love my Stadium in Seattle.” she said, laughing.

“Quick Answers’

A) How many stamps are in your passport?

“God. I don’t know. I fly a lot. But here’s a curious fact, not every country stamps your passport. I don’t know. I don’t know how many stamps.”

B) Favorite Vacation Destination?

“I haven’t had a vacation in forever. I’d like to go to a resort where I don’t have to think, I can just be in the pool and eat.”

C) Bucket List

“I think the one thing I do want to do before I die, is I want to write a book. I want to write a book about my life.”

Chupacabra

Like I mentioned before, Vanesa has a host of movie and TV credits and for whatever reason we stayed the course on Chupacabra during our interview, which was done via audio. And although this portion was meant to be on movies in general, her bubbly-sincerity, clarified by her direct vocabulary made it impossible not to include our original connection to one another. Simply put, she has a voice and tone you could listen to for days on end not wanting to miss a thing.

“Chupacabra, yeah it was fun,” the actress began. Dani, her role, “I never expected to get because I am considered a character actress. Which means I play mostly quirky roles. I rarely do action that was a first. I don’t consider myself an action gal. Those roles are usually given to actors that play leads who are very attractive and exuberant. I just didn’t think it would be a role for me.”

Pleasantly surprised that she had booked it, Vanesa added excitedly, “WOW, I not only have a lead role but, in an action, movie where I get to play a pretty girl. I really enjoyed that.”

“It was fun working on set,” Vanesa tells me of the shoot. “It’s always great to have a strong voice in a movie and being in a lot of scenes. One of the things I loved about Chupacabra we had such a big cast and the cast played together all at the same time. Sometimes we could be on screen six of us or seven of us and that energy is just incredible.”

Future

I must say, I was surprised when Vanesa told me, “I don’t know what’s in my future. I don’t want to predispose myself into thinking there’s something that I want,” she said after I asked of future plans. “I think I’m going to keep on acting because I really truly enjoy that. Although I like new challenges.”

“Booking a role is not as thrilling as it used to be. I’m always grateful about it and I’m very humbled by it and the experience. I think there’s more to life,” she opined. “That’s why, like I was saying, writing a book or I want to write a play.”

“I work a lot. I’m what people call a workaholic. I’d like to spend a little bit more time with my family with my kids as they grow up. I’m, also, in a new relationship with someone I really, really love. I’d like to explore what it’s like to be in a loving relationship and take a backseat from being this alpha leader. I think the future holds a lot of family time something that I haven’t had just yet,” Vanasa shared.

One other thing she said she’d like to do is study more. “I do want to say that this is really weird,” Vanesa injected, “but I do want to study something else. That’s my thing, I like to study. I was thinking about doing a master’s degree in criminology. I want to be like a detective or forensic investigator. Because in the country of El Salvadore there are not a lot of criminologists. I think, maybe, I’d like to do that.”

About Me

“I do find you very genuine and I do think that you are a good person,” she began. “I don’t like to connect with people that seem to be out of touch with reality. Instead, I like to meet people and follow people and support people who are honest and grounded and humble, just real people. I’ve always gravitated towards that. I think that’s what I really like about your presence and the space that you take whether it be online or any platform. I commend you for that. You are resilient and you are endearing, and I think you should always protect that humanity that you have and that you share with the people.”

“I will always support you because of that because I do feel like more voices need to be heard and not just those voices that are the strongest because they are privileged either because of their hierarchy whether they be financially well off or whatever the case may be. The racial hierarchy as well but I do think more voice need to be indagated in the narrative of our lives and our stories. I appreciate that and I will always support you,” Vanesa concluded.

Writers Note:

As I typed Vanesa’s story, I found myself not being its storyteller. Rather I found myself admiring a courageous soul that had, also, represented that very country, battling at her birth, as a member of its Volleyball National Team (Youth Division). I see someone that has worked hard her entire life for happiness, someone with empathy that wants change for all humanity. I see in her what the world needs more of. Openness, transparency and kindness. But most importantly, I see a friend that I’m extremely proud of.

Vanesa, I am speechless over your kind and eloquent words you speak of and to me. I cannot say thank you enough. You’re an amazing friend, a wonderful actor and an ever-bigger inspiration. I’ll alway have your back! #GoTigers