She began her professional acting career as a stage actor at a local theatre. Currently, Wanda is in a long-term relationship with actor Jimmy Smits, who also happens to live with her. She has also made cameo appearances in a number of television shows as well. She has also appeared in a number of television shows. Some of her most well-known silver-screen projects include ‘Illegal Tender,’ ‘Water & Power,’ ‘Blood Work,’ ‘Ghosts of Mars,’ and ‘The Ministers.’ As well as film and television appearances, she has appeared in shows such as “CSI: Miami” and “CSI: New York.”Īlso a television actor, Wanda has had several appearances in films and television shows, the most famous of which being the Emmy-nominated film ‘Almost a Woman,’ which was based on the autobiography of Puerto Rican writer Esmeralda Santiago and earned her her first Emmy nomination. In addition to “CSI: Miami,” “Law & Order: Los Angeles,” “Law & Order: New York,” “Live Shot,” “Sons of Anarchy,” and “All My Children,” she has appeared in a number of other popular television shows.
She is the fourth actress to play the role. Santana Andrade is played by four different actors in the NBC television series. ‘Santa Barbara’ was the first soap opera in which Wanda gained recognition as an actor, following a few brief guest appearances on other television shows. After a successful stage career, she began a successful film career, concentrating mostly on the action genre by the end of the 1980s. While she began her performing career in the theatre, he began his in the film industry. When Wanda was twelve years old, she made the decision to pursue her dream of being a successful actress. She received her bachelor’s degree from the City University of New York in 2005. Wanda was a character that appeared on the show on several occasions. As a result of their conversation, Jimmy was eventually cast in the series. Ultimately, she was successful in persuading Jimmy to initiate a relationship with Kurt. Wanda had been a long-time fan of “Sons of Anarchy” and, in particular, Kurt’s great writing, which featured strong female characters, for a number of years before the show’s premiere. It was with Jimmy, who had also attended the function, that she had gone. Wanda and Kurt became fast friends after that. Wanda initially met director Kurt Sutter and actress Katey Sagal (the couple from ‘Sons of Anarchy’) at a ‘Barclay’ event, when she was introduced to them for the first time. Later on, they began to live together in the same house. She and Jimmy developed a strong connection that eventually bloomed into a passionate love affair between two of them. She was in the midst of putting together a play at the time. (I was born in 1983.) Although Wanda has indicated that she initially met Jimmy in New York in the early 1980s, she has maintained that she did so despite her intention to keep her personal life a secret. Originally introduced as a couple back in 1986, a year before Jimmy divorced his first wife, Barbara Smits, with whom he shares two children, Taina (born in 1975) and Joaquin (born in 1977). A friendship with actor Jimmy Smits has developed between Wanda and him as a result of a mutual friend. For one year, Wanda dropped out of school to sing for the well-known punk rock band ‘Coney Island White Fish,’ which was created in 1989 in New York City’s Coney Island neighborhood. She then went on to study at the ‘City University of New York,’ where she earned a bachelor’s degree in performing arts in 1981, after which she worked in the entertainment industry. It was around this time that she realized her passion for acting. Wanda earned her formal education at the elite ‘High School of the Performing Arts in New York City, where she is now a professor.
Wanda’s ancestors are of Hispanic and African-American descent. Originally from Puerto Rico, her parents emigrated to the United States as first-generation Puerto Rican immigrants in the 1960s. ‘Little Italy’ was the name given to Wanda’s birthplace in Manhattan on August 26, 1958, in the neighborhood of East Harlem, where she grew up.