Tina D’Elia 

Photo by Lisa Keating

Tina D’Elia started “breaking all the rules” at 5 years old, when she snuck away from her sister’s baptism to an empty church, walked up to the altar, and “gave a complete—if private—performance,” unnoticed. That was the day she “baptized [herself] as an actor in the Catholic church.” D’Elia’s certainly noticed as an artist now. The actor, director, and screenwriter is also the casting director for the trailblazing 2019 film “Transfinite” that focuses on multicultural, supernatural trans and queer people, directed by Neelu Bhuman. Meanwhile, D’Elia’s own stage show, “Overlooked Latinas” (directed by Mary Guzmán), at Los Angeles’s Brava Theater has received standing ovations from sold-out houses. In order, she’s won the Frameline33 Audience Award for her co-screenwriting the short film “Lucha,” the Trail Blazer Award and Executive Producer Award from the Equality International Film Festival, the Diversity Casting Award, and the Best Actress Award from the Equality International Film Festival. Most recently, D’Elia received the Bronze Producing award for a web series with the Equality International Film Festival. What guides her in her artistic choices comes down to this: “I believe art must be in alignment with social justice and uplift all marginalized communities.” —JDG