Santiago Molina (b. 2003) is a Colombian artist living in Brooklyn, NY.
Born and raised in Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia, he grew up in a family of five and was deeply impacted by his relationship with his grandmother and her best friend. He was mentored in school by his Spanish teacher, Elsa Lorena Higinio, and began his artistic career as a writer composing poetry and dramaturgical analysis; Nada Dura para siempre (2022), Espíritu Forgotten (2022), Los monstruos son el futuro (2022), El principio de la existencia de muchas vidas dentro de una vida (2021), Follow The White Rabbit (2021), etc.
In 2019, he inherited his aunt’s digital camera from the 2000s, which became his tool for experimenting through self-portraits and unplanned footage. After years of exploration, the foundations of his work became his gender, sexuality, and culture. His Latinidad deeply inspires his artistic creations. Some personal footage credits include: Si el corazón está mal, nada puede estar bien (2023), Nada dura para siempre (2022), Penelope como la obra de arte (2022), Cambié el amor de mi vida por otra vida (2021).
He is a trained stage and film actor who graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City (Class 2024). He studied under Samrat Chakrabarti, Rachel Botchan, Matthew A.J. Gregory, David Dean Bottrell, and others.
After graduation, he decided to pursue experimental theatre and studied under Sannaz B. Tennent in her workshop Disrupt The Narrative. He also performed with Yoshiko Chuma and the School of Hard Knocks in Extreme Classics at La MaMa ETC, Theaterlab, and Mark Morris Dance Center. He originated several roles in Alexa Derman’s premiere of The Creature directed by Sarah Blush. Other theatre credits include William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale directed by Ioanna Katsarou.
This past summer he debuted as one of the leads in Stephen Scarpulla’s short film Saint. Molina has also collaborated with multiple up-and-coming film directors in their explorative cinematographical projects. Other film credits include: Las cosas que caen (dir. Santiago Molina).
Forthcoming projects include Mayonnaise Rizadas and Gatorade, an avant-garde full-length play written by, directed by, and starring himself, set to premiere in New York City in 2026.
Mayonnaise Rizadas and Gatorade is a fictional autobiography. Greek mythology’s Narcissus is waiting in a white, impersonal room for his diagnosis as his wings are falling down. He then learns he has a hereditary terminal disease: unhappiness, most likely caused by the inability to love himself. But the disease doesn’t end with Narcissus. Centuries later, he is reborn into Santiago, a lonely, gay man living in New York City whose grandmother just died, and he prays for his homosexuality to be removed from his body. Santiago, who is stuck in Limbo, now faces the imaginative possibilities of a life on Earth if he decides to live, or the reencountering with his diseased loved ones and historical martyrs if he dies.
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Mayonnaise Rizadas and Gatorade is a fictional autobiography. Greek mythology’s Narcissus is waiting in a white, impersonal room for his diagnosis as his wings are falling down. He then learns he has a hereditary terminal disease: unhappiness, most likely caused by the inability to love himself. But the disease doesn’t end with Narcissus. Centuries later, he is reborn into Santiago, a lonely, gay man living in New York City whose grandmother just died, and he prays for his homosexuality to be removed from his body. Santiago, who is stuck in Limbo, now faces the imaginative possibilities of a life on Earth if he decides to live, or the reencountering with his diseased loved ones and historical martyrs if he dies.