Taylor Sheridan’s Tulsa King features Tatiana Lia Zappardino as Stallone’s daughter Tina Manfredi. Being the Mafia King’s daughter, she gives off inevitable Mafia Princess vibes. Born in San Diego, CA, Tatiana was actually a Marine before he landed herself into acting.
In an interview with The Post, Tatiana even said that it was her status as a veteran that helped her get the role in Tulsa King,
“I did the [audition] tapes and sent them in and literally within the next few hours, they said, ‘Sly wants to talk to you.'”
As it turned out, Stallone had already seen her on the NewDay USA veteran home loan commercials, and his reaction to those, in Tatiana's words, were
“Apparently he’s like, ‘If she can make something that boring interesting, she must be a good actress.'”
However, Tulsa King is not the first project that Tatiana has been associated with as an actress. Let us now explore her previous roles and what other characters she has played on screen.
What projects have Tatiana Zappardino starred in before Tulsa King?
Before landing her role in Tulsa King as Tina, Tatiana’s professional acting career began in 2015 when she starred as Tilly, a medical examiner, in the first season of Superstition on Syfy. She was cast as a series regular and her character was a loveable one.
After that, she also starred in the last season of the highly acclaimed show This is Us. She was also a part of Amazon MGM Studio’s The Consultant, which came out in 2023. Her other projects include Swiped, Dangerous Moms, The King of Bloody Fookin' Britain, Your Worst Nightmare, etc.
Previous to her acting career, Tatiana served in the Marines, a decision that was influenced by her stepfather. She mentioned that she had joined the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps while being at Jacksonville University as his stepfather, a Marine recruiter himself had suggested.
While she wanted to go to Broadway after finishing her degree, her stepfather told her,
“I just wanted to go straight to Broadway,” she said. “And he’s like, ‘Why don’t you go to college through a Marine Corps scholarship, get a degree in theater, serve your time, and then go do theater.'”
This decision ultimately worked in favor of Tatiana as she believes that the discipline that the Marine life taught her has helped her to excel in her acting career as well. As an extremely young person in the team, the Marines often gave her a hard time but she does not complain about it because she believes that experience also helped her to become the person she is.
What does Tatiana say about playing Tina in Tulsa King?
Tatiana also mentioned that on the sets of Tulsa King, Stallone is a real father figure to her and offers her great advice on acting,
“He treats me almost like his daughter off screen. He has so much wisdom, and he’s always dropping wisdom bombs on me,” she said. “And it’s always like, ‘Boom! Wow, I’ve never thought of that.'”
Moreover, given the fact that Tatiana, in real life had major issues with her late father since he could not always be there for her, helps her portray Tina’s role even better as this character is also shown to reconnect with her father after he comes out of the prison following a 25 years sentence.
Tulsa King can be streamed on Paramount+.
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