To Hollywood and Back Again

Jaclyn: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers podcast.

Jaclyn: 00:00:02

My name is Jaclyn, and today I am speaking with Tina Gallo.

Jaclyn: 00:00:06

Tina has established a remarkable career in the entertainment industry- over four decades.

Jaclyn: 00:00:12

As an award-winning actress, she captivates audiences with her commanding presence and brings a vibrant energy to each role.

Jaclyn: 00:00:20

Tina honed her craft by studying under the masters of Stand of KY System.

Jaclyn: 00:00:26

You're gonna have to help me with that one.

Jaclyn: 00:00:28

How do I pronounce that?

Tina: 00:00:30

Stanski.

Jaclyn: 00:00:30

Okay, thank you.

Jaclyn: 00:00:32

and her impressive resume includes a wide range of credits in television, film commercials, and theater productions.

Jaclyn: 00:00:39

Having started traveling with Frank Sinatra's entourage for over two years, Tina relocated to New York City to pursue her ambitions.

Jaclyn: 00:00:47

Her Her dream materialized as she launched her acting career in the big Apple before making her mark in Hollywood.

Jaclyn: 00:00:53

Most notably for her role as DD on the Iconic Soap Opera General Hospital, despite taking a break To raise her two sons.

Jaclyn: 00:01:02

Tina's passions for acting never waned, and she has been blessed with a steady stream of work in recent years, including performances in Christmas at Keystone, one More Dream, and Joe's surrender.

Jaclyn: 00:01:14

Beyond her acting endeavors, Tina is a devoted nature enthusiast and animal advocate.

Jaclyn: 00:01:20

She operates a home studio for voiceover work and is writing her book Unfiltered.

Jaclyn: 00:01:24

40 Days of Devotional Reflections to See Yourself as God Sees You.

Jaclyn: 00:01:29

Tina's unwavering dedication to her craft and commitment to empowering aspiring actors make her a respected figure in the entertainment industry.

Jaclyn: 00:01:38

Welcome to the podcast, Tina.

Tina: 00:01:40

Oh, thank you so much.

Tina: 00:01:42

So happy to be here with you today, Jaclyn.

Jaclyn: 00:01:44

Yeah, okay, I'll let you know.

Jaclyn: 00:01:46

Part of this podcast is I don't really take myself too seriously.

Jaclyn: 00:01:49

Sometimes I do kind of, I come up against words.

Jaclyn: 00:01:52

I don't know.

Jaclyn: 00:01:53

Sometimes it's because.

Jaclyn: 00:01:55

I'm not American.

Jaclyn: 00:01:56

Sometimes it's just because it's new information.

Jaclyn: 00:01:58

So thank you for helping me with that name.

Tina: 00:02:01

So.

Jaclyn: 00:02:03

But, um, okay, so let's, let's take a little time and get to know you.

Jaclyn: 00:02:07

I mean, I read a lot of really interesting details in your bio,

Tina: 00:02:11

Yeah, that was a little long.

Jaclyn: 00:02:13

No, it was great.

Jaclyn: 00:02:14

It was great.

Jaclyn: 00:02:15

How did you get into acting?

Tina: 00:02:17

Oh gosh, I think I was born like that.

Tina: 00:02:20

No, seriously, probably, honestly, it started like at three years old.

Tina: 00:02:24

As long as I remember.

Tina: 00:02:25

I just always knew what I wanted to do.

Tina: 00:02:28

So I just remember, um, watching all the black and white.

Tina: 00:02:33

Well, given my age way there, but the black and white TV shows, the musicals, all the, all the stories.

Tina: 00:02:38

Judy Garland, Shirley Temple, and I would just be glued to that, always knowing that one day this is what I want it to do.

Tina: 00:02:45

So, It really started young and then, um, you know, getting involved in baton twirling and tap dancing and all the things that would one day just, um, put me into that direction.

Tina: 00:02:57

I just seemed to love to perform.

Tina: 00:02:59

I was involved in school plays and, you know, it always starts there in school and getting roles in school plays and putting on performances around the neighborhood doing all the fun things.

Tina: 00:03:10

And, um, so that dream started and was planted in me very early.

Jaclyn: 00:03:14

Mm-hmm.

Jaclyn: 00:03:15

And did your parents see that in you?

Tina: 00:03:17

Absolutely.

Tina: 00:03:19

Uh, I was raised with three brothers and myself and I mean, they just had to endure me whenever a company was coming over.

Tina: 00:03:26

You know, I look back at it and I laugh now, but you know, I remember when the relatives would always come over.

Tina: 00:03:32

I had some kind of a performance they had to endure watching me

Tina: 00:03:35

do, uh, until eventually I knocked myself out and, uh.

Tina: 00:03:40

It was time probably to go to bed or something,

Jaclyn: 00:03:43

Right, right.

Tina: 00:03:44

I just loved it.

Tina: 00:03:44

Always, always, always have love telling stories, love being a part of it.

Tina: 00:03:49

Love working in imagination, all of it, all the elements.

Jaclyn: 00:03:52

So in your teen years, did you start pursuing acting like as a career or was it your adult years?

Jaclyn: 00:03:59

How did you start moving in that direction?

Tina: 00:04:02

You know what happened, Jaclyn, is I really didn't know how to pursue at that point.

Tina: 00:04:07

and I really got blessed.

Tina: 00:04:08

Uh, my, I'm originally from the East coast.

Tina: 00:04:10

I'm from Philadelphia, New Jersey area originally, but we had moved to Florida In my teenage years and, uh, the drinking age I remember in Florida for alcohol was 18 and I

Jaclyn: 00:04:22

Wow, that's young.

Tina: 00:04:24

a job at the Sunrise Musical Theater in Florida.

Tina: 00:04:28

And for some reason, the girl that was going to be training me that evening, I think she had taken ill and didn't show up.

Tina: 00:04:37

And so the manager had given me these, these two big tables to serve.

Tina: 00:04:42

I had some experience waitressing in restaurants, but to serve alcohol, you had to be, um, you know, age appropriate.

Tina: 00:04:49

Anyhow, I served this table and I remember walking away with almost a thousand dollars tip from these two tables.

Tina: 00:04:58

Mr. Sinatra, Frank Sinatra was performing at the Sunrise Musical Theater, that evening and for that weekend.

Tina: 00:05:05

Anyhow, I came back the next night and I remember the manager telling me that, do this table requested me again.

Tina: 00:05:11

And I remember thinking, wow, it's the same people.

Tina: 00:05:14

Who comes back to the same show a second night.

Tina: 00:05:18

To see a person perform and it's all the same people?

Tina: 00:05:23

Well, I come to find out it was the Sinatra entourage that requested me.

Tina: 00:05:28

So long story short, um, they really liked the way that I served.

Tina: 00:05:32

And, um, Bobby Marks, Mr.

Tina: 00:05:34

Sinatra's stepson at the time.

Tina: 00:05:36

He was married to Barbara Marks.

Tina: 00:05:38

He and a gentleman named Lester Lewis came up and asked me, um, if I'd like to go on the road with them to sell Mr. Sinatra's merchandise.

Tina: 00:05:47

Well, even if my dad would've said no, probably at the time I was going, but my idea was this was my big break into the industry.

Tina: 00:05:54

So I went on the road.

Tina: 00:05:55

Long story short, I did go on the road with them for two and a half years selling merchandise.

Tina: 00:06:00

And, Mr. Sinatra's best friend, um.

Tina: 00:06:03

About two and a half years into this, I was not really getting anywhere as far as acting went.

Tina: 00:06:07

And he told me, you have to find out if you have any talent kid.

Tina: 00:06:11

And I said, well, how do I do that?

Tina: 00:06:12

He said, you need to go to acting school.

Tina: 00:06:14

And I said, well, where do I go?

Tina: 00:06:17

So I. I didn't know much.

Tina: 00:06:19

We didn't have internet to Google things.

Tina: 00:06:21

I did the research that I could do, decided between New York and California.

Tina: 00:06:25

I went with New York because I thought it was gonna be more about the art and the craft.

Tina: 00:06:29

I did not wanna be another pretty blonde that maybe made it for a little bit and then kind of went to the wayside.

Tina: 00:06:36

So it just seemed to me I was gonna become more of a true artist in New York.

Tina: 00:06:40

And so I made my way to New York and I began to study under some of the greatest masters in New York.

Jaclyn: 00:06:46

And were you pursuing for screen or for, uh, stage or both?

Tina: 00:06:52

You know, it starts with stage in New York.

Tina: 00:06:54

That's the beauty of it, because you don't really learn how to act doing films, but you really do learn the craft in theater.

Tina: 00:07:01

So I did start in theater in New York, um, and then I did a lot of commercials and then I did what we call under five.

Tina: 00:07:08

I started on some soap operas in New York and under five is either 25 words or five lines.

Tina: 00:07:13

Um, and then eventually.

Tina: 00:07:16

After many years of training and pounding the pavement for real.

Tina: 00:07:20

'cause we didn't, you know, we didn't even have cell phones.

Tina: 00:07:23

You had to

Jaclyn: 00:07:23

Right, right.

Tina: 00:07:24

a, phone booth and call your answering service to find out if anybody had an audition or anything.

Tina: 00:07:30

But anyhow, um, eventually I wanted to be on the, soap opera, a general hospital.

Tina: 00:07:35

It was the, uh, big deal in the day and made my way out to LA and I actually secured a role on that show.

Tina: 00:07:42

And, um.

Tina: 00:07:43

And I did it myself, but I had to give my agent, you know, the, uh, fee and you had to have, bring your agent into it, which I had no issue doing at all.

Tina: 00:07:52

But, um, yeah, it's a pretty amazing story.

Tina: 00:07:56

I went out there not knowing where I was going, where, who I was where I was gonna live, or any of that.

Tina: 00:08:00

But, um, I was like a, a bulldog with a bone and I was just glued on finding out what I could find out and found out that I could make a phone call on a Monday at six o'clock in Marvin page, who was the casting director at the time.

Tina: 00:08:15

answered the phone and it actually really happened and I got to talk to him and he brought me in for an audition.

Tina: 00:08:20

And, um, it was about two weeks before my birthday and, I got booked, as DD on the

Tina: 00:08:26

show.

Tina: 00:08:27

So,

Jaclyn: 00:08:28

And how long did you have that role?

Tina: 00:08:30

I was on, GH for about two years.

Jaclyn: 00:08:33

Okay.

Tina: 00:08:33

Yeah.

Tina: 00:08:34

Well, and then I came to the Lord, so I was really beginning to get into the party scene out there.

Tina: 00:08:40

I always look back and I have a chapter in my, book, it's called Lost in Found in Tinseltown.

Tina: 00:08:45

I.

Jaclyn: 00:08:45

Mm-hmm.

Tina: 00:08:46

there was um, some things that really needed to be dealt with.

Tina: 00:08:50

But back in the 1980s, there was a lot of cocaine floating around in

Jaclyn: 00:08:54

Right.

Tina: 00:08:55

It was just the glamor drug, and I wasn't addicted or anything, but, uh, you know, I dabbled with it because you, you, you just didn't go to a party.

Tina: 00:09:04

And also on set.

Tina: 00:09:06

There was coke because all the girls wanted to be like 10 pounds underweight and you know, just dumb things like that.

Tina: 00:09:12

And here I am into health and nutrition and working out and all those things.

Tina: 00:09:16

But, I was starting to drink and, and, you know, dabbling with the Coke and I really just took a serious look at some of the things that I was doing and God was pursuing me at the same time.

Tina: 00:09:27

And so.

Tina: 00:09:28

I just really started reflecting on my life and wondering and asking myself some hard questions and why I was doing some of these things.

Tina: 00:09:37

And, um, you know, I came to the Lord and, um, I didn't resign my contract.

Tina: 00:09:43

I had to go back and do, I had to work with Stacy Keach on the New Mike Hammer show, but I didn't resign and I wanted to get a break and go back.

Tina: 00:09:51

So I went home.

Tina: 00:09:52

I went back to Jersey for a while.

Tina: 00:09:54

Um, and then I went back and fulfilled my obligation on, uh, the New Mike Hammer show.

Tina: 00:09:58

But honestly then I just got really, I fell in love with Jesus and, um, he was putting me on a different path it seemed like, and I was following it and um, and so I thought that was over, but it was always in me, my love for acting.

Tina: 00:10:15

And so.

Tina: 00:10:16

I would get involved in church productions and different things like that.

Tina: 00:10:19

And then I saw the rise of the faith based and I realized one day I wanna be a part of it.

Tina: 00:10:24

And God started directing me in that path.

Tina: 00:10:26

And here I am, I'm

Jaclyn: 00:10:27

Wow.

Jaclyn: 00:10:28

And so did you know Jesus growing up?

Tina: 00:10:32

I was raised Catholic.

Tina: 00:10:33

I went to Catholic school for a few years as well.

Tina: 00:10:35

So yes, I always was.

Tina: 00:10:37

Um.

Tina: 00:10:39

You know, religious, I guess is the word when you're raised Catholic, it is really about religion.

Tina: 00:10:43

But, um, we had a lot of religious things that we did,

Tina: 00:10:47

but I always knew who Jesus was and I always had a love for the Lord.

Tina: 00:10:51

Uh, so yes, the answer is yes,

Jaclyn: 00:10:53

Mm-hmm.

Tina: 00:10:53

Catholic.

Jaclyn: 00:10:54

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:10:55

You know, I love, uh, having that foundation.

Jaclyn: 00:10:59

It's kind of similar in some ways to my story where, yeah, I went and did my own thing for a few years in my early adulthood, but um, you know, when it came down to it where I was in a desperate place and like was just not wanting to continue the direction that I was going in, without getting into a lot of details.

Jaclyn: 00:11:18

The thing is, I did know with that foundation having grown up knowing the Lord and knowing that he's a God of redemption.

Jaclyn: 00:11:27

Uh.

Jaclyn: 00:11:27

I knew he was there and I think that that made a huge difference.

Jaclyn: 00:11:30

And

Jaclyn: 00:11:30

if I didn't have that, in my

Jaclyn: 00:11:32

childhood, who knows what I would've done.

Tina: 00:11:35

Same here.

Tina: 00:11:36

The foundation is huge and I thank God for my parents, letting me have that foundation.

Tina: 00:11:40

' cause so many children today aren't even raised and know who God is.

Jaclyn: 00:11:44

Yeah.

Tina: 00:11:44

no consciousness of him at all.

Tina: 00:11:46

So it is a blessing.

Tina: 00:11:49

Um,

Jaclyn: 00:11:50

So how did the Lord start directing your path, differently?

Tina: 00:11:55

Well, I got really hungry.

Tina: 00:11:56

You mean after I got

Jaclyn: 00:11:58

Sure.

Jaclyn: 00:11:58

Yeah.

Tina: 00:11:58

that what you mean?

Tina: 00:11:59

Yeah.

Tina: 00:12:00

I, I really got a hunger for God, so I got involved in church right away.

Tina: 00:12:04

That was the first thing.

Tina: 00:12:05

Um, I started getting involved with community people my own age as well, because I had an idea that they were all gonna be old ladies with little gray ones and here I am 20, you know, six years old or what have you.

Tina: 00:12:19

Um, but God started bringing me around and, and bringing me into a community of people.

Tina: 00:12:24

And I began to grow.

Tina: 00:12:26

Um, I got involved in theater still in the Christian community as well, like in church productions and things like that.

Tina: 00:12:34

Um, and musicians.

Tina: 00:12:36

I got involved with worship in the worship team, which was really great.

Tina: 00:12:39

So it was another creative outlet for me.

Tina: 00:12:41

Um, but I think the community is what really helped me to grow.

Tina: 00:12:44

Getting involved in bible studies and growing in the Lord and being with people my age really helped me with that as well.

Jaclyn: 00:12:51

Mm-hmm.

Tina: 00:12:52

I was building a personal relationship with God.

Tina: 00:12:54

I think that was my biggest missing piece.

Tina: 00:12:57

Being raised as a Catholic, I always felt like God was somewhere out there, but I started building a really strong personal relationship with God myself, and I knew him.

Tina: 00:13:09

I felt like we were friends.

Tina: 00:13:10

You know, the Bible tells us he's a friend of ours.

Tina: 00:13:13

And, um, you know, we're joint heirs and so I really.

Tina: 00:13:17

Through studying and meditating and praying and there was just early on, so many encounters with God himself.

Tina: 00:13:25

And I can see him being involved in every detail of my life.

Tina: 00:13:29

I could just see it.

Tina: 00:13:31

And supernatural things were happening that it only could be God that was involved with.

Tina: 00:13:36

So he was totally directing my path on what I was doing because there's no other answer for it other than God being involved in my life.

Tina: 00:13:43

And I, just had a personal relationship with him that continued to grow.

Jaclyn: 00:13:48

So then did you continue to pursue acting as a career?

Jaclyn: 00:13:54

Like I know you're saying that you were involved in like the church theater and stuff, or did you step away from that?

Jaclyn: 00:13:59

I.

Tina: 00:13:59

I stepped away because I knew I needed to live in the day you did.

Tina: 00:14:03

You needed to live either in New York or LA and, um, I wasn't at the time.

Tina: 00:14:10

then eventually I moved back to New York, but I. you know, it was really difficult.

Tina: 00:14:15

I knew the world that I was in

Jaclyn: 00:14:17

Right.

Tina: 00:14:18

and I knew the mentality a lot of the people.

Tina: 00:14:20

It was very cutthroat a lot of, you know, competition.

Tina: 00:14:23

A lot of people, and to include me At the time, but God was changing my heart, so I wasn't gonna fit in too well.

Tina: 00:14:30

But you know, we were all trying to climb up that ladder for ourselves.

Tina: 00:14:34

So we were very self-centered and I didn't wanna be that shallow person, that shallow girl, uh, any longer.

Tina: 00:14:42

That was all about herself and God was teaching me to think of others better than yourself.

Tina: 00:14:47

And so my mindset was shifting, my heart was changing.

Tina: 00:14:52

And, um, I didn't see a way that I could be involved.

Tina: 00:14:56

And it wasn't until, like I said, I started seeing the faith based.

Tina: 00:15:00

Films coming out and, you know, they were starting to improve and get better.

Tina: 00:15:05

And I thought, man, I would love to be involved in telling stories that would edify God and bring people maybe to the Lord and these types of stories of redemption.

Tina: 00:15:14

Um, and so I continued to pray about it and a hunger stirred up in me again for that.

Tina: 00:15:21

And um, and then the Lord directed me back into it.

Jaclyn: 00:15:25

the time that you did spend away from pursuing acting as a career when you came back, do you think that that time you had spent away was able to inform you and give you a depth?

Jaclyn: 00:15:38

Um.

Jaclyn: 00:15:39

I ask this because I know that there are times where God does ask us to step away and we think, what?

Jaclyn: 00:15:45

Why does that mean you're taking this away entirely?

Jaclyn: 00:15:48

Um, but my theory is that sometimes, you know, like the wilderness experience, sometimes he needs to draw us away so he can build us up and then he can put us back and we're in a, a different place when we return.

Jaclyn: 00:16:01

Um, is that something that you experienced?

Tina: 00:16:05

It was certainly a time of cultivation.

Jaclyn: 00:16:07

Hmm.

Tina: 00:16:07

Absolutely in a time of really truly learning about myself and the brokenness that I carried, um, and the healing that needed to take place in order to be whole.

Tina: 00:16:20

And God was the answer to that.

Tina: 00:16:22

so definitely cultivation a time of cultivation, in so many areas.

Tina: 00:16:28

it's a funny thing because someone asked me not long ago, how do I define success?

Tina: 00:16:33

And, you know, it's such an easy answer for me Now, success to me, I said was, and this is what came out of me, is taking the gifts and the talents that God gave me to be a blessing to others, to me, that success and I'm getting to walk in that now with my school and the students that I'm helping cultivate their talents.

Tina: 00:16:53

So, um, I didn't have that mindset.

Tina: 00:16:57

As a young 20-year-old in Hollywood, um, in New York, that's for sure.

Tina: 00:17:02

and it brings me such joy, great joy.

Tina: 00:17:05

and so I love where I'm planted and I get to perform and I get to do my craft and my art as well.

Tina: 00:17:13

So I'm teaching, I'm involved in projects.

Tina: 00:17:16

I'm not exclusively only doing faith-based projects, but they do have to have a good message and a good story that I could be proud of and, and be able to sit down and watch with my family as well with no shame.

Tina: 00:17:29

And so I'm grateful for that, that he's allowing me to do it all right now

Jaclyn: 00:17:32

I love that.

Tina: 00:17:33

and I produced as well.

Tina: 00:17:35

So, but it's, it's being conscious of others and being a blessing to others.

Tina: 00:17:40

There's no greater joy I find than that truly.

Tina: 00:17:44

And you know, what reap what you sow.

Tina: 00:17:45

You get to see the truth of that as

Jaclyn: 00:17:47

It's true.

Jaclyn: 00:17:48

Yeah.

Tina: 00:17:49

Yeah.

Tina: 00:17:49

Things come to me that I'm just like in shock of sometimes I'm like, well, I'm not seeking it.

Tina: 00:17:54

I'm not trying to make anything happen.

Tina: 00:17:56

I'm just grateful for the things that the Lord's allowing me to do and be a part of and some wonderful stories.

Tina: 00:18:03

because, you know, I come from the world of honoring a, a writer, my kind of training.

Tina: 00:18:06

It's all about writing.

Tina: 00:18:08

and honoring the writer and the world, the story.

Tina: 00:18:11

And so to see some really great writers put their hearts into a good story and being able to be a part of that and honor that, is truly a gift.

Jaclyn: 00:18:22

I love that and I definitely, um, I'm really looking forward to our next episode because I wanna dive into more about your teaching.

Jaclyn: 00:18:30

I know we've talked a lot about your acting journey in this episode, but I know you've recently, well in the past recent years, uh, you've got into teaching and you and I had a great conversation before we started recording and I can't wait to, to dive into that, to share with our listeners, um, some more things.

Tina: 00:18:49

Well, you know, Jaclyn too, it's so interesting because we have to learn about God's timing.

Tina: 00:18:54

You know, I've been a single mother for a very, very long time and I've raised two sons pretty much all on my own.

Tina: 00:19:02

And, um, you know, sometimes we can get caught up in thinking somebody else has something better or they're ahead of you.

Tina: 00:19:10

But, you know, I've learned over the years, God's timing.

Tina: 00:19:14

Everything.

Tina: 00:19:15

And we have to learn through those moments as well to be patient because you know, the scripture says God gives us the desires of our heart.

Tina: 00:19:24

He's the one that plants those desires into us.

Tina: 00:19:26

And something I learned over the years, God always forecast and then fulfills.

Tina: 00:19:32

So if it's been forecast and planted in you, it will come to fruition.

Tina: 00:19:37

Our job is just to take one day at a time and to be obedient to him.

Tina: 00:19:41

I had no idea I'd be doing all of this.

Tina: 00:19:44

My focus was raising my sons.

Tina: 00:19:46

Now they're young adults.

Tina: 00:19:48

Um, you know, but it was a greatest reward I could have at the time, and I wouldn't have been able to do all of that without compromising.

Tina: 00:19:58

What my, my youngest son now, who's 26 needed and you know, he's become an Eagle Scout.

Tina: 00:20:04

I had to get him into college, you know, he's getting ready now.

Tina: 00:20:08

He is graduated, all of that.

Tina: 00:20:09

But that takes a lot of work and a lot of focus when you're doing it on your own.

Tina: 00:20:14

And so it was the Lord helping me through that.

Tina: 00:20:16

And that's where I was supposed to be during that season.

Tina: 00:20:20

And now he's giving me back my first love, which is the art of acting.

Tina: 00:20:25

And the craft and, um, meeting some wonderful people along the way.

Jaclyn: 00:20:29

I love it.

Tina: 00:20:30

I'm

Tina: 00:20:30

grateful.

Jaclyn: 00:20:31

That's so amazing.

Jaclyn: 00:20:32

I'm looking forward to talking with you more in the next episode.

Jaclyn: 00:20:35

Thank you so much, Tina.

Tina: 00:20:37

you're welcome.

Tina: 00:20:37

Thank you, Jaclyn.