Before Tatiana Zappardino’s was on ‘Tulsa King,’ she served in the USMC

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US actress Tatiana Lia Zappardino attends the Season 1 premiere of Paramount+ series "Tulsa King" in New York on November 9, 2022. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
US actress Tatiana Lia Zappardino attends the Season 1 premiere of Paramount+ series "Tulsa King" in New York on November 9, 2022. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images) TIMOTHY A. CLARY

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Tatiana Zappardino is a beloved actress to her fans from her roles on Tulsa King, The Consultant and Superstition. She got her first big break on Superstition show as a main cast member named Lily who was a medical examiner. Her next career break was guest starring on one of the most popular shows of all time, This Is Us, and then onto a co-starring role in The Consultant with the highly acclaimed award-winning actor Christoph Waltz. She has further crested the wave of stardom and success with her groundbreaking role in the Taylor Sheridan-created and Sylvester Stallone-led hit show Tulsa King as Sly’s character’s daughter, Tina Manfriedi-Grieger.

Tatiana Zappardino as a commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps. Photo courtesy of Tatiana Zappardino.

She has starred in 16 episodes over two seasons of the series. Before all of her Hollywood success came many lessons and challenging training in the Marine Corps. Zappardino served in the Corps as a Public Affairs Officer (PAO). She sat down with We Are The Mighty and shared her story. She was born in San Diego, CA and attended Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, FL to earn her BFA in Theater Arts. A full YouTube podcast interview is available further down the page.

Actress and Marine Corps veteran Tatiana Zappardino. Photo courtesy of Tatiana Zappardino. STEPHANIE GIRARD

1. What inspired you to join the Marine Corps?

During high school, my stepfather was a USMC recruiter and I spent a lot of time at the recruiter’s office. I was part of the poolee program and saw the honor behind being in the military. All the branches had offices right next to each other; there was a lot of smack talk about who was the best but the Marine Corps is the best. I was taught the Marines were number one. I wanted to be an actress out of high school and at the time I was not emotionally ready. I had a lot of growing up to do. My stepfather suggested I apply for the Marine Corps scholarship because then you can get a degree in acting and do your time in service and then go act. Get the best of both worlds. You don’t have to rush to it.

I applied and was awarded the scholarship. I went to college to become a Marine Corps Officer and it was a really challenging eight years. It was amazing and devastating at times. I grew up just like he said I should. I was finally ready for a film career.    

2. How did your time in the Corps change your life?

Being a Marine takes a certain mindset. There is a certain mindset and caliber of person to be in for 25 years and have a big ribbon stack. It just fits them. It didn’t quite fit me. I wanted to fit in but didn’t quite fit in, but I worked my hardest. I was the Marine who smiled in her photos. I was told to, “Stop smiling!” My response was like, “I can’t.” I asked, “Why,” a lot. I would speak up when something I didn’t agree with was happening. You start to realize that’s not exactly what they want but that is who I am. I learned to keep my bearing and push through, preparing me for the film industry. I take criticism [on set] and don’t have to take it to heart and cry. I’m like, “Ok, moving on.” 

I think the tenacity and pushing through a lot of the barriers in the Marine Corps and a lot of adversity with challenges propelled me toward this career. Many people quit acting in a year if they don’t book something. You’ve gotta keep pushing. That’s the biggest thing I took away from the Marine Corps, no matter what, you can make it to the top of the hill. It sucks. It hurts. You’re carrying so much weight and your hip just broke and you’re still going. You can go a lot further than your mind tries to tell you that you can. I think that’s why I’ve been so successful in the film industry. I’m not saying I’m an A-Lister….what I’m saying is that with my mindset, I can go the distance and I’m going to keep going and overcome obstacles but that’s not gonna affect me because I know who I am. I have my family and friends who are supportive. I do it for them. I did the necessary growing up in the military that I needed. I wanted to be a Public Affairs Officer and put that as my top choice. I wanted to make sure they knew my desire. I chose it because it interested me and was the closest thing to being on camera and acting.

PAO school was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. There is a lot more journalism than on-camera stuff. We do a lot of SME (Subject Matter Expert) preparation for camera work and staying on message when speaking to the public. Mainly it’s journalism and I learned about writing articles and photography. It was awesome and I do love writing. In fact, I’m writing some scripts for future projects. Those are the skills I took away the most. When I went to PAO school, Defense Information School (DINFOS), which is a joint school, I actually met my best friend there. She was an Air Force PAO and she did combat camera. She’s still in as a reservist. We’ve been friends for over 10 years and I hold that very dearly to our time at DINFOS when we connected.

You are still a rifleman first and you still are doing a lot of training at the pistol range and the rifle range. I became a Range Safety Officer (RSO) at one point. You’re not just what your job is and I still got to do a lot of exciting things. I deployed with a Reserve unit to Italy and it was a great learning and growth experience. I got to do some of my skill training out there and we had teams that we sent to Northern Africa to train their military. We sent out Marines to take photos and write articles. Marines did community service in Catania, Italy, and post those events. We went to the Embassy to meet people and it was all really cool.               

3. What made you want to be an actor?

I was a very shy and quiet kid. I was bullied a lot. We were kind of a poor family and I had to wear my brother’s hand-me-down clothes. Some of the kids made comments like, “Oh she must be a boy.” Stuff like that. It was rough. Then I was in a musical and it was The Wizard of Oz. I played The Jitterbug and it was my first role. When I went on stage I came out of my shell and my parents said, “You were so great. We’ve never seen this in you.” I was like, “Oh really,” and it really sparked it. I got leads in high school and college productions. This was the first time I didn’t have to fight to be good at something.  It’s something that’s in me. In the Marine Corps, I had to fight to be good at it. To do the three-mile run in the Corps I was running every day. Just to do the obstacle course I was running it every day just to learn how to get over the wall. It was not something that came naturally to me like I was hopping over the wall.

With acting I would go in a room and read something. I understood the emotions in it. Already, having been through so much stuff at a young age, a lot of sad things, I had therapy through it. When I found it I just didn’t want to let it go.      

4. What’s your experience been like working on Superstition, Tulsa King and The Consultant?

They are all very different as they have different-sized roles, different casts and different crews. My favorite by far is Superstition. It was one of my first TV roles and it was SAG. It was a smaller crew and the cast was very intimate because we did scenes together all the time. So, we were all just really close and I LOVED going to work. I knew every crew member’s name and cast members would all sit down and have lunch together. It was a very collective group of people that just had a GREAT time. The Consultant was awesome. Christoph Waltz is just AMAZING to watch. He’s fascinating and nice. I was a smaller part in that project, when I went into the pilot it was a recurring character…I got to work and it was a payday…I’m here and watching Christoph Waltz do his thing. Brittany O’Grady is great and sweet.

I booked Tulsa King right in the middle of The Consultant. Season One [of The Consultant] was a great experience. I really like a lot of the people I worked with and it was a much bigger scale. The crew was thousands and I couldn’t quite keep up with everyone’s names. I like knowing people’s names who I’m working with but there were just too many people…It was constantly changing. I was slightly more outside of the cast [in Tulsa King] in Seasons One and Two because I only had scenes with Sly. I didn’t have scenes with a full big group all the time. I didn’t get to bond as much as I would have liked to. It’s an honor to be part of the show, especially with how many people want to watch it. So many people come up to and tell me they’ve seen Tulsa King. I come into acting more than just to act, I love the creative experience of working together as a team and building these family-style bonds. It’s supposed to be fun it’s not supposed to feel like a nine-to-five.    

I still keep in contact with people from different shows I worked on. Robinne Lee is amazing! I love her. She just had the feature film The Idea of You come out with Anne Hathaway, which is based on a book Robinne wrote. I’m just so proud of her…she’s just a positive influence on my life. That’s what I mean, people who stick with you are the people you really form bonds with on set…I’m really into forming forever bonds.  

5. What’s next for you?

My career is in the building phase, and I am on the show Tulsa King, and am committed to it. I’m focused on my family right now as well. I love being able to stay home and raise my daughter. My partner is deployed at this time. I’m glad I have that time with my daughter while she is young. Right now, I’m surviving as she is just a toddler running around and causing chaos. I’m doing some writing and writing a feature over the past six years. I finally feel like it is ready to be produced, and I want to film it next year. It is my passion project to work on right now. I’ll handle auditions as they come in. I’m not gonna hold my breath and say like, “I’m gonna be in Gladiator III.” You can’t really do that and I’m likely not at the status for that one. My goal is to focus on my family and write. I want to thank you, Joel, the Marines and all of the service members. I really respect all of you and no matter how long it’s been and how much I have overcome, I always feel at home when I run into a Marine. I just jumped right back into talking. They understand and they get it. It’s great. I’m so honored to be part of that tiny circle.