Michele Santopietro was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is the daughter of Raymond and Sandra Santopietro. In the fourth grade she was given a battery of I.Q. tests and scored in the highest percentile in the country, well above "genius" level. She spent most of her grammar school days in special programs for the intellectually gifted. She was the recipient of numerous academic awards for Science, among them the prestigious "Yale Peabody Museum Award for Young Minds". She chose to forgo a number of full scholarships to various top-rated universities in order to attend New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied Drama, Dramatic Writing, Directing and Clinical Psychology. She graduated a "Founder's Day Scholar" in the top academic percentile of her class, and was the recipient of Tisch's prestigious "Artist and Scholar Award".At thirteen Michele was in a terrible accident in which her right ankle was completely shattered and she would not have walked again, had it not been for the work of a visionary orthopedic surgeon--Dr. Ogden. Michele went on to become a nationally ranked Cross-Country champion, winning numerous trophies including a second place finish in her age division in the New Haven Roadrace(marathon) in 1989. She continues to run to this day. She is also a trained vocal performer in Opera as well as Rock. She has worked extensively in film, television and theater, and is a prominent voice-over performer for On-camera and radio commercials. She is also a life-long advocate of Taoism and Eastern philosophy and religion.
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