General Information

Deborah Magdalena

Actress—actriz

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAFIA

Whether she's hosting a spoken word event, music festival, or playing the role of a santera, a deputy, or a vixen, Deborah Magdalena makes every emotion super real. The Puerto Rican actress/poet - who calls Miami home – was born into a very talented musical family. Sister of Latin Grammy winner Nestor Torres and grandniece of legendary Puerto Rican singer Ruth Fernandez, it was a natural progression for Deborah to amuse friends and family at an early age with her spontaneous comedic sketches and dance numbers.

Immediately after her three year stint in the early nineties as student and apprentice for renowned actor and mentor Michael Beckett at Herbert Bergdorf Studios, under Uta Hagan’s direction in New Your City, Deborah quickly accumulate TV and film credits. Such as Sesame Street (CTW), Apollo Comedy Hour (Tribune Entertainment), The Newz (Columbia-Tri-Star), Safe Harbor (Warner Brothers), Striptease (Castle Rock), Holyman (Caravan), and For Love or Country (HBO) just to name a few.

A phone call on September 11, 2001 changed the course of Deborah Magdalena’s life. When she was informed that her best friend Tanya’s fiancé FF Sergio Gabriel Villanueva was down at the South Tower of the World Trade Center, she recalls feeling like her spirit was about to jump out of her body. The year long vigil of finally accepting her family’s loss and wanting to ease her pain she turned to spoken word and performed at open mics across the country with vigor and pain. A healing process which reminded her how much he did enjoy the immediate audience response and impact.

For the past 10 years she focused on her spoken word performances with the goal to not only entertain but inspire self healing with a comedic twist. Deborah bared her poetic soul by independently releasing Spoken Word CDs - Spoken Soul: A Survival Kit of Poetry, and Deborah Magdalena LIVE.

Combining her bilingual hosting style with comedic and musical skills, Deborah created a unique poetic cabaret show called The Alma Lounge which had a SOLD OUT six month run at notorious Miami Beach Hotel, The Raleigh.

With poetry in one hand and music in the other, Deborah set out to work with kids in after school programs funded by Arts For Learning, and personally authored an original poetic program called After School Zen. A program she taught in front of 200 kids from first to sixth grades.

In the spring of 2009The Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation commissioned Deborah to workshop and produce Piano Slam, one of the Adrienne Arsht Center’s community signature outreach programs. Piano Slam brings classical music and a poetry contest to inner city middle and high school kids across Miami Dade County. This program culminates with a performance with poetry contest finalists at the John S. and James L. Knight Music Hall.

With a continued poetic force, Deborah was moved by the healing power of the arts in women’s lives, so she founded Spoken Soul Festival in 2008, an annual three day festival that supports women artists. SFF coincides with Women Arts’ international holiday SWAN Day (Support Women Artist Now). The local community has embraced the festival by presenting it with 3 proclamations from the City of Miami Beach, City of Miami Dade County and the City of Miami.

Continually writing, teaching and performing Deborah Magdalena sets out to poetically inspire positive growth and change in women artists and our world’s community as a whole.

“She carries with her a warm heart and refreshing vitality that is always a pleasure to be associated with”

Andy Garcia on working with Deborah