Gloria de los Santos hails from Chicago, Illinois. Born into a large Mexican-American family of six children, the gospel of “hard work” was always at the forefront of the de los Santos family values. Her father, Nicolas, had only a 6th grade education, growing up “Tejano” in the heart of Texas on small farm. He joined the US Navy at 16, receiving a special dispensation that his tearful mother signed.
Her parents knew each other from their small town of Eastland, Texas, but they didn’t really envision their lives together as a couple until both ended up in Chicago.
Gloria always envisioned a life for herself as an artist and pursued that dream growing up on the south side of Chicago. There, as a young adult, she could hop a train or bus and visit the libraries and art museums that only a large metropolitan city could offer.
After studying art and design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Gloria graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1981.
After college, she married and had two children and lived for a time in England with her European-born husband, David. The couple landed in the city of angels in 1997. While in Los Angeles, Gloria found employment in the entertainment industry, working on films such as “Titanic”, “Inspector Gadget” and others. Her filmography also includes: “Hollowman”, “Star Trek: Insurrection” and the “Mists of Avalon”, which debuted on the TNT network in July, 2002.
In 1999, after the birth of her daughter, the family decided to get back to their country roots. They left Los Angeles for northern climes, namely, the northeast corner of Washington State. Today, they live on a small tree farm of 50 acres.

ARTWORK
de los Santos’ artwork is in private collections in Bermuda, Canada, England and the U.S. She has exhibited her work in Chicago, Colorado, Bermuda, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York State and Washington State.
Her parallel career as an arts instructor includes employment with The American Academy of Art in Chicago, Illinois and UCLA extension where she taught in the Film and Entertainment Dept.
She also taught art at The Orient School in Orient, Washington through a Washington State Arts Commission grant. She served as the volunteer Program and Marketing Director for Colville Arts Foundation 2002-2010.