Wizards of bareback riding, tumbling, juggling, the high trapeze and perch, the Cristianis are the Royal Family of Circusdom," wrote John and Alice Durant in their Pictorial History of the American Circus. Tina was part of it from the age of five, putting the elephants through their paces, balancing on aerial ladders—till the day she took a close look at one of her aunts and saw how she'd been prematurely aged by her years of nerve-racking activity. So Tina left the big top and went to New York to study acting. Seasoned by stage plays and TV commercials, she makes her film debut in the imminent Paramount release Badge 373.
Tina's always had a special fondness for clowns: "The cliché about the sad story behind the clown's face is really true. Many of them have had unhappy lives. And you can tell a lot about a clown by his make-up—there's always a sad element, no matter how big the smile is. They get to people because they take their most vulnerable points and dramatize them." Right: A skilled equestrienne, Tina has been riding since she was three.
Between tours, Tina lived a more-or-less "normal" life in Sarasota, Florida. But on the road, it was different: "The circus has its own codes and mores—there's a lot of rivalry, combined with stick-togetherness. It was like growing up in a fantasy, and I had to make a lot of adjustments when I went out into the real world. But my circus background enabled me to plunge into the theater and learn all aspects of my work." Which is how to make it in any business.
