Santana Andrade

&nbsp Santana Andrade (formerly Castillo) is a fictional character on Santa Barbara.

She was portrayed by Ava Lazar, Margaret Michaels, Gina Gallego and Wanda De Jesus.

1984
A fiery Mexican heroine, Santana Andrade was one of Santa Barbara's original characters. She had started out as a maid for the rich Capwell family whose beloved son Channing Jr. was murdered in 1979. Now, five years later, Santana was enraged when Joe Perkins, the accused killer of Channing Jr. was released from prison. So angry, in fact, that she pulled a gun on Joe from a distance. She was quietly halted by Mason Capwell, Channing's half brother. Mason tried to use this gun incident against Santana to gain sexual favors for himself, but it didn't work.

Alone with her mother, Santana admitted that she had an illegitimate son, who was fathered by Channing and given up at birth at the insistence of his father, C.C. Capwell. Determined to find the child, Santana learned that C.C. knew where the boy was. When he refused to help Santana, she decided to charm the older man in hopes of learning her son's whereabouts. Santana and C.C. grew closer and eventually became lovers. They broke up once Santana learned that young Brandon Demott, who had arrived in town with his mother Gina, was in reality her son.

To get close to the child, Santana followed Gina and Brandon to France and then befriended Gina. Back in Santa Barbara, Santana made plans to kidnap Brandon but couldn't go through with it. Needless to say, she fumed when C.C. moved Gina and Brandon into the Capwell mansion where C.C. could control Santana's visits. For his part, Mason got closer to Santana's heart by saving Brandon's life during an earthquake. When Mason learned the truth about Brandon, he tried to force Santana into marrying him. Santana left town.

1985
Santana returned to Santa Barbara and instantly got trapped in a tunnel explosion along with Cruz Castillo, her childhood friend. They were both rescued. Then, Santana decided to find out who killed Channing. Out of spite, Mason showed her a video tape containing romantic shots of Channing and his male lover, Lindsay Smith! Initially devastated that Channing had been gay, Santana later came to terms with it.

By now, Gina was married to C.C. and aware of Brandon's real parentage. She didn't want Santana anywhere near Brandon. Still, Santana was determined to get her son back by proving that Gina was an unfit mother. To that end, she arranged for C.C. to catch Gina and Mason in bed together. She then found an unlikely ally in Augusta Lockridge, who wanted Santana to get custody of Brandon so that her husband Lionel (Channing's real father) couldn't bond with the boy.

1986
Santana grew closer to Cruz Castillo, who had recently lost his true love Eden Capwell to Kirk Cranston. Just then, C.C. offered to give Santana custody of Brandon if she were to marry. To fulfill this demand, Santana became engaged to Mason. However, Cruz proposed to Santana and convinced her to marry him instead of Mason. They were wed in Mexico and got custody of Brandon. The three of them started living in Cruz's beach house. At the same time, Gina was determined to get Brandon back from Santana. To prove that her rival was an unfit mother, Gina slipped Santana addictive drugs in place of Santana's allergy pills. While under the influence of these drugs, Santana had an affair with sleazy D.A. Keith Timmons. In addition, she accidentally hit Eden with a car and left her for dead. Once Santana's involvement in the accident came to light, her marriage to Cruz ended.

1987
Santana had a brief flirtation with Brick Wallace. She then disappeared from the canvas without explanation.

1989
Santana came to see Brandon, having escaped from the mental hospital she'd been. She was mentally unstable and kidnapped Brandon. Ultimately, she agreed to give the boy back to Gina and was returned to the hospital.

1991
Santana escaped from the mental hospital, only to be run over by Dr. Grant Jameson, who was running a scam to keep his patients hospitalized longer than necessary to collect more money from them. In Santana's subsequent battle against Dr. Jameson, she was supported by Cruz, Warren Lockridge and Julia Wainwright. Jameson was put on trial, which initially made Santana look bad, but he eventually confessed to trying to kill her. Finally a free woman, Santana started decorating C.C. Capwell's mansion. The two became unlikely lovers. The romance was frowned upon by Santana's mother, Rosa.

1992
Just as C.C. was about to rekindle his relationship with Sophia, Santana told him that she was pregnant with his child. C.C. wasn't eager to become a father again, so Santana almost had an abortion. Resolving to do the right thing, C.C. proposed to Santana. She accepted. But during their wedding rehearsal, Santana miscarried the baby, which left her devastated. To make a new life for herself, she ended her troubled romance with C.C. and moved to New York City. She was last seen on the plane, meeting a wonderful man and was leaving Santa Barbara and was never seen again afterwards.