Santana Lopez
Encyclopedia
Santana Lopez is a fictional character
from the Fox
musical comedy-drama series Glee
. The character is portrayed by actress Naya Rivera
, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode
, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Santana was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk
and Ian Brennan
. Introduced as a minor antagonist and a sidekick to Quinn Fabray
(Dianna Agron
) in first episode of Glee, Santana's role grew over the course of the show's first season
. In the second season
, Santana has seen more high profile storylines, such as her romantic feelings for her best friend Brittany Pierce
(Heather Morris), which leads her to discover she is a lesbian
. Rivera, who has been vocally supportive of the love story between hers and Morris' characters, has received praise for her portrayal of Santana, as well as for her for vocal work in numerous songs performed as part of the show's central glee club, New Directions.
Santana is introduced alongside Quinn and Brittany as one of the three most popular cheerleaders
at the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio
, where the show is set. She joins the school's glee club, and soon is spying on it for Sue Sylvester
(Jane Lynch
), coach of the cheerleading team the Cheerios. As the season progresses, she becomes more sympathetic to other glee club members, saying she is staying in the club not because Sue is forcing her, but because she likes it. She has several romantic relationships, briefly dating Puck (Mark Salling), taking Finn Hudson
's (Cory Monteith
) virginity
, and carrying on a friends with benefits
relationship with Brittany. In season two, the show delves into the motivations behind Santana's antagonism and her sexual aggressiveness towards boys; it is later revealed that her cruel attitude is because she is struggling with her romantic feelings towards Brittany, and subsequently with her lesbian identity. This storyline has been positively received by critics.
(Dianna Agron
) and Brittany Pierce
(Heather Morris) join the school glee club
, New Directions; cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester
(Jane Lynch
) then enlists the three of them to help her destroy the glee club from the inside. Initially romantically linked to football player Noah "Puck" Puckerman (Mark Salling), Santana soon breaks up with him over his bad credit score
, though the two have an on-again, off-again relationship well into the show's second season. Brittany also reveals in an offhand comment that she and Santana have slept together. When the two are accused of giving Sue the New Directions set list
for their first show choir competition, Santana defends herself and admits that she has come to enjoy participating in the club. After Quinn is kicked off the cheerleading squad due to her pregnancy, Santana takes over as head cheerleader. At Sue's behest, Santana and Brittany go on a date with glee club co-captain Finn Hudson
(Cory Monteith
). Santana takes his virginity, though Finn immediately regrets sleeping with her. When Puck begins dating Mercedes Jones
(Amber Riley
), Santana is jealous and confronts her with an aggressive duet of "The Boy Is Mine
". A similar confrontation, though entirely physical, occurs in the second season after Puck sings a love song to Lauren Zizes
(Ashley Fink
) in front of the glee club, though Santana loses badly to Lauren.
In season two, Santana is demoted from her position as head cheerleader when Quinn reveals that she had breast implants over the summer, leading to a physical fight between the two. While making out, Brittany suggests to Santana that the two of them should sing Melissa Etheridge
's "Come To My Window
" for a glee club duet competition. Alarmed, Santana claims that she was only sleeping with Brittany because Puck was not available. Brittany begins to date club member Artie Abrams
(Kevin McHale), which piques Santana's jealousy. They briefly quit the glee club when Sue demands that they choose between it and being cheerleaders, however Finn convinces them to reverse their decision. Temporarily without a boyfriend, she breaks up Quinn and her boyfriend Sam Evans
(Chord Overstreet
), and dates him herself for several weeks. Confronted by Brittany about her feelings for her, Santana confesses that she is in love with her, but fears being ostracized by the student body for being in a same-sex relationship
. Brittany reciprocates her love, but declines to break up with Artie. In the hope of convincing Brittany to be with her, Santana runs for school prom queen. She blackmails closeted jock Dave Karofsky
(Max Adler) into becoming her beard and running mate; he wins prom king, but Santana is not named queen. Brittany comforts her, and encourages her to embrace her identity.
In the third season Santana rejoins the Cheerios along with Brittany and is made co-captain by Sue alongside Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter
). She is kicked off New Directions for disloyalty, though she is soon allowed back. But in "Pot o' Gold
," she leaves again to join Mercedes in the newly formed rival glee club, the Troubletones, and convinces Brittany, who is now her girlfriend, to come with her. In "Mash Off
", Santana takes the clubs' rivalry to a new level by bullying Finn and Rory. Finn slowly grows sick of it and after Santana's "apology" turns into another stream of insults, he accuses her of being a coward for failing to admit she's in love with Brittany. This is overheard by other students, one of whom tells her uncle, who is running for Congress against Sue and Burt Hummel
. He uses Santana's lesbianism in an attack ad against Sue, which is revealed to Santana in a private meeting with Sue, Burt and Will after Burt receives an advance copy of the ad. Santana is devastated at this public outing: she hasn't yet come out to her parents. She blames Finn and slaps him.
had made numerous appearances in small roles on popular primetime television shows. In casting Glee, series creator Ryan Murphy sought actors who could identify with the rush of starring in theatrical roles. Auditioning actors with no theatrical experience were required to prove they could sing and dance as well as act. Rivera drew on her own high school experience of unpopularity to prepare for the role, as well as watching films such as Mean Girls
to "really get in the zone and feel like a bitchy Sophomore". She has described Santana as "your typical high school cheerleader, for the most part," explaining: "She's really mean and loves boys. She's really witty so I love playing her." She has characterized Santana as "a bit of a bad girl" who is "really snarky and always has these really witty one-liners she throws out there." Rivera enjoys the fact Santana is competitive and headstrong as she herself shares those traits, but dislikes Santana's mean streak. She auditioned for the role as she loves singing, dancing and acting, and had never before had the opportunity to combine all three skills in one project. She finds the show's pacing challenging, especially the dancing, and commented in June 2009 that her most memorable moment on Glee was performing the Cheerios' glee club audition piece, "I Say a Little Prayer
". Santana played a more prominent part in the last nine episodes of Glee first season. Rivera commented: "Santana's been wreaking havoc with people's boyfriends and people's babies and teachers—she's the high school terror, and she's going to continue to be the villain." Although Santana continues to step over others to get what she wants, she exhibits moments of compassion and loyalty to the glee club.
Rivera has been vocal in her support of the Santana/Brittany relationship, and her attitudes toward Santana's emotional attachment have informed her portrayal of the character. In April 2010, when asked if any of "the guys" were Santana's soul mate, Rivera answered, "I think that Brittany is her soul mate. I think that they should end up together. They're in love." A month later, when interviewed by The Advocate
, she reiterated this point, saying, "Maybe they’ll fall in love. I do think they're soul mates. Brittany just gets Santana, even though a lot of people don’t like her." On December 8, 2010, after a surge of fan disappointment over Twitter at the recent absence of Brittana, Rivera tweeted
, "There’s been a Brittana fan uproar…Don’t worry, I miss it too." In January 2011, after several more "Brittana fan uproars", in an article entitled "The future of Brittana: Outlook Not so good", Rivera expressed the reason for such strong fan response: "Honestly, on a deeper level, to the girls that are going through that and it's not so comical in their world, in their everyday lives, they kind of looked up to us, in a sense. That's kind of my reason for hoping they continue the storyline." Ironically, soon after this pessimistic article, Brad Falchuk, co-creator of Glee, tweeted on January 20, "Brittana is on. Brittana was always on."
Santana's arc following "Sexy
", where she admits her romantic feelings for Brittany, sees Santana come to terms with her sexual orientation
. Falchuk describes Santana, from this point, as having come out
internally to herself, but being afraid of coming out to her peers. "Santana is a lesbian. She might not be ready to come out yet, but she is."
" indicated that Brittany and Santana had slept together, Dorothy Snarker, writing for lesbian entertainment website AfterEllen.com, praised the pairing, referring to them by the portmanteau "Brittana". Snarker called the two her "new favorite Glee pairing", commenting that: "While Heather Morris (Brittany) and Naya Rivera (Santana) have had minimal screen time, they’ve made it count. [...] Never mind Finn and Rachel—I'm on Team Brittana now."
Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club
praised the character development of Santana, calling it the highlight of the episode "Born This Way
". He continued, "The best thing about this episode is Naya Rivera’s work as Santana and the story the three writers have cooked up for her. Rivera's really come into her own this season, going from just a generic bitchy cheerleader to an actual character who has motivations and might be a better villain for the show than Sue. [...] On a show where we’re meant to accept that the characters do whatever the fuck the writers need them to from scene to scene, the storyline of Santana realizing she was in love with Brittany and [...] is probably a lesbian has been nicely plotted and surprisingly deep. The reveal about Santana hasn't washed away her less savory qualities; indeed, it's heightened them, to a degree, as she struggles to be true to herself and still maintain her status as the hottest girl in school."
Visibility Awards, Brittany and Santana were nominated for the Favorite Fictional Lesbian Couple award, and Rivera was nominated in the Favorite TV Actress category. Also that year, Rivera was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress/Television category at the Imagen Awards, and she and her co-stars won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. They were nominated in the same category the following year. At the 2011 ALMA Award
s, Rivera was nominated in the Favorite TV Actress – Leading Role in a Comedy category.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
musical comedy-drama series Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
. The character is portrayed by actress Naya Rivera
Naya Rivera
Naya Marie Rivera is an American actress and singer known for her role in the musical comedy television series Glee, as cheerleader Santana Lopez.-Early life:...
, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode
Pilot (Glee)
"Pilot" is the pilot episode of the television series Glee, which premiered on the Fox network on May 19, 2009. An extended director's cut version aired on September 2, 2009. The show focuses on a high school show choir, also known as a glee club, set within the fictional William McKinley High...
, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Santana was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk
Brad Falchuk
Brad Falchuk is a television writer, director and producer. He is best known for his work on the television series Nip/Tuck, Glee, and American Horror Story.-Early life:...
and Ian Brennan
Ian Brennan (writer)
Ian Brennan is a television writer, actor and producer. He is best known for his work on the television show Glee.-Early life:Brennan is the son of John and Charman Brennan. His sister, Sarah Brennan, is one of the founders of in Chicago...
. Introduced as a minor antagonist and a sidekick to Quinn Fabray
Quinn Fabray
Quinn Fabray is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Dianna Agron, and has appeared in Glee since its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. She is a former cheerleader at the fictional William McKinley High School in...
(Dianna Agron
Dianna Agron
Dianna Agron is an American actress, best known for her portrayal of Quinn Fabray on the television series Glee.-Early life:Dianna Agron was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in San Antonio, Texas and San Francisco, California. She is the daughter of Mary and Ronald S. Agron, a general...
) in first episode of Glee, Santana's role grew over the course of the show's first season
Glee (season 1)
The first season of the musical comedy-drama television series Glee originally aired on Fox in the United States. The pilot episode was broadcast as an advanced preview of the series on May 19, 2009, with the remainder of the season airing between September 9, 2009 and June 8, 2010...
. In the second season
Glee (season 2)
The second season of the musical comedy-drama television series Glee originally aired between September 21, 2010 and May 24, 2011 on Fox in the United States...
, Santana has seen more high profile storylines, such as her romantic feelings for her best friend Brittany Pierce
Brittany Pierce
Brittany Susan Pierce is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Heather Morris, and has appeared in Glee from its second episode, "Showmance", first broadcast on September 9, 2009. Brittany was developed by Glee creators Ryan...
(Heather Morris), which leads her to discover she is a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
. Rivera, who has been vocally supportive of the love story between hers and Morris' characters, has received praise for her portrayal of Santana, as well as for her for vocal work in numerous songs performed as part of the show's central glee club, New Directions.
Santana is introduced alongside Quinn and Brittany as one of the three most popular cheerleaders
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
at the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio
Lima, Ohio
Lima is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwestern Ohio along Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton and south-southwest of Toledo....
, where the show is set. She joins the school's glee club, and soon is spying on it for Sue Sylvester
Sue Sylvester
Susan "Sue" Sylvester is a fictional character of the Fox musical comedy-drama series, Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Jane Lynch, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Sue was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian...
(Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch is an American comedian, actress and singer. She gained fame in Christopher Guest's improv mockumentary pictures such as Best in Show and is currently best known for playing the role of Sue Sylvester in the television series Glee...
), coach of the cheerleading team the Cheerios. As the season progresses, she becomes more sympathetic to other glee club members, saying she is staying in the club not because Sue is forcing her, but because she likes it. She has several romantic relationships, briefly dating Puck (Mark Salling), taking Finn Hudson
Finn Hudson
Finn Hudson is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actor Cory Monteith, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Finn was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan...
's (Cory Monteith
Cory Monteith
Cory Allan Monteith is a Canadian actor and musician, best known for his role of Finn Hudson on the Fox television series Glee.-Early life:...
) virginity
Virginity
Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...
, and carrying on a friends with benefits
Casual relationship
A casual relationship, colloquially known as a fling, is a physical and emotional relationship between two people who may have a sexual relationship or a near-sexual relationship without necessarily demanding or expecting the extra commitments of a more formal romantic relationship...
relationship with Brittany. In season two, the show delves into the motivations behind Santana's antagonism and her sexual aggressiveness towards boys; it is later revealed that her cruel attitude is because she is struggling with her romantic feelings towards Brittany, and subsequently with her lesbian identity. This storyline has been positively received by critics.
Storylines
Santana is introduced as a popular cheerleader at William McKinley High School . Santana and her friends Quinn FabrayQuinn Fabray
Quinn Fabray is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Dianna Agron, and has appeared in Glee since its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. She is a former cheerleader at the fictional William McKinley High School in...
(Dianna Agron
Dianna Agron
Dianna Agron is an American actress, best known for her portrayal of Quinn Fabray on the television series Glee.-Early life:Dianna Agron was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in San Antonio, Texas and San Francisco, California. She is the daughter of Mary and Ronald S. Agron, a general...
) and Brittany Pierce
Brittany Pierce
Brittany Susan Pierce is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Heather Morris, and has appeared in Glee from its second episode, "Showmance", first broadcast on September 9, 2009. Brittany was developed by Glee creators Ryan...
(Heather Morris) join the school glee club
Glee club
A glee club is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs—glees—by trios or quartets. In the late 19th Century it was very popular in most schools and was made a tradition...
, New Directions; cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester
Sue Sylvester
Susan "Sue" Sylvester is a fictional character of the Fox musical comedy-drama series, Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Jane Lynch, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Sue was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian...
(Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch is an American comedian, actress and singer. She gained fame in Christopher Guest's improv mockumentary pictures such as Best in Show and is currently best known for playing the role of Sue Sylvester in the television series Glee...
) then enlists the three of them to help her destroy the glee club from the inside. Initially romantically linked to football player Noah "Puck" Puckerman (Mark Salling), Santana soon breaks up with him over his bad credit score
Credit score
A credit score is a numerical expression based on a statistical analysis of a person's credit files, to represent the creditworthiness of that person...
, though the two have an on-again, off-again relationship well into the show's second season. Brittany also reveals in an offhand comment that she and Santana have slept together. When the two are accused of giving Sue the New Directions set list
Set list
A set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...
for their first show choir competition, Santana defends herself and admits that she has come to enjoy participating in the club. After Quinn is kicked off the cheerleading squad due to her pregnancy, Santana takes over as head cheerleader. At Sue's behest, Santana and Brittany go on a date with glee club co-captain Finn Hudson
Finn Hudson
Finn Hudson is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actor Cory Monteith, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Finn was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan...
(Cory Monteith
Cory Monteith
Cory Allan Monteith is a Canadian actor and musician, best known for his role of Finn Hudson on the Fox television series Glee.-Early life:...
). Santana takes his virginity, though Finn immediately regrets sleeping with her. When Puck begins dating Mercedes Jones
Mercedes Jones
Mercedes Jones is a fictional character from the Fox popular musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Amber Riley, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Mercedes was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and...
(Amber Riley
Amber Riley
Amber Patrice Riley is an American actress and singer best known for her role on the series Glee as Mercedes Jones.-Early life and career:...
), Santana is jealous and confronts her with an aggressive duet of "The Boy Is Mine
The Boy Is Mine
"The Boy Is Mine" is a duet by American recording artists Brandy and Monica. It was written by LaShawn Daniels, Fred Jerkins III, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and Brandy with co-production by Darkchild and Dallas Austin, and released as the lead single from both singers' second albums during the...
". A similar confrontation, though entirely physical, occurs in the second season after Puck sings a love song to Lauren Zizes
Lauren Zizes
Lauren Zizes is a recurring fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series, Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Ashley Fink, and has appeared in Glee since the season one episode "Wheels", first broadcast on November 11, 2009. Lauren was developed by Glee creators Ryan...
(Ashley Fink
Ashley Fink
Ashley Rae Fink is an American actress, known for her role as Lauren Zizes in the television series Glee, and also as Carter McMahon in Huge.-Personal life:...
) in front of the glee club, though Santana loses badly to Lauren.
In season two, Santana is demoted from her position as head cheerleader when Quinn reveals that she had breast implants over the summer, leading to a physical fight between the two. While making out, Brittany suggests to Santana that the two of them should sing Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...
's "Come To My Window
Come to My Window
"Come to My Window" is a Grammy Award-winning song by Melissa Etheridge released in 1994 on her 1993 album Yes I Am. This was the first song to be released after Etheridge publicly announced her sexual orientation of being a lesbian. With the driving force of gay rights, the song gained a lot of...
" for a glee club duet competition. Alarmed, Santana claims that she was only sleeping with Brittany because Puck was not available. Brittany begins to date club member Artie Abrams
Artie Abrams
Artie Abrams is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actor Kevin McHale, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Artie was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan...
(Kevin McHale), which piques Santana's jealousy. They briefly quit the glee club when Sue demands that they choose between it and being cheerleaders, however Finn convinces them to reverse their decision. Temporarily without a boyfriend, she breaks up Quinn and her boyfriend Sam Evans
Sam Evans
Sam Evans is a recurring fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actor Chord Overstreet, and appeared on Glee starting with the second season premiere episode entitled "Audition", first broadcast on September 21, 2010, and ending with that...
(Chord Overstreet
Chord Overstreet
Chord Overstreet is an American actor, singer and musician, best known for his role as Sam Evans on the television series Glee.-Early life:...
), and dates him herself for several weeks. Confronted by Brittany about her feelings for her, Santana confesses that she is in love with her, but fears being ostracized by the student body for being in a same-sex relationship
Same-sex relationship
A same-sex relationship is a relationship between two persons of the same sex and can take many forms, from romantic and sexual, to non-romantic close relationships. The term is mainly associated with gay and lesbian people...
. Brittany reciprocates her love, but declines to break up with Artie. In the hope of convincing Brittany to be with her, Santana runs for school prom queen. She blackmails closeted jock Dave Karofsky
Dave Karofsky
David "Dave" Karofsky, often referred to as Karofsky, is a recurring fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actor Max Adler, and has appeared in Glee since its first season episode "Mash-Up", first broadcast on October 21, 2009...
(Max Adler) into becoming her beard and running mate; he wins prom king, but Santana is not named queen. Brittany comforts her, and encourages her to embrace her identity.
In the third season Santana rejoins the Cheerios along with Brittany and is made co-captain by Sue alongside Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter
Lauren Potter
Lauren Potter is an American actress best known for her role as Becky Jackson on the hit show Glee.-Biography:Lauren was born May 10, 1990 in Inland Empire, California, U.S.A. She is currently 21 years of age...
). She is kicked off New Directions for disloyalty, though she is soon allowed back. But in "Pot o' Gold
Pot o' Gold (Glee)
"Pot o' Gold" is the fourth episode of the third season of the American musical television series Glee, and the 48th overall. Written by Ali Adler and directed by Adam Shankman, the episode was first broadcast on November 1, 2011 on Fox in the United States...
," she leaves again to join Mercedes in the newly formed rival glee club, the Troubletones, and convinces Brittany, who is now her girlfriend, to come with her. In "Mash Off
Mash Off
"Mash Off" is the sixth episode of the third season of the American musical television series Glee, and the 50th overall. Written by former season one guest star and consulting producer Michael Hitchcock and directed by Eric Stoltz, the episode aired on Fox in the United States on November 15,...
", Santana takes the clubs' rivalry to a new level by bullying Finn and Rory. Finn slowly grows sick of it and after Santana's "apology" turns into another stream of insults, he accuses her of being a coward for failing to admit she's in love with Brittany. This is overheard by other students, one of whom tells her uncle, who is running for Congress against Sue and Burt Hummel
Burt Hummel
Burt Hummel is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actor Mike O'Malley, and first appeared on Glee in the fourth episode of the first season, "Preggers". Burt was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan...
. He uses Santana's lesbianism in an attack ad against Sue, which is revealed to Santana in a private meeting with Sue, Burt and Will after Burt receives an advance copy of the ad. Santana is devastated at this public outing: she hasn't yet come out to her parents. She blames Finn and slaps him.
Development
Before her casting on Glee, Naya RiveraNaya Rivera
Naya Marie Rivera is an American actress and singer known for her role in the musical comedy television series Glee, as cheerleader Santana Lopez.-Early life:...
had made numerous appearances in small roles on popular primetime television shows. In casting Glee, series creator Ryan Murphy sought actors who could identify with the rush of starring in theatrical roles. Auditioning actors with no theatrical experience were required to prove they could sing and dance as well as act. Rivera drew on her own high school experience of unpopularity to prepare for the role, as well as watching films such as Mean Girls
Mean Girls
Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy-drama film directed by Mark Waters. The screenplay was written by Tina Fey and is based in part on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, which describes how female high school social cliques operate and the effect they can have...
to "really get in the zone and feel like a bitchy Sophomore". She has described Santana as "your typical high school cheerleader, for the most part," explaining: "She's really mean and loves boys. She's really witty so I love playing her." She has characterized Santana as "a bit of a bad girl" who is "really snarky and always has these really witty one-liners she throws out there." Rivera enjoys the fact Santana is competitive and headstrong as she herself shares those traits, but dislikes Santana's mean streak. She auditioned for the role as she loves singing, dancing and acting, and had never before had the opportunity to combine all three skills in one project. She finds the show's pacing challenging, especially the dancing, and commented in June 2009 that her most memorable moment on Glee was performing the Cheerios' glee club audition piece, "I Say a Little Prayer
I Say a Little Prayer
"I Say a Little Prayer" is a song written by songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David for Dionne Warwick, originally peaking at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in December 1967.-Background:...
". Santana played a more prominent part in the last nine episodes of Glee first season. Rivera commented: "Santana's been wreaking havoc with people's boyfriends and people's babies and teachers—she's the high school terror, and she's going to continue to be the villain." Although Santana continues to step over others to get what she wants, she exhibits moments of compassion and loyalty to the glee club.
Rivera has been vocal in her support of the Santana/Brittany relationship, and her attitudes toward Santana's emotional attachment have informed her portrayal of the character. In April 2010, when asked if any of "the guys" were Santana's soul mate, Rivera answered, "I think that Brittany is her soul mate. I think that they should end up together. They're in love." A month later, when interviewed by The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
, she reiterated this point, saying, "Maybe they’ll fall in love. I do think they're soul mates. Brittany just gets Santana, even though a lot of people don’t like her." On December 8, 2010, after a surge of fan disappointment over Twitter at the recent absence of Brittana, Rivera tweeted
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, "There’s been a Brittana fan uproar…Don’t worry, I miss it too." In January 2011, after several more "Brittana fan uproars", in an article entitled "The future of Brittana: Outlook Not so good", Rivera expressed the reason for such strong fan response: "Honestly, on a deeper level, to the girls that are going through that and it's not so comical in their world, in their everyday lives, they kind of looked up to us, in a sense. That's kind of my reason for hoping they continue the storyline." Ironically, soon after this pessimistic article, Brad Falchuk, co-creator of Glee, tweeted on January 20, "Brittana is on. Brittana was always on."
Santana's arc following "Sexy
Sexy (Glee)
"Sexy" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of the American television series Glee, and the 37th overall. It was written by Brad Falchuk, directed by Ryan Murphy, and premiered on Fox on March 8, 2011. This episode mainly revolves around the topics of sex and adolescent sexuality...
", where she admits her romantic feelings for Brittany, sees Santana come to terms with her sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
. Falchuk describes Santana, from this point, as having come out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
internally to herself, but being afraid of coming out to her peers. "Santana is a lesbian. She might not be ready to come out yet, but she is."
Critical response
When a promotional clip for the episode "SectionalsSectionals
"Sectionals" is the 13th episode of the American television series Glee. It premiered on the Fox network on December 9, 2009. The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Brad Falchuk, and serves as the mid-season finale for the show's first season. "Sectionals" sees the glee club win...
" indicated that Brittany and Santana had slept together, Dorothy Snarker, writing for lesbian entertainment website AfterEllen.com, praised the pairing, referring to them by the portmanteau "Brittana". Snarker called the two her "new favorite Glee pairing", commenting that: "While Heather Morris (Brittany) and Naya Rivera (Santana) have had minimal screen time, they’ve made it count. [...] Never mind Finn and Rachel—I'm on Team Brittana now."
Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
praised the character development of Santana, calling it the highlight of the episode "Born This Way
Born This Way (Glee)
"Born This Way" is the eighteenth episode of the second season of the American television series Glee, and the 40th episode overall. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on April 26, 2011. The episode was written by Brad Falchuk and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, and is a tribute to...
". He continued, "The best thing about this episode is Naya Rivera’s work as Santana and the story the three writers have cooked up for her. Rivera's really come into her own this season, going from just a generic bitchy cheerleader to an actual character who has motivations and might be a better villain for the show than Sue. [...] On a show where we’re meant to accept that the characters do whatever the fuck the writers need them to from scene to scene, the storyline of Santana realizing she was in love with Brittany and [...] is probably a lesbian has been nicely plotted and surprisingly deep. The reveal about Santana hasn't washed away her less savory qualities; indeed, it's heightened them, to a degree, as she struggles to be true to herself and still maintain her status as the hottest girl in school."
Accolades
At the 2010 AfterEllen.comAfterEllen.com
AfterEllen.com, founded in April 2002, is a website that focuses on the portrayal of lesbian and bisexual women in the media. AfterElton.com, its brother site for gay and bisexual men, was launched in January 2005. The websites were founded by Sarah Warn, who initially served as the editor in...
Visibility Awards, Brittany and Santana were nominated for the Favorite Fictional Lesbian Couple award, and Rivera was nominated in the Favorite TV Actress category. Also that year, Rivera was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress/Television category at the Imagen Awards, and she and her co-stars won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. They were nominated in the same category the following year. At the 2011 ALMA Award
Alma Award
The American Latino Media Arts Award, or ALMA Award is a distinction awarded to Latino performers who promote positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment field...
s, Rivera was nominated in the Favorite TV Actress – Leading Role in a Comedy category.
External links
- Santana Lopez at Fox.comFox Broadcasting CompanyFox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...