Santino Rice
Encyclopedia
Santino Quinto Rice is an American fashion designer and television personality. He is best known for his appearances on the reality television
programs Project Runway
, RuPaul's Drag Race
, and On the Road with Austin and Santino
.
. His parents were both multiracial
, and his background includes African-American, Italian, Native American
, and Jewish ancestry. In high school, Rice won a scholarship to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. After attending school there, he reportedly found work in the film industry, including extra
roles, voice acting
, and costume design
.
of the Bravo reality show Project Runway, in which fashion designers compete against each other in various design-related challenges, judged by a panel of industry experts. Rice's designs produced mixed results on the show. He won two challenges, including one in which the designers created red carpet
dresses for Nicky Hilton
, and on two other occasions, his designs scored among the top three. However, there were also four challenges in which Rice received low scores, landing in the bottom two. Ultimately, he lasted throughout the season and was one of three finalists selected to show at Olympus Fashion Week
in New York City
. He finished in third place behind Daniel Vosovic
and Chloe Dao
respectively.
Rice became well known for the charismatic and sometimes abrasive persona that he presented on Project Runway, and he was often cited as the "villain" of the show. He was also known for his humor, including his impersonations of mentor Tim Gunn
.
After Project Runway, Rice was selected to be one of the judges of the Miss Universe 2006
pageant. He was also asked by MTV
VJ SuChin Pak
to design her dress for the 2006 MTV Movie Awards
. The following year, Rice made a guest appearance in the sixth episode of America's Most Smartest Model
, in which he taught the contestants about fashion design. As of 2008, he was creating a new cigarette pack design for Camel
, dressing a handful of elite private clients, and working on building his own clothing company.
More recently, Rice has been cast in two main roles in reality television. Since 2009, he has been a member of the judging panel on the Logo
reality program RuPaul's Drag Race, a talent competition for drag queens that has enjoyed a three-season run. Rice also stars in the Lifetime
show On the Road with Austin and Santino
, alongside fellow Project Runway alumnus Austin Scarlett
. The show, which premiered in 2010, follows Rice and Scarlett as they visit various American small towns, designing clothing for women who have upcoming special occasions.
Rice also played a minor role as a homeless man in the independent queer cinema thriller L.A. Zombie
, which premiered in 2010.
. He has been referred to in the press as bisexual but has said the following of his own sexual orientation
: "You cannot just call me gay
but I like men and I am attracted to beautiful women. I didn’t like the negativity that was attached to being gay growing up so that is why I have problems with the label."
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
programs Project Runway
Project Runway
Project Runway is an American reality television series on Lifetime Television, previously on the Bravo network, which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by model Heidi Klum. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted in time, materials and theme...
, RuPaul's Drag Race
RuPaul's Drag Race
RuPaul's Drag Race is an American reality television series produced by World of Wonder for Logo. RuPaul plays host, mentor and inspiration for this series, which details RuPaul's search for "America's next drag superstar."...
, and On the Road with Austin and Santino
On the Road with Austin and Santino
On the Road with Austin & Santino is a reality show on the Lifetime channel that follows fashion designers and former Project Runway contestants Austin Scarlett and Santino Rice as they travel to small towns around the USA and make a custom dress for a woman or girl who has a special occasion...
.
Early life
Rice was born and raised in St. Charles, MissouriSaint Charles, Missouri
St. Charles is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 65,794, making St. Charles the 2nd largest city in St. Charles County. It lies just to the northwest of St. Louis, Missouri on the Missouri River, and, for a time,...
. His parents were both multiracial
Multiracial
The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races. Unlike the term biracial, which often is only used to refer to having parents or grandparents of two different races, the term multiracial may encompass biracial people but can also include people with...
, and his background includes African-American, Italian, Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, and Jewish ancestry. In high school, Rice won a scholarship to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. After attending school there, he reportedly found work in the film industry, including extra
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
roles, voice acting
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
, and costume design
Costume design
Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
.
Career
In 2005, Rice participated as a contestant on the second seasonProject Runway (season 2)
Project Runway Season 2 was the second season of Bravo's successful Project Runway, a reality competition for fashion designers. Season 2 began airing on December 7, 2005. Following a nationwide search earlier in the year, sixteen designers were chosen as semi-finalists and brought to New York...
of the Bravo reality show Project Runway, in which fashion designers compete against each other in various design-related challenges, judged by a panel of industry experts. Rice's designs produced mixed results on the show. He won two challenges, including one in which the designers created red carpet
Red carpet
A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events.- History :...
dresses for Nicky Hilton
Nicky Hilton
Nicholai Olivia "Nicky" Hilton is an American businesswoman, fashion model, socialite, celebutante, heiress and fashion designer. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton and younger sister of Paris Hilton....
, and on two other occasions, his designs scored among the top three. However, there were also four challenges in which Rice received low scores, landing in the bottom two. Ultimately, he lasted throughout the season and was one of three finalists selected to show at Olympus Fashion Week
Fashion Week
A fashion week is a fashion industry event, lasting approximately one week, which allows fashion designers, brands or "houses" to display their latest collections in runway shows and buyers and the media to take a look at the latest trends. Most importantly, these events let the industry know...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He finished in third place behind Daniel Vosovic
Daniel Vosovic
Daniel Vosovic is a fashion designer and a finalist in season 2 of the reality show, Project Runway. He was the winner of the Project Runway All-Star Challenge, which aired on August 20, 2009.-Biography:...
and Chloe Dao
Chloe Dao
Chloe Dao , is an American fashion designer of Vietnamese ancestry who lives and works in Houston, Texas. She was the winner of the second season of the reality show Project Runway with a collection of women's evening wear...
respectively.
Rice became well known for the charismatic and sometimes abrasive persona that he presented on Project Runway, and he was often cited as the "villain" of the show. He was also known for his humor, including his impersonations of mentor Tim Gunn
Tim Gunn
Timothy M. "Tim" Gunn is an American fashion consultant and television personality. He was on the faculty of Parsons The New School for Design from 1982 to 2007 and was chair of fashion design at the school from August 2000 to March 2007, after which he joined Liz Claiborne as its chief creative...
.
After Project Runway, Rice was selected to be one of the judges of the Miss Universe 2006
Miss Universe 2006
Miss Universe 2006, the 55th Miss Universe pageant, took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, USA. Unlike past events, it was broadcast live on NBC on a Sunday, July 23, 2006, almost two months later than usual....
pageant. He was also asked by MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
VJ SuChin Pak
SuChin Pak
SuChin Pak is a South Korean-born American television news correspondent, frequently appearing on the cable networks of MTV.SuChin Pak joined the MTV News Team as a correspondent in May 2001. She has covered the MTV Movie Awards, the Sundance Film Festival, and the MTV Video Music Awards. She...
to design her dress for the 2006 MTV Movie Awards
MTV Movie Awards
The MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...
. The following year, Rice made a guest appearance in the sixth episode of America's Most Smartest Model
America's Most Smartest Model
America's Most Smartest Model is an American reality television show that aired on VH1. The hosts are Ben Stein and Mary Alice Stephenson. The show attempts to find brains behind beauty in a series of challenges, and will grant the winner $100,000, a feature in an upcoming V05 ad, and the title...
, in which he taught the contestants about fashion design. As of 2008, he was creating a new cigarette pack design for Camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
, dressing a handful of elite private clients, and working on building his own clothing company.
More recently, Rice has been cast in two main roles in reality television. Since 2009, he has been a member of the judging panel on the Logo
Logo (TV channel)
Logo is an American digital cable television channel owned by Viacom's MTV Networks division. Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community...
reality program RuPaul's Drag Race, a talent competition for drag queens that has enjoyed a three-season run. Rice also stars in the Lifetime
Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...
show On the Road with Austin and Santino
On the Road with Austin and Santino
On the Road with Austin & Santino is a reality show on the Lifetime channel that follows fashion designers and former Project Runway contestants Austin Scarlett and Santino Rice as they travel to small towns around the USA and make a custom dress for a woman or girl who has a special occasion...
, alongside fellow Project Runway alumnus Austin Scarlett
Austin Scarlett
Austin Scarlett is an American fashion designer and artist most popularly known for his appearance the first season of Project Runway and his recent series, On the Road with Austin and Santino.-Early life and education:...
. The show, which premiered in 2010, follows Rice and Scarlett as they visit various American small towns, designing clothing for women who have upcoming special occasions.
Rice also played a minor role as a homeless man in the independent queer cinema thriller L.A. Zombie
L.A. Zombie
L.A. Zombie is a 2010 queer cinema zombie film. The film is written and directed by Bruce LaBruce and stars gay pornographic actor François Sagat. The film premiered in competition at Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland in 2010.-Synopsis:...
, which premiered in 2010.
Personal life
Rice currently lives and works in HollywoodHollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
. He has been referred to in the press as bisexual but has said the following of his own 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,...
: "You cannot just call me gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
but I like men and I am attracted to beautiful women. I didn’t like the negativity that was attached to being gay growing up so that is why I have problems with the label."