Roslin Real

Roslin Tamsine Real is an actor & trans-racial adoptee living in Redondo Beach, CA. The name on her original birth certificate is Lela Elizabeth Balli, after which her adoptive parents named her Caitlin Elizabeth Staebell. Upon learning more about her multiple birth names later in life, she decided to choose a name that inspired her own sense of identity as an artistic, Spanish, Indigenous, Mexican-American woman.

Raised in conservative rural Iowa, access to a variety of cultures including her own was limited and narrowly understood. Always knowing about her adoption, she was told her birth mother had Mexican ancestry and her birth father was from Israel – which made her a self-dubbed ‘MexRaeli.’ Though she perceived herself no different than her adopted family.

Yet her roots kept calling. As a staffer working for Sen. Harkin (D-IA) in Washington, she learned her Latina coworker’s family knew her birth mother! And this office bestie was her cousin! And another Latina coworker had grown up with her birth mom. Amid mixed advice on contacting her family, these coworkers – y familia – helped inspire her identity journey.

London’s East 15 drama school helped her begin to take off her carefully curated survival mask. She began to feel her way to her own truths, celebrating differences over delusion. The deeper she delves into the mystery of her Self, each moment presents new wisdom.

She is Indigenous. The Spanish missionary. The Colonized and the Colonizer. Everything she loves and hates in one body, in her blood. Fire is a way to celebrate her boldness, to free her Aries moon, and hey, maybe some pieces need a little burn from time to time.