To Clayton mother Santa Purze, her days of young fame seem far behind her. Once a sought-after child actress in Chicago, Purze’s childhood was filled with lessons, auditions and expectations.

“I turned professional at 9,” Purze said. “I had practice a half an hour every day while all the kids were outside playing.”

It is no wonder Purze, then known as Santa Tenuta, was such a successful actress. Her talents mainly consisted of singing, dancing and acting, although she also took piano lessons. “I guess they call it a triple threat,” Purze said.

Purze’s career began at the age of 6. Her mother, Rose, put Purze in ballet and tap classes, and soon after enrolled Purze in a children’s theatre troupe called the Jack and Jill Players. Purze particularly enjoyed acting onstage, performing in shows such as “Oliver” and the “Sound of Music,” as well as appearing in the “Wizard of Oz” as Dorothy a few years later. Also at the young age of 6, Purze began taking voice lessons.

Her career path, however, had been predetermined even before her birth. According to an article about Purze in the Chicago Sun Times, she said, “When I was born, my father decided [the name Santa] would look good in print.”

Before Purze even reached her teenage years, her father’s prenatal dreams had become a reality. Once her many talents had been refined with dedicated practice and lessons each day, Rose registered Purze with talent agencies in order to find acting work for her daughter.

Purze’s success as a child was in part accomplished by her parents’ commitment. Purze’s parents were the first people to encourage Purze to get involved in show business as a young girl. Rose would drive Purze across town for her lessons and auditions every day, as well as accompany her for weeks at a time when Purze had to do long-term work in other cities.

“I had agents, and she was my manager,” Purze said. “It creates a different kind of relationship … because she becomes your boss and your mother.”

Soon after signing with  talent agents, Purze began auditioning for commercials. She did a variety of both national and local commercials, namely for Kelloggs and McDonalds. Purze also took advantage of the advertising agencies in Chicago and did radio voiceovers for various companies.

Purze recalled one radio commercial particularly fondly. “I did the voiceover for a doll,” she said.

Although Purze did not have much free time as a child, she had a few hobbies that really interested her. “With riding horses and ice skating, I had an outlet there,” Purze said.  “Those were things that I really loved to do, but I didn’t have the opportunity to find out if that was what I wanted to do.”

Often, Purze would look upon the other kids her age with envy. Her minimal social life was centered around her career. Although she longed to interact with kids her own age, “most of the time, I was scheduled,” Purze said.

The varying schedules common to show business complicated many aspects of Purze’s adolescence. Not only was much of her after-school time forfeited to lessons, but occasionally Purze would also have to miss school for a job. In addition, because her lessons were 15 miles across town, “I would get to leave school early, but I would have to keep up with my work,” Purze said.

Being a child actress took an emotional toll on Purze as well. Early on, she had to understand that something as material as a few pounds or braces could cost her a job. “It can be very high pressure because you have to learn to accept rejection at a very young age for no rhyme or reason,” Purze said.

One of the toughest parts for Purze was not taking every rejection personally. As a young girl who was bound to encounter self-image issues at some point in her adolescence, Purze tried not to let the commercial industries and agents hurt her self esteem.

“You go into an audition and you’re standing there with ten people that look exactly like you, and you have one line to say,” Purze said. “I was sitting there looking at all of us and realized, ‘It’s a crapshoot who they’re going to pick.’”

Purze continued acting until the age of 18. She credits her mother as the reason she remained an actress for so long.

“[Rose] was definitely the main pushing force,” Purze said.

As Purze grew older, she became unable to see acting as a fun hobby. “If something at that age becomes a ‘have to,’ that’s when you rebel,” Purze said. “It doesn’t become enjoyable anymore.”

At 18, Purze went to school at Triton College in Illinois, later attending the University of Illinois to study English. She believed she had left her commercial days behind her with her mother in Chicago.

Several years later, Purze, then 23, was accidentally reunited with one of her former agents at the hairdresser. The agent encouraged Purze to consider acting again. Purze took her agent’s advice, got new headshots taken and began auditioning for local commercials.

Purze did not remain in the business for long before deciding that she was tired of show business – this time, for good. “I realized that my heart wasn’t into it,” Purze said. “I was burnt out. I couldn’t go back and do it.”

Purze remained inactive in her commercial talents until recently. When invited by a friend, Purze decided to renew her vocal chords and join a neighborhood charity singing group, the Love Notes.

“I missed it,” Purze said about singing, the only talent that she wanted to pick up again as an adult. Purze still enjoys ice skating and horseback riding, two hobbies that remained happily untouched by her ambition.

Though Purze lived a very unconventional lifestyle as a child, she does not regret the way her parents raised her. “I don’t feel like I missed a childhood,” Purze said, “but there were blocks of it that were gone.”

Although her years as an actress did not always seem ideal at the time, today Purze looks back fondly on her fame. “I think when you’re younger, and you’re pushed into it, you don’t really appreciate it,” Purze said. “But then, once you get away from it, you look back and say, ‘Those were really great times.’”