Mia Tagano is an actress whose devotion to caring for her 95-year-old grandmother, and the other residents in the dementia section of nursing home where she lives, has touched many hearts.

“My grandmother is my best friend,” Mia says. “She teaches me to be in the moment.” She visits almost daily and cares for her grandmother, who has dementia and no short-term memory. In describing her visits, Mia notes that her grandmother “doesn’t know I came yesterday but is grateful to see me today. We laugh easy together, play solitaire in partnership, high-five with both hands when she ‘wins’ at the end; we … hold each other.”

Why does she spend her time caring for other residents at the nursing home as well as her grandmother? Mia answers, “People with dementia tend to be isolated from each other, alone and lonely. If my grandmother and I just related to each other, we’d be sharing a little bubble. When I reach out to other people and we can all share the enjoyment of sitting, smiling and connecting with each other, everyone, including my grandmother, can live in a larger world.”

A member of Actor’™s Equity Union and Screen Actor’™s Guild, Mia’s television credits include “All My Children” and “Law and Order: Criminal Intent.” Highlights of her stage acting career include performing 203 shows of “Far East” at the Lincoln Center in New York City; performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 10-hour play “Tantalus” directed by Sir Peter Hall and performed in Denver, London, and on tour around England; and performing the solo, one-woman show “Cincinnati” in San Francisco, Seattle, and London, directed then by Sir John Barton. She will next be seen in San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre’s spring/summer production of “Love and Information” by Caryl Churchill.

Photo and bio information courtesy of Awakin.org.