Teneale Bender

Teneale Anderson Bender entered this world unexpectedly. She was the second, of the only set of twins to her parents had... who were expecting only one child. Having only one name designated they decided to split the name in half and gave their mothers maiden to both twin girls as their middle name. At a very early age she fell in love with the performing arts. She would receive a dollar to sing, Whitney Houston's "I believe the children are the future", little did she know how prophetic these words were. Seven marked a very exciting moment for Teneale. She entered a special school by the name of Sydney Lanier, a vanguard for the performing arts, where she studied tap, jazz, folk, played the clarinet and studied theatre. She was very involved in extra curricular activities such as hosting "Roots and Wings", a local cable access show produced by the Dallas Urban League, under Mamie McKnight of the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce. In the summer she would take classes from Cable Access on how to produce and direct your own work. When junior high approached Teneale was still undecided on what area of the arts she would focus on, so she auditioned for dance and theatre and was accepted by both. Forced to make a decision, she decided to focus on theatre. It was very hard for Teneale to find her path. Teneale grew very frustrated with her understudy roles, which seemed to always find her, so when the opportunity came for visibility outside of her regular instructor's opinion she chose to show up and show out. In doing so, she landed her first industrial film. This was when Teneale knew that she had a love for the dramatic arts. At the tender age of 14, Teneale took on a role as "The Aids Virus" for the Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. This brought many opportunities her way. She also booked a print job for a Greyhound billboard. When it came time for high school, she continued on studying theatre, however she began to get more exposure to others fields of theatre both on stage and off. Teneale began to shift her focus and began to stay after school to learn more about costume design and construction. It wasn't long before Teneale hard work and promising talent was noticed by her teacher Mrs. Dean. Molly Dean began to invest much more of her personal time cultivating the young enthusiast. Eventually that enthusiasm allotted her an opportunity to design, pattern and construct specific characters costumes for different students playing these roles. Outside of school, she began to write as Fashion Editor for local magazine "411 Mag". There was one form of performance that Teneale was smitten by mime. She studied mime intensely for three years. At the same time she also began to dibble dabble in set design, but found a true interest in light design. During her senior year in school she had the opportunity to design and act as light technician for a Soul Repertory Theatre Production "Love Awaits" starring Erykah Badu at The South Dallas Cultural Center. As soon as she graduated from high school Molly and Joe Dean paid for Teneale to study Fashion Design that summer. When the summer sessions ended she then attended Texas Woman's University where she majored in Fashion Design and minored in Theatre. While maintaining her grades in school she began to stage-manage for a local television show based in Phoenix, AZ, "Cedric Ceballos Studio 23". Right around the same time, Teneale also got the opportunity to host segments of Dallas local show "Hard N' Soul". She had the honor of interviewing fellow alumni Roy Hargrove, D'Angelo and Usher Raymond at the Essence Awards in New Orleans. In her sophomore year of school she decided to step away for a while in pursuit of a show she created of her own, Splat TV on Fox affiliate Channel 39. Splat TV, was an urban lifestyle magazine show hosted by Dominique Lashae' and Teneale Bender. Sheryl Underwood and Michael Washington were featured on the early shows before it was dropped. Teneale finally called school quits when Dominique Lashae' introduced a new template for a show to her, with freedom to develop her own segment. "Take A Look" was the name of her segment, which happens to exactly resemble another version entitled "The Center" that was broadcast on BET a few years ago. Teneale covered events such as the Twentieth BET Anniversary, and The Essence Festival. The Factory aired on Fridays on KSTR Channel 49, which was brought by UPN. When she was unexpectedly let go from the producer she decided to continue her day job as personal assistant to Trent DiGuillio, owner of Computed Animated Technology. Teneale got her first chance to dance in a video when her boss got the account to produce a Master P video in full 3-D Animation, "Souljas". To satisfy her desire to create she began to create special events surrounding athletic sporting events. While developing her own company she was highly sought out by the editor of Attitude Magazine to write for the featured articles, where she contributed articles on Master P, Mystical, Guru, Slum Village, Bahamadia and The Roots. The editor Montanna Mitchem then created her own magazine becoming publisher of "Backstage Magazine" which gave her the opportunity to cover the BET Awards three years in a row. In 2003, Teneale moved to Los Angeles to pursue her career in acting.