[1][2] Trained at the National School of Art, Adria Santana soon joined Havana's Teatro Estudio company, where she remained for twenty years.
She worked with the directors Héctor Quintero, Armando Suárez del Villar, Berta Martínez, Carlos Díaz [es], and Jorge Alí Triana.
Her best-known roles were Medea, Bernarda in The House of Bernarda Alba, Lalita in Contigo, pan y cebolla,[2] Camila in Santa Camila de La Habana Vieja, the Cuban play Vagos rumores (in which Santana considered that she "developed as an actress"), and especially, her work with Abelardo Estorino.
He directed her theatrical debut as Belisa in La discreta enamorada [es] by Lope de Vega, and she came to be considered his "fetish" actress.
[1][4] Among her distinctions in Cuba were the Omar Valdés Award from the National Union of Writers and Artists and the Alejo Carpentier Medal from the Council of State.