Ayi (pronounced AH-JEE) (formerly known by her full name, Adriana Santos) is a Colombian-American actor, filmmaker and writer of plays, screenplays and nonfiction from Miami, FL. 

She is interested in stories about mental health, stories portraying Latin-Americans in unusual ways, and stories that represent an authentic, contemporary Miami. Her work often encompasses all three. 

She holds a BFA in Drama with a minor in Creative Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Playwriting from The Writer's Foundry at St. Joseph’s University in Brooklyn. 

Ayi’s plays, including full lengths ELENA, Catholic All Girls School and Cris Leaves Queens, have been developed, workshopped and produced in New York, LA, Colorado and Miami.

Ayi is the recipient of a 2025 Miami Individual Artist (MIA) grant awarded by the Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs and has been recognized by the Kilroys Collective as a playwright in their 2025 web spotlighting '“innovative, daring, and risk-taking artists shaping American Theatre today.”

A TV series adaptation of Catholic All Girls School was an official selection of The Gotham Institute’s Project Market Week. 

Screenwriting credits include Shutterbird directed by Justin R. Ching (official selection of The Gotham Week’s Short to Features Section ’24) and The End of the Party directed by Kate Sullivan (2024 Tribeca Film Festival).

Original shorts directed by Ayi are Hey You Guys and Birthday Girl.

Ayi’s feature-length script, Hey You Guys, is an official selection of and currently in development with New York Stage and Film’s 2024-2025 Filmmaker’s Workshop. 

Ayi is a company member of IAMA Theatre Company as a playwright and actor, an alumna of IAMA’s Emerging Playwrights Lab, Ensemble Studio Theatre LA’s New West Playwrights group and the Latinx Playwrights Circle in New York City. 

As an actor, Ayi has worked extensively across film, TV and theatre.

Ayi has had film, theater and music criticism published across various outlets and has been reporting on local ongoings for Miami New Times as a contributing writer.

Ayi most recently wrapped film roles in Justin Floyd’s, Say You’re Sorry, Audrey Rosenberg’s Crash Season and Gabriel Oliva’s Final Interview.