Tatiana Thumbtzen - wikipedia Tatiana Thumbtzen This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. ( October 2009 ) Tatiana Yvonne Thumbtzen Stephanie Yvonne Thumbtzen ( 1960 - 04 - 22 ) April 22, 1960 ( age 57 ) Clearwater, Florida, U.S. Occupation Actress, model, classically trained dancer, artist Height 5 ' 7 Stephanie `` Tatiana '' Yvonne Thumbtzen ( born April 22, 1960 ) is an American actress, model and dancer. She is best known for her role as the love interest of pop star Michael Jackson in the music video for his song `` The Way You Make Me Feel '' from his seventh studio album, Bad. Contents 1 Early life and family 2 Career 3 References 4 External links Early life and family Born in Clearwater, Florida, Thumbtzen is of black - Cherokee Indian, Anglo - Cuban heritage. The Irish heritage comes from her adopted father Thumbtzen. Tatiana 's family name is of German origin. She began to train in ballet at the age of eight, and moved to New York when she was thirteen on a ballet scholarship, where she studied at Juilliard in the school of American Ballet, a training camp for choreographer George Balanchine of the New York City Ballet Company. Career She stated in an interview that through dance, she acquired a contract for modeling, and by age nineteen, she spent five years in Japan to start her career as a model. Once returning to New York, Thumbtzen began working on a Harry Belafonte Production film, Beat Street, before moving to Los Angeles at the end of 1986 to begin working on commercials and print - work. One of her first print work jobs was a campaign for Billy Dean Williams for LA Eyewear. Thumbtzen was chosen to perform in a Michael Jackson music video entitled `` The Way You Make Me Feel '' after being picked by him during an audition. Filming began around the end of 1987 to the start of 1988 and was said to be the beginning of Thumbtzen 's career. Thumbtzen later joined Jackson for his Bad Tour, and kissed Jackson on stage in his first kiss in public. She claims she was fired soon after through the encouragement of his `` entourage '' for taking advantage of the star by kissing him, and was replaced with Sheryl Crow. She describes the story in her 2004 autobiography The Way He Made Me Feel co-authored by Thumbtzen and Tonia Ryan. She maintained a cute friendship with Jackson. She was called for the outtakes to spend time with Jackson in one of his short films `` Leave Me Alone ''. Jackson used to call her with a nickname `` Tati ''. Thumbtzen had a relationship with his family, and Jackson 's mother Katherine Jackson invited her to attend his funeral at Staples Center. Thumbtzen also appeared in the opening credits of the television series `` A Different World ''. Tatiana attended Michael Jackson 's final funeral service on September 3, 2009. Shortly after Jackson 's death, she met his manager Frank DiLeo and they settled their differences before Dileo 's passing in 2011. References Jump up ^ `` Michael Jackson Case Latest : Tatiana Thumbtzen Denies Affair With Star ''. Female First. Retrieved 2009 - 09 - 14. ^ Jump up to : Walls, Jeannette ( 17 August 2004 ). `` Former Jackson dancer tells all in new book ''. msnbc.com. Retrieved 2009 - 09 - 14. Jump up ^ 2013 Interview with Tatiana Jeff Pearlman Jump up ^ 2013 Interview with Tatiana Jeff Pearlman Jump up ^ `` Tatiana Thumbtzen ''. Makli. 27 June 2009. Retrieved 2009 - 09 - 13. first1 = missing last1 = in Authors list ( help ) Jump up ^ `` NBCNews.com Video Player ''. Retrieved 11 July 2016. External links Tatiana Thumbtzen on IMDb Official instagram account Preceded by Ola Ray Thriller Michael Jackson 's Love Interest Actress Succeeded by Iman Remember the Time Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tatiana_Thumbtzen&oldid=815821054 '' Categories : 1960 births Living people American people of Cherokee descent American actresses American female dancers American dancers Actresses from Florida Juilliard School alumni Female models from Florida Hidden categories : CS1 errors : missing author or editor BLP articles lacking sources from October 2009 All BLP articles lacking sources Articles with hCards Talk Contents About Wikipedia تۆرکجه فارسی Français Português Русский Suomi Edit links This page was last edited on 17 December 2017, at 10 : 57. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who was the girl in the way you make me feel video
Answer: Stephanie "Tatiana" Yvonne Thumbtzen