1987/88 Tatiana Thumbtzen

Tatiana Thumbtzen was the star of Michael Jackson’s video The Way You Make Me Feel. She performed with him at he 1988 Grammys and did shows with him in on the second leg of the Bad Tour in Kansas City and New York, where she famously kissed him during their performance.

Tatiana began professional modelling as a teen, photos

Michael Jackson and Tatiana Thumbtzen shoot The Way You Make Me Film is filmed in Los Angeles, set photos, September 1987


Michael shoots the video of The Way You Make Me Feel in Los Angeles directed by Joe Pytka, choreographed by Vincent Paterson and featuring Tatiana Thumbtzen

The Way You Make Me Feel video premieres, October 31 1987


MTV premieres the video of The Way You Make Me Feel.

Tatiana news report, St Petersburg times, Music Video Star is Clearwater's Own, 5th November, 1987





When retired Clearwater school principal O’Cain Thumbtzen told me tha his daughter Stephanie was going to be in Michael Jackson’s new video, I kind of assumed she would have a bit part dancing in the background. That’s sort of what he thought, too.

My wife, teenage son and I tuned in the Entertainment Tonight show Tuesday and watched Michael sing and dance his way through The Way You Make Me Feel, while pursuing this strikingly beautiful young woman.

Could that be Stephanie, whose professional name is Tatiana Thumbtzen? I’ve never met her and had not seen her picture in about a year. No, we all agreed. That’s too big a part for a hometown Clearwater girl. Three additional women appear toward the end of the video and we decided one of them must be Stephanie.

Wrong! “Clearwater’s Own” is indeed the featured performer opposite one of the world’s superstars. O’Cain said his daughter and seven or eight others auditioned for the part last summer. When they finished, Michael called Stephanie back. She told her that Michael is “very pleasant,” to work with and “very gentle and humane.”

I’m not much for rock videos, or Michael Jackson for that matter, but it really is fun to point out his current video costar and exclaim, “Hey, I know her mother and father!”

Tatiana talks about why the video didn't end with a kiss, People magazine, January 18, 1988





“My heart raced when his hand actually touched my leg.” That’s how Michael Jackson made her feel, says Tatiana, his dancing partner in Jackson’s latest video, The Way You Make Me Feel. The storyline has Jackson chasing Tatiana (also known as Yvonne Thumbtzen) through an old car. Her heel gets caught in the upholstery, and Michael gives her a hand in getting unstuck. The gloved one’s touch proved too much. “I fell flat and, as I got up, Michael was dusting off my butt. It was one of my favorite scenes,” says Tatiana. So why doesn’t the video end with a kiss? “Everyone asks that,” she says. “But just because we don’t kiss onscreen doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen later on. But I’d rather keep that personal,” says Tatiana. So would we.

Excerpt about this interview from her book:

On December 30th 1987, I had an interview with People Magazine. Todd Golden did the interview by telephone. I was pleased with the interview.That was my first experience in realizing that things do not always show up in print in exactly the way you say them in interviews. Just the same, I was proud of the piece and Julie was estatic. She asked me; ”So how does it feel to be on the same page as Cher and Elizabeth Taylor.”

Tatiana interview on "Hour Magazine" talking about working with Michael, 1988


Youtube video of Tatiana interview on “Hour Magazine” in 1988 Part 1





Youtube video of Tatiana interview on “Hour Magazine” in 1988 Part 2








Gary Collins: Joining us is Michael Jackson’s costar in the hit video, Tatiana Thumbtzen. Nice to meet you. (something inaudible)
TT: It’s that kind of weather.
Gary Collins: How are you? Are you enjoying this sort of celebrity status that you’ve got?
TT: I’m having a great time.
Female interviewer: Did you get the job because you look like him? (audience gasps, laughs)
TT: No, I…
Female interviewer: He wishes he looked like you, right? (audience gasp) You’re prettier, you are prettier.
TT: Thank you.
Female interviewer: But naturally.
Gary Collins: Did they tell you it was for him when you got the audition? I’d guess when word got out they would be inundated.
TT: All they really said is that it was for a serious artist, my agent told me it would probably be for someone like Prince or Michael Jackson… When I went to the audition I heard “Beat It” was playing as I ran through the scene so I thought it was for Michael.
Female interviewer: Can you dance that way? Because ballet dancers are not usually good rock dancers.
TT: I did classic ballet, but I had to learn jazz and (inaudible)…
Gary Collins: How many people were involved in this audition? And why do you think you were selected? And please don’t be modest.
TT: Hmm, um…
Female interviewer: Because you look like Diana Ross.
Gary Collins: No, no…
Female interviewer: You’re prettier than both of them.
TT: 4 girls at the actual call back, the first call I think were several hundred girls, the second call where I actually met Michael there were just 4 of us.
Gary Collins: What’s he like?
TT: He’s great. He’s such a wonderful person and he’s so cute.
Gary Collins: He seems very very shy.
TT: So was I.
Gary Collins: Did you break the ice?
TT: It was difficult on set on the first day because when we were introduced and I shook his hand I could not look at him for a moment. (laughing)
Gary Collins: Does he look at you straight in the eye? Is there a lot of intensity there?
TT: Very. (inaudible) To break the ice I kind of… (cut) and when I came back there was a (inaudible)
Gary Collins: But wasn’t there a moment where you worked together, at least hopefully there was, where you think it’s gonna be okay, we’re friends and we can relax.
TT: I think the moment where we broke the ice is when my foot got stuck in the car upholstery and Michael put his hand on my leg to try and help me and I thought I’d die. Oh my God, he’s actually touching me. I got so excited and the director was screaming “Keep going, keep going,” so I pulled away and landed out of the car on my butt and my face was beet red and Michael was cracking up and I gave in laughing too ’cause it was quite funny and as I got up he was wiping me off…
Gary Collins: He touched your… [butt]
TT: Yeah. (audience reacts) It was great.
Female interviewer: I don’t blame him.
Gary Collins: What is it about Michael Jackson that makes people turn to jelly?
TT: I don’t know, it’s magic. He has a power that you just feel when he’s in the room.
Female interviewer: I know Michael since the Jackson 5… he doesn’t look the same anymore, but he’s inside there somewhere.
TT: He is the same person inside, he’s very beautiful.
Gary Collins: What’s all this stuff about sleeping in an oxygen tank and all of that, being very shy, very…
Female interviewer: So, so… (something inaudible)
Gary Collins: Will you stop? One minute you’re knocking him, now you’re…
Female interviewer: I’m trying to be an arbitrator.
Gary Collins: Did he seem normal?
TT: He’s very normal.
Female interviewer: It’s not easy for him to go out in the real world.
TT: He is the most decent person I’ve ever met, and I wish there were more like him, you know, I really do.
Gary Collins: Are you dating him?
TT: We’re friends.
Female interviewer: Can you imagine their babies.
Gary Collins: Are you dating him?
TT: Not yet.
Gary Collins: Our guest today was Tatiana Thumbtzen, thank you very much Tatiana, good luck with your career.

Second leg of Bad Tour rehearsals, Tatiana featured on Entertainment Tonight, February 1988


Tour rehearsals are held in Pensacola, Florida. Some footage is aired on Entertainment Tonight.





Tatiana Yvonne Thumbtzen Interview During the Bad tour 1988

Tatiana interview, Touring With Michael is a Long Way From Home, St Petersburg Times, 20 Feb





Clearwater’s Tatiana Thumbtzen got a phone call in California this week that was worth calling home about – so she did.

She excitedly called her parents O’Cain and Evelyn Thumbtzen, here to tell them that Michael Jackson had called her from Pensacola where he’s in rehearsal for a 13 city American tour. He asked Tatiana, the costar of his current video, The Way You Make Me Feel, to join him when the tour opens in Kansas City Tuesday. He said he wants her on stage with him to kick off the tour. She was unsure whether she’ll be going to any other cities with him.

Tatiana told her parents she will be interviewing fans in the audience for a segment on PM Magazine.

In a short note to me recently, Tatiana writes about making the video with Michael, which 2was truly a dream come true for me… I consider him the ‘legend’ of our time.”

If you’ve seen the video, you’ll recall she steps ino he front seat of a cat, with Michael right behind her, and then exits the other side. “My heel got caught on the seat cover, and I got nervous because the director was screaming, “Keep going! Keep going!”

She said Michael touched her leg as he was trying to help her, and that made me so nervous, “I fell out of the car on my bottom. My face turned bright red and Michael was laughing… I started laughing, too, because it was funny.”

But when the video was finished, she said, Michael “thanked me for being so professional” and gave her an autographed hat that he wears at his concerts and Pepsi Cola commercials.

Michael kicks off the American leg of the Bad Tour in Kansas City, Missouri, February 23/24 1988

Michael Jackson and Tatiana Thumbtzen perform together, Grammy Awards, March 2, 1988


At the 30th Grammy Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York , Michael fails to win any awards for Bad but he makes an amazing performance of The Way You Make Me Feel and Man In The Mirror and gets a standing ovation from the whole industry.

Tatiana performs onstage with Michael and kisses him, photos, Madison Square Gardens, New York, March 3-5th 1988


Concert at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. During the show on March 5th, Tatiana Thumbzten replaces Sheryl Crow on The Way You Make Me Feel and kisses Michael on the mouth.

Tatiana's Star Grows Brighter, St Petersburg Times, 5th March 1988





Clearwater celebrity Tatiana Thumbtzen is having a big week. The young woman, who is featured on the Michael Jackson video, How Do You Make Me Feel?, was interviewed on he PM Magazine TV show Tuesday night. The segment included shots of her performing with Michael in Kansas City as the start of his national tour.

She also appeared with Michael for one fleeting moment as he performed on the Grammy Awards show on Wednesday night. And she is appearing with him this weekend at his tour performances in Madison Square Garden.

Tatiana, the daughter of O’Cain and Evelyn Thumbtzen, doesn’t know whether she will be accompanying Michael on the entire tour. “Michael loves surprises,” she said in a photo interview from her New York hotel room, and she doesn’t know what plans he has for her. His invitation for her to appear with him in Kansas City New York was a last minute decision.

As for surprises, “It’s like Christmas,” she said. “I’m having the time of my life.”

Tatiana, who most local people still know as Stephanie, said fans are beginning to recognize her, take her picture and request autographs.

She said she recently completed a movie, The Perfect Model, in which she has a cameo speaking part. “Not just a strut but speaking, too.” She has also been called by one of the cable music networks about being a guest host.

As she told the PM Magazine interviewer, “I’m just so happy!”

Tatiana speaks in Ebony about her career in Hollywood, March 1989





Tatiana Thumbtzen, 28, danced her way to celebrity status as the nymph like creature pursued by Michael Jackson in the video, The Way You Make Me Feel. Now she awaits her own definition of stardom. “I sign autographs for people who stop me on the street, but there are times I don’t have the ren,” she says. Born in Clearwater, Florida, Tatiana studied ballet, but the desire to model and act eventually lured her from dancing. The LA actress can now be seen in a commercial with Mario Van Peebles and in the introduction of the TV series A Different World.