RhonniRose Mantilla

RhonniRose Mantilla is an American actress, singer, and dancer born on February 15, 2000, in St. Louis, Missouri. Of Puerto Rican and African American heritage, she was raised by her mother and grandmother. Mantilla began dancing at age four, training in tap, modern, ballet, and jazz, and later developed a passion for theatre through summer productions. She went on to study musical theatre at Baldwin Wallace University, where she earned a Bachelor of Music in 2022.

While still a student, Mantilla performed as Anita in a production of West Side Story staged at Washington University in St. Louis's Edison Theater in July 2018, presented by the Center of Creative Arts. Following her graduation, she joined the pre-Broadway run of The Notebook at Chicago Shakespeare Theater as an understudy. During her early years in New York, she supported herself working as a hostess, waitress, and nanny while pursuing performance opportunities. She is represented by A3 Artists Agency.

Mantilla made her Broadway debut in Harmony, where she performed as part of the ensemble and served as understudy for the role of Josephine Baker. In 2024, she joined Great Lakes Theater's touring production of Into the Woods, playing Cinderella. Her regional stage credits include Jesus Christ Superstar, The Wiz, A Chorus Line, Buddy Holly Story, Grease, and Catch Me If You Can, the latter two performed at New London Barn Playhouse. She also created, produced, and directed Stardust, an original musical and dance showcase.

In October 2024, it was announced that Mantilla had been cast as Chelsea Hamilton, a fashion model and social media influencer, in the CBS daytime soap opera Beyond the Gates. The series, which debuted on February 24, 2025, was the first Black daytime soap opera in 35 years and marked Mantilla's first screen role. She received the part after initially submitting a self-tape for a different role, Kat, and was subsequently asked by the casting team to read for Chelsea instead. To take on the role, she relocated to Atlanta.

On the series, Mantilla works alongside Karla Mosley and Tamara Tunie, who portray Chelsea's mother and grandmother, respectively. She has spoken about the personal resonance of that dynamic, noting parallels to her own upbringing by her mother and grandmother. As part of promotion for the show, she was featured in Ebony magazine, an outlet she described as significant to her since childhood, when her grandmother collected the publication and she used its pages for vision boards. Mantilla has expressed hope that Chelsea's portrayal of sex positivity and queerness will allow viewers who identify with those experiences to see themselves represented on screen, and she has also expressed interest in incorporating singing into her work on the soap.