She went from the Marines to the mafia.

Tatiana Zappardino plays a mafia princess in “King of Tulsa“, but in real life, he’s a former Marine lieutenant.

The actress, who plays Tina, the daughter of Sylvester Stallone’s character Dwight, a New York mob capo exiled in Oklahoma, said her veteran status helped her land the role.

“I made the (audition) tapes and sent them out and literally within hours they said, ‘Sly wants to talk to you,’” Zappardino, 35, told the Post before Veterans on November 11 and the series. ‘ Season 2 final on November 17.

Stallone had already seen her on screen – in the NewDay USA Veterans Home Loan Advertisements she starred in – which were frequently on television in 2019 and 2020.

“Sly saw my ads. . . and he loved them,” said Zappardino, who served as a public affairs officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years.

“Apparently he’s saying, ‘If she can make something this boring interesting, she must be a good actress.'”

Zappardino said Veterans Day is an opportunity to “remember those who sacrificed for their country and celebrate their bravery.”

“I am proud to be a veteran and I wish my fellow veterans health, happiness and the chance to spend the holidays with those they love,” she said.

The San Diego native joined the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps while attending Jacksonville University, at the suggestion of her stepfather, a Navy recruiter.

“I just wanted to go straight to Broadway,” she said. “And he said to me, ‘Why don’t you go to college on a Marine Corps scholarship, get a degree in theater, serve your time, then go do theater .'”

Zappardino said military discipline helped prepare her for the world of theater.

“You wake up at 4 a.m. to practice, then you go to your classes,” she explained. “During the summer, I underwent mountain warfare training. . . I spent time on a submarine, a destroyer.

After earning a degree in theater and music, she became a second lieutenant and applied to become a public affairs officer.

“I was like, ‘It’s a lot like acting.’ But there are only three positions in a company of 800 people, so it’s really hard to get. . . and I got it,” she explained.

She said it wasn’t easy being an officer.

“I’m 22 years old and I’m telling a crusty old shooter who’s been here 20 years what to do,” said Zappardino, who was based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and deployed once to Catania, Italy.

“The Marines were really hard on me, I’m not going to lie. . . But I’m not only proud of it, I’m grateful for it.

Zappardino is also grateful for the career advice her TV father, Stallone, gives her.

“He almost treats me like his off-screen daughter. He has so much wisdom and he always throws wisdom bombs at me,” she said. “And it’s always like, ‘Boom! Wow, I never thought of that.’

Stallone’s daughter, Scarletis also part of the Paramount+ series, and Zappardino said it was interesting to compare their real-life dynamic with the one on screen.

“It’s very similar to Dwight and Tina’s relationship, where it’s just kind of like a lot of sarcasm, but love underneath,” she said.

Zappardino brings the relationship she had with her late father to the role of Tina, who reconnects with Dwight after serving 25 years in prison.

“I didn’t grow up with him when I was young, so I had a lot of abandonment issues which I think continued into adolescence… At the end of our life together , I always wish I had given him a little break and had more time,” she said.

Last year, she welcomed a daughter with her partner, Alexander, a U.S. Army Green Beret. His team happens to be Stallone fans – and pays homage to his 1993 film “Cliffhanger” at their base headquarters.

“The whole team is obsessed with Stallone,” she said.