El veintiuno de abril/April 21st

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 Photo from Wikimedia. 
¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... JenCarlos Canela! (1988-       )

A bilingual singer, songwriter, and actor born in Miami to Cuban immigrant parents, JenCarlos Canela attended New World School of the Arts, a prestigious public magnet school in downtown Miami that claims many famous alumni (Tarell A McCraney, co-writer of the movie Moonlight, is one of them, as is television host Lili Estefan). He became well known as the protagonist Ángel Salvador on the Telemundo telenovela Más Sabe el Diablo, for which he also wrote songs (listen to Amor, Quédate, HERE). In 2012 Canela collaborated with Emilio Estefan to record the song Sueña for Telemundo's coverage of the Olympics. He has three studio albums to his name: Búscame (2009), Un Nuevo Día (2011), and Jen (2014). All have been commercially successful. In 2015 and 2016 Canela worked with Eva Longoria on her television show Telenovela, and in 2016 he played Jesus Christ in the musical The Passion, which appeared on Fox. Canela was in a relationship with Venezuelan actress Gabby Espino, his co-star on Más Sabe el Diablo, from 2010-2014. The two have a son together, Nickolas, born in 2012 (click HERE to hear him talk about why he could not see him more in 2014). In 2016 he spoke to Jorge Ramos about the importance of Latinos uniting in this country (click HERE for the interview). Recently, many have speculated about him having a relationship with Jesse Huerta, of the Mexican pop duo Jesse & Joy (click HERE for an interview with Joy on this). Finally, this 2016 Miami Herald article covers Canela singing before a Miami Heat game and his renewed focus on his singing career (as opposed to acting).

For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.



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