Famous Latinx Birthdays

Feliz cumpleaños a Arturo Sandoval (1949- ) Photo from arturosandoval.com A legendary Cuban-American jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer, Sandoval was born in Cuba and came to the United States in 1989 with the help of Dizzy Gillespie, his "spiritual father." Sandoval became an American citizen on December 7, 1998. Sandoval has 10 Grammys, 6 Billboard Awards, and one Emmy. In 2013 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions to the world of music. A movie about his life starring Andy Garcia, For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story , was released in 2000. Listen to him talk about his escape from Communist Cuba (where jazz was prohibited and only state-sanctioned music was allowed), his friendship with Dizzy Gillespie, and the importance of jazz music in this 2013 interview for NPR. See him play There Will Never Be Another You in a live studio session HERE . 

Photo from grammy.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Gloria Estefan! (1957-      ) A Cuban American singer, songwriter, actress and businesswoman with three Grammy Awards, Estefan was named one of Billboard Magazine's Top 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, among many other honors (among them a BMI Songwriter of the Year Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom). Born in Havana, Cuba to a middle class family, Estefan fled to Miami, Florida with her family after Castro's Revolution. Her father, who had been a soldier in Cuba, joined the military and served in Vietnam, retiring after the Bay of Pigs. He returned from Vietnam sick, and Estefan helped her mother, a school teacher, care for him. She went on to study psychology and French at the University of Miami, working as a translator at Customs at the airport for a while after graduation. In 1974, Estefan became a naturalized citizen of the United States. She m...

Photo from lecturas.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Cameron Diaz! (1972-     ) An actress, producer, author, and model whose father's family is Cuban, Diaz is the 3rd highest grossing U.S. domestic box office actress (after Scarlett Johansson and Emma Watson). In 2013 she was the highest paid actress over 40 in Hollywood. Diaz's father, Emilio Diaz, was working for the California oil company Unocal when his daughter was born in San Diego. Previously the family had lived in Florida. Emilio Diaz's parents had come to the United States from Cuba. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Photo from wikipedia.  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Alberto Salazar! (1958-      ) A Cuban-American track coach and former world-class distance runner, Salazar is perhaps best known for winning the New York City Marathon for three consecutive years (1980, 1981, and 1982) and the Boston Marathon, called the "Duel in the Sun," in 1982. He also holds several records in the 10,000 meter. Born in Cuba, Salazar immigrated to the United States with his family as a child. His father had been a close friend of Fidel Castro and a fellow revolutionary, but he turned against the government and became a member of the ant-Castro movement before his family's immigration. In the Unite States, Salazar was a stand-out runner at his high school in Connecticut, and he went on to win All American honors at the University of Oregon. He is currently the head coach of the Nike Oregon Project. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Rey Ruiz! (1969*-        ) *some sources list 1966 as his year of birth Photo from megalatina.fm. Click HERE .  Rey Ruiz, also known as "El Bombón de la Salsa," is a Cuban-American musician who began performing in Cuba at a young age and eventually became a member of the famous Cabaret Tropicana music group. During one of the group's tours in the Dominican Republic, Ruiz defected and went to live with friends in the United States. Once there, he began working on his solo career, and in 1992 he released the album Rey Ruiz , which helped him win Billboard and Premios Lo Nuestro awards. In 1993, Ruiz released his second album, Mi Media Mitad , and made his debut in New York's Madison Square Garden. He has since released some ten successful albums. See him interviewed on Martí Noticias in April of 2018 (a news source for Cuban exiles in the United States)  HERE , and listen to him talk about Miami's Little Havana in this video in...

Photo from mlb.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Jhonny Peralta! (1982-      ) A baseball player from the Dominican Republic who was an MLB All-Star in 2011, 2013, and 2015, Peralta is currently a free agent. He first signed with the Cleveland Indians in 1999 and has played with the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals as well. Peralta is married, and he and wife Molly have three girls, including twins Gabriela and Laina. See him interviewed (in Spanish) in this short video (minute :55) HERE . For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE. Other May 28th birthdays of note: Marco Rubio (1971-    ): A Cuban American Republican senator from Miami, Rubio decided to run for President of the United States in 2015, though he suspended his campaign in 2016 when he did not win the Republican primary in Florida. See a short video (in Spanish) about him HERE .

The photo that San Martín posted on Facebook when he became a citizen of the United States in February of 2018. He captioned it "¡Feliz como lombriz!" Read more HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Roberto San Martín! (1976-      ) An actor from Havana, Cuba, the son of actress Susana Pérez (who has lived in Miami since 2008), he became known for his work in the Spanish series Aquí no hay quien viva (he played Yago in the 4th and 5th seasons), La que se avecina (playing Silvio in the 1st and 2nd seasons), and Amar en tiempos revueltos (playing Ubaldo in the 6th season). Since arriving in Miami in 2012, he has worked on several projects, including two Internet series,  Sobre Vivir en Miami and La Familia Pérez . San Martín became a citizen of the United States in 2018. He is an outspoken critic of the Castro regime (now the Miguel Díaz-Canel regime) and has stated "Deseo justicia ... Yo deseo libertad total y absoluta para las personas de Cuba" (I desir...

Photo from variety.com for a story/interview with García after the death of Fidel Castro in 2016. In the article he states: " I pray for what I have always prayed for: the restoration of our constitution and absolute freedom for the people of Cuba. That dream is very much alive. Let the spirit of José Martí and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. show us the way. " Click HERE  for the full article.  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Andy García (Andrés Arturo García Menéndez)! (1956-    ) A Cuban-American actor known for his roles in Oceans 11, Oceans 12 , and Oceans 13 , The Godfather III , and The Untouchables , among many other film and television roles, García came to the United States from Cuba with his parents at the age of 5. His mother, an English teacher, and his father, a lawyer, decided to leave after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. García's father got the family out via Operation Peter Pan , and he was only able to escape himself under the guise of walking two childr...

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Brook y Robin López! (1988-       ) The twins when they played for Stanford, in 2006-2007 (they both declared for the NBA draft in 2008). Photo from Getty Images UK. Click HERE .  Professional basketball players for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls, respectively, Brook and Robin López are twins who were born in Los Angeles to a swimming champion mother and a professional baseball playing father. Their uncle also pitched for several major league baseball teams. Their father, a native of Cuba, was not a part of their lives after his divorce from their mother, but they kept his name. They have two other brothers, Chris and Alex, and Alex has also played professionally in Japan, New Zealand, and Spain. Brook Lopez credits his mom with doing an "excellent job" raising him and his three brothers as a single mom on a public school teacher's salary (read more HERE ). For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CL...

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Luis Comunica (Luis Arturo Villar Sudek)! (1991-     ) Photo from eluniversal.com. Click HERE .  Luis Arturo Villar Sudek, better known as Luisito Comunica, is a Mexican vlogger who since first posting in 2012 has amassed some 1.5 billion views of his videos. Born in Puebla, Mexico, he learned to play piano at a young age and started his first YouTube channel, Piano Para Gente Cool (Piano for Cool People), to upload tutorials. He moved on from that channel (and from a job teaching at a high school in Puebla) and on to Luisito Comunica in 2012, after his friend invited him to move to Mexico City and work at the advertising agency where he worked. His videos, usually about 10 minutes in length, combine travel with humor, street interviews, and off-the-cuff insights. Though he started filming only in Mexico, now that he is famous he travels around the world and has posted videos from Spain, Bangladesh, South Korea, and more. Click HERE to ...

¡Feliz cumpleaños ... Eva Mendes! (1974-      ) From etonline.com. Click HERE (includes video about how giving birth to her second daughter, Amada, the same week as her brother's funeral was "beyond heartbreaking" but also "kind of beautiful, too."  A Cuban-American actress, model, and businesswoman, Mendes' breakout movie was Training Day in 2001 (she had been in a series of B-movies before that). She has since appeared in All About the Benjamins, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Hitch, Ghost Rider, Knocked Up, Girl in Progress , and many more. Mendes also represents or has represented a plethora of companies and organizations as spokeswoman, including Revlon, Pantene, Calvin Klein, PETA, and Reebok. She has a line of home goods for Macy's. Born in Miami, Florida to Cuban parents, Mendes was raised in a suburb outside Los Angeles after her parents divorced. She was raised Roman Catholic and at one point considered becoming a nun. In 2012 she visited Sierra Leo...