Famous Latinx Birthdays

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Litzy (Litzy Vanya Domínguez Balderas) (1982-     )! From Instagram @litzyoficial An actress and singer from Mexico, Litzy has been in two movies and more than 10 television programs (mostly telenovelas). In 2018, she depicted an undocumented immigrant in the United States in the Telemundo show Al Otro Lado Del Mundo (On The Other Side of the Wall), a role she says helped her identify with all those who live this experience (read more, in English, HERE ). Her current role in the show Manual Para Galanes is her first LGBQT role and her first foray into comedy. Read more in this L.A. Times article (in Spanish). She talks about the show, in which she plays the owner of a doggie spa who gives lessons to men trying to be "galánes," or ladies men, in this July 2020 interview, in which she also gives life advice: i.e. En la vida real yo creo que lo que hay que hacer es tratar de ser uno mismo, lo más apegado a la esencia que uno tiene (In real li...

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Sherlyn González (1985-      )! Photo from Revista Ronda. Click HERE .  A Mexican actress and singer who started her career by winning a local singing contest called Vamos a jugar y cantar, González has gone on to have a long career in music, television, and film. After winning Vamos a jugar y cantar , González joined a group called K.I.D.S. The group participated in a tribute album to Pope John Paul II called El pescador.  After K.I.D.S., González began acting in telenovelas, eventually starring as Rocío in Cuidado con el ángel alongside William Levy, Maite Perroni, and Laura Zapata. She has been the host of the show Netas Divinas since 2016. She was married to Gerardo Isas from 2013 to 2016. Click HERE to hear her talk about their separation in a 2015 Univisión interview. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Photo from radiodiaries.org. Click HERE .  October 2nd, 1968: Massacre of Tlatelolco in Mexico City, Mexico. Some ten thousand students and civilians gathered to protest in La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City. Military and police used their forces to suppress them. Some 1300 were arrested and an estimated 300-400 killed. Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska memorialized the events in her 1971 book La noche de Tlatelolco ( Massacre in Mexico ). To see her interviewed about this and other events in Mexico, click HERE . Photo from zimbio.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Patricia Janiot! (1963-       ) A Colombian journalist who spent 25 years at CNN en Español as the Senior News Anchor and currently works as the News Anchor and Senior Correspondent at Noticias Univisión, Janiot first became well-known as a beauty queen and model in Colombia. She was Miss World Colombia in 1984 and traveled to London to ...

Photo from elcultural.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Laura Esquivel! (1950-      ) A Mexican novelist, screenwriter, and politician (she served on the Chamber of Deputies from 2012 to 2018), Esquivel wrote the bestselling Como agua para chocolate . The book was published in 1989 and turned into an award-winning film, which was distributed internationally, in 1994 (click HERE for the trailer). The book was eventually translated into 20 languages. Esquivel has written 5 other novels, all successful. She and her husband live in Mexico City. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE. Other birthdays of note: Héctor Lavoe (1946-1993): A Puerto Rican singer from New York City.

Photo from an interview with Gil on zaybet.blogspot.com. Click HERE . ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Eve Gil! (1968-      ) A Mexican writer from Hermosillo, Sonora, she has won various awards for her work including the Premio Nacional de Cuento Efraín Huerta , the Premio del Libro Sonorense , and the Premio Nacional de Periodismo Fernando Benítez, among others. Her latest venture was publishing two manga books, Sho-Shan y la dama oscura and Doncella roja . She explains that her oldest daughter has long been interested in Japanese culture, which is how she became interested as well. She has a younger daughter with Asperger's syndrome who she used as inspiration for Sho-Shan y la dama oscura . For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Kevin Ortiz!  (1994-       ) A Mexican American singer of regional music, Ortiz was born in Pasadena, California to parents who had immigrated from Sinaloa, Mexico, His father had been a well-known musician there. Ortiz is one of four boys, and his older brother Geraldo was the first to gain fame for singing regional Mexican music. Kevin Ortiz's breakout sing/video was Un minuto in 2013 (click HERE ). The video now has more than 45 million views on YouTube. He has sung in Nokia Stadium in Los Angeles and many other venues. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Photo from mx.hola.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Esmeralda Pimentel! (1989-) A Mexican Dominican actress (she was born in Mexico to a Dominican father and a Mexican mother), Pimentel began her career as a model participating in Nuestra Belleza México in 2007. She then studied acting at the Centro de Educación Artística de Televisa before appearing on the telenovela Verano de amor in 2009. She then worked on Abismo de pasión, Cachito del cielo , and De que te quiero, te quiero . Her most recent work was on Las bellas y las bestias in 2018. See her talk (in Spanish) about family and friends in this Vanity Fair Mexico video from 2017. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Roxana Puente! (1990-     ) A Mexican singer and actress who became well-known for her role on Atrévete a Soñar (2009-2010), a teen telenovela based on Argentina's Patito Feo and produced by Televisa. She was also in the children's reality show Códiga Fama (before Atrévete) and appeared in In the Name of Love (2008) and Como dice el dicho (2011). For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Photo from harpersbazaar.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Salma Hayek! (1966-   ) *y a .. Eugenio Derbez! (1962-      ) See below! A Mexican American actress, director,  producer, and businesswoman of Spanish and Lebanese descent, Hayek began her career in Mexico starring in the telenovela Teresa . She then starred in the film El Callejón de los Milagros , one of the most award-winning Mexican films of all time (she was nominated for an Ariel award for her performance). Hayek moved to Hollywood in 1991 and soon had a string of back to back hits: Desesperado (1995), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Dogma (1999), and Wild Wild West (1999). She then started her own production company, Ventanarosa . She co-produced and starred in Frida , released in 2002, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe, among other honors. She then won a Daytime Emmy for directing 2004's The Maldonado Miracl...

Photo from foxsports.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Néstor Araujo! (1991-       ) A professional soccer player from Mexico who plays for the Spanish club Celta de Vigo as well as the Mexican national team, Araujo missed the 2018 World Cup in Russia due to a knee injury. Araujo represented Mexico in the 2011 Copa América, the Copa América Centenario, and the 2017 FIFA Confederations. He won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics when Mexico defeated Brazil in the finals. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Araujo is one of six children. He used to get up before school to help his mother sell in the market as well as go to the nearby Jalisco stadiums on weekend to help his father re-sell tickets for a profit. He credits his older brother, Felix, also a soccer player, with inspiring him and "straightening him out" when he was not reaching his full potential as a player on one of Mexico's main teams, Cruz Azul. "Now I'm much more mature. I know what is ...

Photo from pagesix.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... César Millán! (1969-      ) A Mexican American dog trainer known for his television show Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan  (2004-2012) as well as his three New York Times bestsellers, Millán was born in Sinaloa, Mexico and grew up working with animals on the farm where his grandfather was a tenant farmer. He came to the United States when he was 21 years old speaking no English and with only $100 to his name. His first job was washing dog kennels, something that led him to his current career (read more HERE ). He also met actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who helped set him up with a tutor to learn English, and who became one of his first clients at the Pacific Point Canine Academy, and then the Dog Psychology Center, where he worked with large breed dogs with significant behavior problems. A write-up in the L.A. Times then led to his show, which soon became National Geographic's #1 show. Millán and f...

Rufin Tamayo's  Trovador  (1945), which broke previous records for Latin American art when it sold at Christie's for $7.2 million in 2008. Click  HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Rufino Tamayo! (1899-1991) A renowned Mexican painter of Zapotec heritage, Tamayo, who was born in Oaxaca, moved to Mexico City to live with his aunt after his parents died when he was a child. There, he worked alongside her in the city's fruit markets. In 1917, she enrolled him in the  Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas  at San Carlos. He later worked for José Vasconcelos at the Department of Ethnographic Drawings. Unlike Orozco, Rivera, and Siqueiros, Tamayo eschewed political art and actually thought that the Revolution would hurt Mexico. In 1926 he left Mexico to live in New York City, and in 1939, he and his wife Olga, whom he had married in 1934, moved to Paris for a decade. Tamayo ultimately received high praise for his work in Mexico, and today you can visit the Museo...

Image from wikipedia.  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora! (1645-1700) An intellectual born in Mexico City, New Spain, the second oldest and first male of nine siblings, Sigüenza y Góngora was a secular priest (kicked out of the Jesuits for disobedience), poet, non-fiction writer, historian, philosopher, and cartographer. He was so revered for his learning that French king Louis XIV tried to convince him to come to Paris. He was also a contemporary of Sor Juana de la Cruz, and he delivered the eulogy at her funeral. He had a devotion to science and a strong interest in the indigenous past of Mexico. Because of this, he learned Nahuatl and collected books and other materials about the Aztecs and ancient Tolmec culture. He also wrote about la Virgin de Guadalupe , whose said appearance in Mexico on December 12th 1531 remains a major part of Mexican culture today. When Sigüenza y Góngora died, he dedicated his body to science and urged his family and the church...

Photo from marca.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Israel Jiménez! (1989-      ) A Mexican soccer player who won a gold medal with the Tri in the 2012 Summer Olympics, when the team defeated Brazil in the finals, Jiménez  now plays for the Tigres in the Liga MX. The youngest in his family, he was raised Catholic in Monterrey, Mexico. He has said about his family: "No habría podido conseguir nada sin ellos. Llega el momento en que la crítica te sube al cielo y después te deja caer, pero los que siempre están a tu lado son los que cuentan. La medalla de oro y todos los éxitos que pueda tener van para mis familiares ... " (Read more HERE ). For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Image from culturizando.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Cantinflas (Mario Moreno)! (1911-1993) An iconic figure who Charlie Chaplin once called the best comedian alive, Cantinflas was a Mexican comic film actor, producer, and scriptwriter. He had a reputation as a spokesperson for the downtrodden and used his skill with words to "puncture the pretensions of the wealthy and powerful." His comic use of language in films included beginning a conversation with someone and then complicating it so that no one understood what they were talking about (see this clip of him explaining democracia to a government official). In 1992 the Academia Real included the verb "cantinflear" in its dictionary to describe this action. It's common for Spanish speakers to say ¡Estás cantinfleando! when someone becomes difficult to understand in a conversation. In 1957, Cantinflas won a Golden Globe for his performance in Around the World in 80 Days , and he also has a ...

Photo from fifa.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a Jenny Ruiz (Jennifer Marie Ruiz-Williams)! (1983-      ) A Mexican-American soccer player who played for the Seattle Reign FC and represented Mexico in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Ruiz was born in Anaheim, California and attended Corona High School, where she was a 3 time All-League MVP. She then attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas from 2001-2004, where she earned many honors for her soccer performance, including being named to the First Team All Mountain West Conference her senior year. She taught in inner-city Los Angeles for two years with Teach For America following graduation. Ruiz and husband Kevin Williams have two children. Her second child was born in Brazil, where she and her husband were working as Christian missionaries. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Photo from thisisF1.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Esteban Gutiérrrez! (1991-        ) A Mexican race car driver who drove for Sauber Formula One Team from 2011 to 2014, Gutiérrez was born the second of four children in Monterrey, Nuevo León. He has driven for Ferrari, Formula E, Mercedes, and several other teams. See his official website HERE . For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Photo from Wikipedia.  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Dolores del Río! (1904-1983) A Mexican movie star who was the first "crossover star" in Hollywood, she starred in many American movies in the 1920s and 30s. She then became an important figure in the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema in the 1940s and 50s. Her films Wildflower (1943), María Candelaría (1943), Las Abandonadas (1944), Bugambilia (1944), and The Unloved Woman (1949) are all considered classic masterpieces. Born to parents who were members of the Mexican aristocracy that existed during the Porfiriato, del Río's family lost all its assets during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1921). Her father at one point escaped to the United States while she and her mother escaped to Mexico City. In 1921, del Río met Jaime Martínez del Río y Viñent, whose family had lost nothing during the Revolution. After a two-month courtship, the two married. Del Río was 17 while her husband was 34. They honeymooned for two years in Europe....

Photo from latinoweeklyreview.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Demián Bichir! (1963- ) A Mexican American actor and director who began his career acting in telenovelas, Bichir has also starred in many movies and television series. He played Fidel Castro in 2008's Che (click here for a Bichir interview with People en español about the role), and he was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in 2011's  A Better Life . Bichir is an ACLU ambassador for immigration rights. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Photo from eonline.com, 2015 Latin Music Billboard Awards.  Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Kendra Santacruz! (1989-      ) A Mexican television actress from Cuernavaca, Santacruz began her career in 2004 when she appeared as Daniela in the telenovela Corazones al límite. She has since appeared in more than ten telenovelas and was nominated for a Premios Tu Mundo award in 2014. She currently lives in Miami, Florida. See her discuss her role on Bajo el mismo cielo (she plays a nurse who works in a prison) HERE  ("el sueño americano no es tan fácil como se ve en las películas"). For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.