Famous Latinx Birthdays

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Lauren Giraldo! (1998-             ) Photo from Seventeen Magazine, October 2017 (click  HERE ) Lauren Giraldo is a social media star from Miami, Florida, who now lives in Los Angeles. She moved there after her junior year of high school to further pursue her career after gaining millions of fans on Vine, Twitter, and Instagram (click HERE  to see a compilation of her 2013-2014 vines). She is part-Colombian. Giraldo released two songs in 2017, "Only Lovers" and "So Cool." She currently has a social media following of more than 7.5 million. In 2016, she announced plans to create a new TV docu-series on Latinos set in Miami (click  HERE  to read more). For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE. Other January 11th birthdays of note: Abd-ar Rahman III (889-961):  Leader of Cordoba in Al-Andalus (current day Andalusia in Spain) (912-961). Alex Lopez (1988-    )...

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Zuria Vega! (1989-      ) Zuria Vega with husband Alberto Guerra and daughter Lúa. Photo from quien.com (click  HERE ) Zuria Vega is a Mexican actress and singer who is known for her work on Un refugio para el amor, Mar de amor, Alma de hierro, El equípo, Sexo y otros secretos (SOS), and Qué pobres tan ricos, among other shows and movies. She is currently working on the telenovela  Mi marido tiene familia, which is based on the South Korean series My Husband Got a Family and was just renewed for its second season ( click  HERE  to see an episode). Daughter of Mexican actor Gonzalo Vega (1946-October 10, 2016 - click HERE  to hear Vega speak to the press at the funeral of her father) and sister of actress Marimar Vega, Zuria often posts on social media about her life with daughter Lúa (in THIS  cute video she asks her very awake daughter in the middle of the night: ¿No quieres dormir? ¿Qué haces? ¿No quieres dorm...

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Rigoberta Menchú! (Rigoberta Menchú Tum) (1959-          ) Photo from  https://nobelwomensinitiative.org/laureate "Peace cannot exist without justice." - Rigoberta Menchú A winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize, Rigoberta Menchú promotes indigeneous and women's rights around the world. She is a K'iche political activist from Guatemala who first became well-known by telling her story to anthropologist Elizabeth Burgos for the 1983 book Yo, Rigoberta Menchú (Read more  HERE ). Menchú's mother, father, and brother were killed in 1979 and 1980 during Guatemala's 36 year civil war (1960-1996). Her father had been a community organizer who was a model for Rigoberta in speaking out against the government-led atrocities. In 1981, Menchú was exiled and escaped to Mexico, along with tens of thousands of Guatemalans, mostly indigenous Mayans. There she continued to organize and speak out for the rights of indigenous people in Guate...

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Carolina Herrera! (1939-          ) A Venezuelan fashion designer who has dressed first ladies Jacqueline Onassis, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump, Carolina Herrera began designing in 1981 after close friend Diana Vreeland (the Editor in Chief of Vogue at the time) encouraged her to do so. In December of 2016, she was given the Women's Leadership Award at the Lincoln Center for her lifetime of achievements. Herrera was born into a wealthy family in Caracas, Venezuela in 1939 and her socialite grandmother often took her to events where she grew accustomed to seeing "things of beauty" (Read more about Herrera's life and thoughts on fashion in this 2016 NY Times profile,  HERE ). Herrera has four children, two from her first marriage, which she entered into at the age of 18, and two from her second marriage to aristocrat and journalist Reinaldo Herrera. Several of these children are active in running her billion d...

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Juan Gabriel (Alberto Aguilera Valadez)! (1950-2016) "Music is mankind's way of thanking the universe for letting us be here." -Juan Gabriel       Photo from Billboard's write-up on Juan Gabriel's cover       of Creedence Clearwater's Have You Ever Seen    The Rain? (Gracias al sol) several months  before his death.  Click  HERE   to read and listen.  A Mexican singer, songwriter, and actor, and "the actual king of Latin pop" who was idolized by younger performers such as Marc Anthony, Juan Gabriel was adored by fans worldwide. He put out some 2,000 songs during his lifetime and sold out multiple concerts. He was not always as well-known by English-language speakers in the U.S., however, and Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's wonderful 1999 profile of him in the  L.A. Times  (updated when he died in 2016 -- click  HERE  to read) includes a story about a West Hollywood a...

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Nancy Lopez! (1957-            ) Cover of the 2008 book by Anne Wallace Sharp Lopez is a retired professional golfer who won 48 LPGA tournaments, including three major tournaments, during her career. She was inducted into the Women's Golf Hall of Fame in 1987. Born in Torrance, California to Mexican parents Domingo and Marina Lopez (and raised by them in Roswell, New Mexico), Nancy Lopez learned the game from her father, who she called her "best friend and coach" (click  HERE to read more in English, and  HERE  to read the same ESPN story in Spanish). Lopez was married to retired professional baseball player Ray Knight for 27 years (1982-2009) and the two have three daughters together. Lopez also has grandchildren that she hopes to teach the game. Professional golfer Lizette Salas, who is also Mexican-American and who travelled to tournaments with her father in his pickup truck (they slept in the cab), calls Lop...

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Blanca Soto (Blanca Delfina Soto Benavides)! (1979-      ) Soto is a Mexican actress who starred for two years in the Univisión telenovela  Eva Luna  (not to be confused with the novel Eva Luna by Chilean-American author Isabel Allende). In the telenovela, a love story set in Los Angeles, Soto plays Eva González, an extraordinarily beautiful (yet humble and hardworking) immigrant looking for a better life. She is caught up, however, in dark family secrets, lies, and deception when she begins working for an ambitious, powerful family. Good stuff!  Eva Luna ran for two years in the United States (2010-2011) and has been or is being broadcast in more than 20 countries. Click  HERE  to see Hollywood Dailies' report on the show's finale, which was shot in Los Angeles (the show was usually filmed in Miami). The report includes an improvised telenovela scene with Guillermo, a security guard on the Jimmy Kimmel Show as well as ...