Famous Latinx Birthdays

Photo from ibtimes.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Julie Gonzalo! (1981-     ) An Argentine American actress known for her role as Pamela Rebecca Barnes in TNT's Dallas , Gonzalo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and raised in Miami. She also had roles in Freaky Friday, A Cinderella Story , and Christmas With the Kranks , as well as several other television roles. She began her career as a print model before moving to Los Angeles. Her debut was as a supporting role in the 2002 romantic comedy I'm With Lucy . See her discuss her beauty routine (in Spanish) on Despierta América in this 2015 clip. 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 wikipedia ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Justina Machado! (1972-      ) A Puerto Rican actress born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Machado is best known for her roles as Vanessa Diaz in HBO's Six Feet Under and Brenda on USA Network's Queen of the South . She grew up on the Northwest side of Chicago, and has said that her family was poor. She was raised Catholic and celebrated a traditional quinceañera . Machado always loved theater and took part in all her school's plays. She also performed with the Latino Chicago Theater Company. After graduating from high school in 1990 Machado moved to New York City and then to Los Angeles in 1996. She has now appeared in more than 15 films in addition to her theater and television work. To see her interviewed (in Spanish) about her role on the Netflix series One Day at a Time, click HERE . For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Photo from The Paris Review, January 2018. Author and translator David Unger recalls his admiration for Parra's work yet his difficulty working with him on a book of his translated poems. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Nicanor Parra! (1914-Jan. 23 2018) "I do physics in order to earn my living, and I do poetry in order to keep alive." A Chilean poet, mathematician, and physicist whose "anti-poetry" movement was influential throughout Latin America, Parra was proposed on four occasions for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He won the prestigious Cervantes Prize in 2011 and the Pablo Neruda Ibero-American Poetry Award in 2012. Parra was one of nine children born to Nicanor Parra Sr., a schoolteacher and musician, and Rosa Clarisa Sandoval Navarrete, a dressmaker, in San Fabián de Alico, in Southern Chile. Parra's parents made sure that their children were steeped in culture, and several of Parra's siblings also became respected artists. His sis...

Photo from abcnews.go.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a Héctor El Father (Héctor Luis Delgado Román)! (1979-      ) A retired Puerto Rican rapper, singer, and record producer, Héctor El Father was a reggaeton trailblazer who began his career with Tito El Bambino as the duo known as Héctor & Tito (and also: Los Bambinos). They released several successful albums together and were the first reggaeton artists to sell out a major concert in Puerto Rico. The duo broke up in 2004 and they began their solo careers. In 2005 Héctor El Father signed with Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records and became the Hispanic image for the Roc-A-Fella clothing line Rocawear. Héctor retired from rapping in 2008 (though he did do several farewell concerts through 2010). He then obtained a degree in Theology from Southern Methodist University and has dedicated his life to serving God in Puerto Rico. A 2018 film, Conocerás la verdad , explores his life and conversion (click HERE for tra...

Photo from eldiario.es. Click HERE . ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Eduardo Galeano! (1940-2015) A Uruguayan journalist, writer, and novelist considered one of the most important figures of the Latin American left, Galeano's book Las venas abiertas de América Latina (1971) was one of the few possessions writer Isabel Allende took with her when she fled Chile after Pinochet's military coup. The book, which chronicles U.S. and European imperialism in the region, was also given to President Barack Obama by Venezuela's leader Hugo Chávez in 2009 when he made an official state visit (click HERE for more). Galeano, who was born in Montevideo, began his career as a journalist in the early 60s as an editor for Marcha , an influential weekly journal. After the military coup in Uruguay in 1973, he was imprisoned and later forced to flee to Argentina. When the Videla regime took over Argentina several years later, he fled to Spain. He returned to Uruguay in 1985 when democracy was re...