Famous Latinx Birthdays

¡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 eldoce.tv. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Soledad Pastorutti (1980-)! An Argentine folk singer who made the genre popular with a younger generation, Pastorutti is also a TV and film actress. Her first album, Poncho al viento , is Sony Music's best-selling album ever in Argentina.  She began her career when she was only 15 after participating in the Cosquín folklore festival. Soon after she and her sister recorded Poncho al viento . Pastorutti has sixteen albums altogether, all successful, and she has been a coach on Argentina's version of The Voice as well as a host of Argentina's popular music program Ecos de mi tierra . She has performed more than 2000 times around the world (click HERE to see her speak, in Spanish, about coming to Los Angeles). In 2014 she won the Latin Grammy for Best Folk Album. She and husband Jeremías Audoglio have two daughters together (Antonia (2010) and Regina (2013)). For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 thro...

Photo from athleticsweekly.com. Click HERE .  Photo from cadenagramonte.cu, May 2018. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Javier Sotomayor (1967-   )! A retired Cuban track and field athlete who is the current world record holder in the high jump, Sotomayor is a 1992 and 2000 Olympic champion (Cuban boycotts of the Olympics in 1984 and 1988, and an injury in 1996, cost him other chances). He is widely regarded as the best high jumper of all time and is the only person ever to have cleared 8 feet. Sotomayor is the son of a day-care worker and a sugar factory maintenance man who was first sent to Cuban sports school as a prospect for basketball, because of his height. At age 14, coaches made him into a high jumper, and by age 19, he was No. 5 in the world. Sotomayor retired in 2001. He and wife Amaya González have four sons. To see Sotomayor compete and hear him interviewed (in Spanish) click HERE . For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, ...

Photo from latina.com. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Gabe Saporta! (1979-     ) A singer and founding member of the electronic pop group Cobra Starship, which performed together for more than 10 years and had two hits on the Billboard 100 top 10, Saporta is a Uruguayan American who moved with his parents from Montevideo to New York City when he was four years old. HIs father had been a physician in Montevideo but became disenchanted with Uruguay's somewhat corrupt health care system int he 1980s. He underwent his complete medical training again in the United States. The younger Saporta, who had always been passionate about music, attended Rutgers University, where he started the band Midtown. Midtown released five albums together. Saporta then started Cobra Starship in 2005 after learning how to manage a band on his own. The group was the main support for Justin Bieber's South America stadium tour in 2012. In 2015, Saporta started the talent management ...

Photo from uci.ch. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ... Mariana Pajón! (1991-   ) A Colombian cyclist who has won two Olympic gold medals (2012 and 2016) and a BMX championship, Pajón is also the winner of 14 world championships, 2 national championships in the United States, 9 Latin American championships, and 10 Pan American championships. Her nickname is "Queen of BMX." She has been married to French BMX rider Vincent Pelluard since December of 2017. Pajón was born in Medellín, Colombia in 1991 at a time when the city was engulfed in violence, something that marked her youth. Her parents had also been athletes (her father raced cars and her mother competed in equestrian events). She learned to ride a bike at the age of 3 and began competing in events the next year. Click HERE to see a short ESPN documentary (in Spanish) about her life. For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.

Bebo (front) and Chucho Valdés. Photo from elpais.com. Click HERE.  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ...Bebo Valdés (1918-2013) y Chucho Valdés (su hijo) (1941-    )! Bebo Valdés (full name Dionisio Ramón Emilio Valdés Amaro), a Cuban musician and central figure in the Golden Age of Cuban music, started his career as a pianist in the nightclubs of Havana during the 1940s. Later on his orchestra, Sabor de Cuba, often performed at the Tropicana Cabaret. He was also an important figure in the nascent Afro-Cuban jazz scene in Cuba at the time. In 1960, due to the Cuban Revolution, Valdés defected to Mexico. He then spent time in the United States before moving to Stockholm, Sweden, where he lived for the rest of this life. Valdés won seven Grammy awards during his career, the last being in 2010, for a musical production recorded with his son Chucho, Bebo y Chucho Valdés: Juntos para siempre . The album won Best Latin Jazz Album. They also won a Latin Grammy. In 2011, he was awarded ...

Photo from tennisworldusa.org. Click HERE .  ¡Feliz cumpleaños a... Garbiñe Muguruza! (1993-) A Spanish-Venezuelan tennis player formerly ranked #1 in the world, Muguruza is currently ranked #7 by the WTA. She turned pro in 2012 and has since won six singles titles, including two majors (the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017). Muguruza was born in Caracas, Venezuela to a Venezuelan mother and a Basque Spanish father. She holds dual Spanish Venezuelan nationality. She began playing tennis at the age of three in Venezuela. She moved to Spain when she was six years old and began training at the Bruguera Tennis Academy near Barcelona. To see her answer questions in Spanish about her personal preferences (favorite movie, famous person she's like to meet, etc), click HERE . Too see highlights of her match against Venus Williams in the finals of Wimbledon 2017, click HERE . And finally, to see her talk (in Spanish) about her morning routine before a match, click HERE . For...