Ana Victoria GarcÃa Obregón (born 18 March 1955), better known as Ana Obregón, is a Spanish actress, television presenter, and socialite. Obregón has appeared in European and American films but she is best known for her high-profile personal life and her career as a television presenter, hosting shows such as ''
¿Qué apostamos?'', and, as a television actress, starring in television series such as ''
Ana y los 7
' (), is a Spanish prime-time television family comedy series that originally ran on La Primera Cadena of Televisión Española (TVE) for five seasons from 18 March 2002 to 30 May 2005, starring Ana Obregón as a stripper who becomes the nanny of ...
'' and '.
Education
She obtained a
master's
A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
degree in biology, specializing in zoology, from the
Complutense University of Madrid
The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...
and a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...
in construction and real estate companies.
Career
She made her film debut in 1979 and had an international film career with several films of medium resonance. She is best known to American audiences for her role as
Bo Derek
Bo Derek (born Mary Cathleen Collins; November 20, 1956) is an American actress and model. She began her career as a child model before deciding to pursue acting on the advice of a talent agent she met through actress Ann-Margret, who was acqua ...
's sidekick in ''
Bolero
Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...
'' (1984). She also starred in ''
Jules Verne's Mystery on Monster Island
''Godfrey Morgan: A Californian Mystery'' (, literally ''The School for Robinsons''), also published as ''School for Crusoes'', is an 1882 adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel tells of a wealthy young man, Godfrey Morgan, who, ...
'' (1981) and the
3-D action adventure film ''
Treasure of the Four Crowns'' (1983) with
Tony Anthony
Darrell W. Anthony (born April 12, 1960) is a retired American professional wrestler, also known by his ring name Dirty White Boy. He wrestled in NWA territories in the Southeastern United States. He was most active throughout the 1980s and 1990 ...
. She also appeared in an episode of ''
Who's the Boss?
''Who's the Boss?'' is an American sitcom television series created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, that aired on ABC from September 20, 1984, to April 25, 1992, with a total of 196 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons. It was produce ...
'' –playing Ana, Tony Micelli's Italian cousin– and in an episode of ''
The A-Team
''The A-Team'' is an American Action television, action television series that ran on NBC from January 23, 1983, to March 8, 1987, about a fictional team of former United States Army Special Forces who work as mercenaries while on the run from ...
''.
In the mid-1980s she began her career in television in Spain. Between 1993 and 1998 she hosted the prime-time game show ''
¿Qué apostamos?'' along with
Ramón GarcÃa on
Televisión Española
(acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in Equatorial Guinea.
T ...
(TVE). The success with this show allowed her to host numerous television galas and special shows from then on. On 14–15 October 1994, she hosted –along with – the 23rd edition of the
OTI Festival
OTI Festival (, ), often known simply as La OTI, was an international song competition, organised annually between 1972 and 2000 by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI), featuring participants representing primarily Ibero-Americ ...
at
Teatro Principal in
Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
. The event was transmitted live to the
Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) member broadcasters via satellite. She hosted on TVE the broadcast of the New Year's Eve
clock bell strikes live from
Puerta del Sol
The Puerta del Sol (, English: "Gate of the Sun") is a public square in Madrid, one of the best known and busiest places in the city. This is the centre ('' Km 0'') of the radial network of Spanish roads. The square also contains the famous ...
in Madrid to welcome 1995 –along with
JoaquÃn Prat
JoaquÃn Prat Carreras (27 April 1927 – 3 June 1995) was one of the best-known Spanish radio and television presenters.
Biography
JoaquÃn Prat was born in XÃ tiva on 27 April 1927. He earned a licentiate in Law, and before becoming famous, ...
–, 1996 –with Ramón GarcÃa–, 2005 –with Ramón GarcÃa–, 2021 –with
Anne Igartiburu
Anne Igartiburu Verdes (born 18 February 1969 in Elorrio, Biscay, Spain) is a Spanish Basque television presenter and actress.
Biography
She studied Industrial Marketing. She started working in the local television of Mondragón in 1993. She ...
– and 2023 –with
Los Morancos–. She also hosted that broadcast on
Antena 3 to welcome 2000 –with Pedro Rollán–.
She made a career as a television actress, participating in series such as ''
Hostal Royal Manzanares
''Hostal Royal Manzanares'' is a Spanish comedy television series starring Lina Morgan. It aired from 1996 to 1998 on TVE1.
Premise
Reme, a small-town woman, arrives to Madrid together with her father Paciano and her hen Cristal and stay at the ...
'' (1996–1997) and ' (1998–1999). In 2002, she created, scripted and starred in the series ''
Ana y los 7
' (), is a Spanish prime-time television family comedy series that originally ran on La Primera Cadena of Televisión Española (TVE) for five seasons from 18 March 2002 to 30 May 2005, starring Ana Obregón as a stripper who becomes the nanny of ...
''. This series achieved great audience success, adding a total of 91 episodes in five seasons, and had
remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...
s in Portugal, Mexico, Italy and Chile.
She has participated as a contestant in season seven of ''
¡Mira quién baila!'', in season four of ''
MasterChef Celebrity'' and as a panelists in season three of ''
Mask Singer: Adivina quién canta''.
In the gossip press
A staple of the Spanish ''prensa rosa'' or gossip press, Obregón is also famous in Spain and Britain for a long relationship with
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
striker
Davor Å uker
Davor Å uker (; born 1 January 1968) is a Croatian Association football, football administrator and former professional player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He served as the president of the Croatian Football Federatio ...
as well as a supposed liaison with the
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
and England international
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player
David Beckham
Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...
. This led to a spat with Beckham's wife
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
. Obregón later denied any sexual misconduct on her part, but sued instead.
Controversies
Obregón was one of
Jeffrey Epstein
Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( , ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School, despite lacking a col ...
's clients at his consulting firm, ''Intercontinental Assets Group Inc.'' (IAG). In 1982 Epstein, then a high-level
bounty hunter
A bounty hunter is a private agent working for a bail bondsman who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as a bail enforcement agent or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated ...
, helped her to recover her father's millions in lost investments, which had disappeared when Drysdale Government Securities collapsed because of
fraud
In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...
.
Obregón found herself in the midst of controversy in 2007 following information disclosed by ''
Interviú
''Interviú'' (a Spanish Anglicism for "interview") was a Spanish language weekly news magazine published in Madrid, Spain. It was in circulation between 1976 and 2018.
History and profile
''Interviú'' was established in 1976 in Barcelona by a ...
'', and subsequently published by the major newspapers in Spain: according to said media, an ostensibly distraught Obregón allegedly called her
bodyguard
A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects an very important person, important person or group of people, such as high-ranking public offic ...
Eloy Sánchez Barba in order to ask him to hire third parties to beat up or physically assault journalist
Jaime Cantinzano, in reprisal for what she deemed an unacceptable public exposure of her teenage son. According to these sources of information, she said: "...but I don't want this done by just anyone, I want you to have ''los Miami'' doing this", in reference to a well-known criminal group established mainly in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. Unbeknownst to her and Sánchez Barba, the latter's telephone line had been tapped by the Spanish police in connection to their investigation of a
hit job presumably coordinated by Sánchez Barba months before.
Personal life
In 2020, she lost her only son, Alejandro Alfonso (Aless) Lequio, to cancer. In 2021, she also lost her mother to old age. Following the deaths of her mother and son, she exited the entertainment industry.
On 20 March 2023, Obregón became the grandmother of a girl, whom she named Ana Sandra (Analé) Lequio Obregón, by surrogacy. She later revealed that the girl was fathered by her deceased son, who preserved samples of his sperm before beginning cancer treatment, and the ovum of a donor.
Ana Sandra was born at the
Memorial Regional Hospital in
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. Although surrogacy is illegal in Spain, adopting a child born abroad is lawful. In an interview with
¡Hola!
''¡Hola!'' is a weekly Spanish-language magazine specializing in celebrity news, published in Madrid, Spain, and in 15 other countries, with local editions in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Greece, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru ...
magazine in May 2023,
Obregón referred to Ana Sandra as her "granddaughter".
Selected filmography
Film
Television series
Television shows
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obregon, Ana
1955 births
Living people
Actresses from Madrid
Spanish film actresses
Spanish television presenters
Complutense University of Madrid alumni
Spanish television actresses
Spanish women television presenters
Spanish socialites