Gabriela Elena Španić Utrera (born December 10, 1973), known simply as Gabriela Spanic, is a Venezuelan actress, model, singer and beauty pageant titleholder. She is known for her roles in several Latin telenovelas, most notably her portrayal of twins in '' La usurpadora'' (1998), one of the most popular telenovelas in the Spanish-speaking world. Spanic has been signed to

Televisa Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April ...

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

TV Azteca Televisión Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V., commonly known as TV Azteca, is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as so ...

, and Venevision.

Early life

Spanic was born in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

and raised in

Ortiz Ortiz () is a Spanish-language patronymic surname meaning "son of Orti". "Orti" seems to be disputed in meaning, deriving from either Basque, Latin ''fortis'' meaning "brave, strong", or Latin ''fortunius'' meaning "fortunate". Officials of the Sp ...

, to Croatian father Casimiro Spanic and Venezuelan mother Norma Utrera. She has a twin sister, Daniela Spanic, one younger sister, Patricia, and a younger brother, Antonio. She studied

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

Andrés Bello Catholic University Andrés Bello Catholic University () is a private university in Venezuela. One of the largest universities in Venezuela, UCAB has campuses in several cities, such as Caracas (main campus), Los Teques, Guayana Region, Guayana, and Coro region, Cor ...

for a year but left university to pursue an acting career.

Career

Spanic's career started in 1992 when she joined the

Miss Venezuela 1992 Miss Venezuela (Spanish: ''Organización Miss Venezuela'') is a Venezuelan beauty pageant operated by the Cisneros Group. Founded in 1952, it currently selects Venezuelan representatives to Miss Universe, Miss World, and Miss International. ...

contest, representing her home state,

Guárico Guárico State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Juan de Los Morros and the largest city is Calabozo, other important city centers include Valle de la Pascua and Zaraza. Guárico State covers a total surface ...

, The contest served as a platform to launch her acting career even though it was won by

Milka Chulina Milka Yelisava Chulina Urbanich (; born January 6, 1974) is a Venezuelan actress and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Venezuela 1992, was second runner-up at Miss Universe 1993 and reached the top 15 at Miss International 1994. Miss V ...

it led to appearances in Venezuelan telenovelas such as ''Morena Clara'', where she portrayed the villain Linda Prado. In 1994, Spanic had her first leading role in the telenovela ''Como Tu Ninguna'', which aired for two years and became one of the largest novelas of the country and had an enormous success, including internationally. After playing Amaranta in ''Todo por tu Amor'' (1997), Spanic moved to Mexico, where she acted in '' La usurpadora'' (1998), portraying twins Paola and Paulina, which came to worldwide success when the novela was transmitted to more than 125 countries around the world and became one of the most popular telenovelas in the Spanish-speaking world. ''La Usurpadora'' was the first novela to win more than 20 points in the grid of the TV American audience. In 2000 Gabriela Spanic co-hosted 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 ...

in its last edition, which was held in

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...

. Spanic acted in other

productions such as ''

Por Tu Amor ''Por tu amor'' (English: ''For your love'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Angelli Nesma Medina for Televisa in 1999. It aired on Canal de las Estrellas from May 31 to October 1, 1999. In the United States, it aired on Univision from May 8 ...

'' (1999), and '' La intrusa'' (2001), before signing with

, starring in '' La venganza'' (2002), ''

Prisionera ''Prisionera'' is a telenovela made by Telemundo and Caracol Televisión. This telenovela was aired in 16 countries around the world. Plot Wrongfully accused of a crime she didn't commit, 16-year-old Guadalupe Santos is sentenced to 30 years i ...

'' (2004) and '' Tierra de pasiones'' (2006). Spanic won the Orquidea Award in 2005 for her trajectory as an actress, as well as the prestigious FAMAS Award for Best Actress for her role in ''Tierra de Pasiones''. In 2010, Spanic worked with Televisa again when she played the antagonist of ''

Soy tu Dueña ''Soy tu dueña'' (Literal English translation: I’m your owner, International English title: ''A Woman of Steel'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Nicandro Díaz González for Televisa. It is a remake of the telenovela ''La Dueña (1995 Mex ...

''. As of 2011, Spanic is signed to

, and has worked in '' Emperatriz'' (2011), '' La otra cara del alma'' (2012) and ''

Siempre tuya Acapulco ''Siempre Tuya Acapulco'' (literally ''Forever Yours Acapulco'') (English title ''A Love To Remember'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Azteca in 2014.'' Starring Melissa Barrera and Daniel Elbittar as the protagonists of the story, with ...

'' (2014).

Personal life

Spanic was married to actor

Miguel de León Miguel Angel de León Lopez (born February 23, 1962) is a Venezuelan actor. He is better known simply as Miguel de León. He has acted mainly in telenovelas, which garnered him international fame across Latin America, where the genre is popular, ...

from 1996 to 2003. She and her ex-boyfriend have a son, Gabriel de Jesús (born 2008).

Filmography

Discography

* Gabriela Total (2004) *Mejorando Tu Vida Con Gabriela Spanic, Vol. 1 e 2 (2005) *En Carne Viva (2014) *Gabriela Spanic Greatest Hits (2016)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spanic, Gabriela 1973 births Living people People from Guárico Venezuelan expatriates in Mexico Venezuelan television actresses Venezuelan telenovela actresses 21st-century Venezuelan women singers Venezuelan people of Croatian descent Venezuelan Roman Catholics Venezuelan twins Mexican people of Croatian descent Mexican people of Venezuelan descent Spanic family