Gilda Haddock Acevedo (born February 23, 1956) is a Puerto Rican actress, gospel singer and dancer. Haddock has acted in many films and
telenovela
A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar Drama (film and television), drama genres around the w ...
s.
Early life
Haddock was born in
Caguas, Puerto Rico
Caguas (, ) is a Caguas barrio-pueblo, city and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in central eastern Puerto Rico. Located in the eponymous Caguas Valley between the Sierra de Cayey and Sierra de Luquillo of the Cordillera Central (Puer ...
, to
Korean War
The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
veteran Jorge Haddock and Francisca Acevedo, who was a teacher. When Haddock was four, her parents divorced, and she and her siblings were largely raised by their mother. Haddock's father, however, instilled in her a love for the arts, teaching her how to draw. By age five, young Gilda already showed that she was comfortable in public, being usually picked by teachers to host several school shows and also a first grade graduation.
Haddock was also interested in dancing; she studied ballet with famed dancer Tony D'Astro in D'Astro's Caguas academy, being taught there also by D'Astro's dance partner, Nydia Rivera.
Haddock as a teenager joined the
University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad de Puerto Rico;'' often shortened to UPR) is the main List of state and territorial universities in the United States, public university system in the Commonwealth (U.S. i ...
at
Rio Piedras
Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream".
Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to:
Places United States
* Rio, Fl ...
, hoping to become a lawyer. At that same time, she joined D'Astro's ballet group as a dancer, where she met and danced alongside, among others, Gladys Nuñez, and also became interested in theater. While at UPR, Haddock noticed that drama students were always hanging out near the university's theater and she started desiring to join the university's theater program, which she eventually did.
Haddock joined a theater company named "Teatro del Sesenta", and, there, she took acting classes under Gilda Navarro. Fellow Puerto Rican, Luis Oliva, was also a member of "Teatro del Sesenta" and Navarro student.
Professional career
Soon after, Haddock was hired for a show produced by Tommy Muniz named ''Esto No Tiene Nombre'' ("This Has No Name"), a Puerto Rican television comedy program. Haddock then participated in a show named ''Tres Muchachas de Hoy'' ("Three Modern Young Ladies"), where she shared hosting activities with Sonia Noemi and with
Alba Nydia Díaz
Alba Nydia Díaz (born April 27, 1955) is a Puerto Rican actress who has worked in Puerto Rico and Mexico.
Early years
Díaz was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico. The roles she portrayed in her early days and years after were not leading roles, from ...
.
Haddock decided to move for a period to
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, to try her luck there and also to study at the prestigious
Lee Strasberg Institute
The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by the actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Str ...
acting school.
In 1976, Haddock was lured back to Puerto Rico by an offer to act in the telenovela ''Pueblo Chico'' ("Small Town"), which was written by
Jacobo Morales
Jacobo Morales (born 12 November 1934) is a Puerto Rican actor, poet, writer, playwright, filmmaker, and author born in Puerto Rico.Canal 11 television channel.
The next year, seeing how Haddock's celebrity was growing in her country of Puerto Rico, Canal 2's producer
Paquito Cordero
Paquito Cordero (October 16, 1932 – June 30, 2009) was a Puerto Rican comedian and music and television producer. He is considered a pioneer of Puerto Rican television.
Early years
Cordero (birth name: Francisco Cordero Baez) was born to ...
made her an offer to move to that channel and host a show named ''Señoras y Señores'' ("Ladies and Gentlemen") alongside singer and show host
Chucho Avellanet
Armando Hipólito Avellanet González, nicknamed "Chucho", is a Puerto Rican singer and comedic actor of Spanish-Catalan descent. Avellanet was involved with the Nueva ola movement in the 1960s.
See also
* List of Puerto Ricans
This is a ...
. Haddock accepted the offer and moved to Canal 2, beginning what would turn to be the most prolific era in her professional show business career.
Haddock then made her film debut, acting as ''Vanessa del Valle'' in the 1977 Puerto Rico-Mexico co-production film, ''La Noche de San Juan: Santo en Oro Negro'' ("San Juan Night: Santo in Black Gold"), alongside Mexican wrestler
El Santo
Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (23 September 1917 – 5 February 1984), best known by his ring name El Santo (English language, English: "The Saint"), was a Mexican ''Lucha libre, luchador Wrestling mask, enmascarado'' (or masked professional wrestlin ...
Panama
Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
nian-
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
co-production ''
Préstamela esta noche
''May I Borrow Your Girl Tonight?'' (Spanish:''Préstamela esta noche'') is a 1978 Spanish-Panamanian musical comedy film directed by Tulio Demicheli and starring Manolo Escobar, Perla Faith and Antonio Garisa.
Cast
* Manolo Escobar as Manolo
* ...
'' ("May I Borrow Your Girl Tonight?"), as Anita (credited as "Hilda Haddock").
The move to Canal 2 proved pivotal for Haddock; also in 1977, she was chosen to participate in a telenovela named '' Cristina Bazán'', where she worked alongside
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
n singer and actor José Luis Rodriguez and Puerto Ricans Johanna Rosaly, Luis Daniel Rivera, Esther Sandoval and her former co-worker, Alba Nydia Díaz.
From there on, Haddock's services as an actress were requested for different telenovelas. These included ''El Idolo'' ("The Idol", once again alongside José Luis Rodriguez with
Marilyn Pupo
Marilyn Pupo (born November 23, 1950) is a Cuban-born Puerto Rican actress, singer and television show host. She is known for her stint as a television show host at Telemundo Puerto Rico's Noche de Gala alongside Eddie Miro, and for starring i ...
), ''Fue Sin Querer'', alongside Sandro de America and fellow Puerto Rican Von Marie Mendez, and '' Tanairi'', in which she shared credits with MexicanJuan Ferrara and, once again, with Von Marie Mendez.
Haddock then moved to Canal 4 during 1984, to star in a telenovela named ''Mili'', where she played the main female character, Maria Milagros "Mili" Ruiz.
Haddock decided, from the period comprising between 1986 and 1992, to concentrate on her family life. She was not, however, jobless. Haddock during this era recorded eight gospel musical cassettes, recorded for the Catholic organization Asociacion Pro Devocion de la Virgen del Rosario del Pozo and one album, titled ''Porque Para Siempre es su Misericordia'' ("Because His Mercy is Forever"), all of which were released under the True Way Productions label. At the same time, she became a radio show host, on a show named ''Mujer de Hoy'' ("Today's Woman"), which was broadcast on the Puerto Rican radio station 11Q.
Haddock broke her hiatus from television and returned to the Puerto Rican television screens in 1991, co-hosting, alongside Eddie Miro, a Canal 2 show named ''
Noche de Gala
''Noche de Gala'' (''Gala Night'') was a television variety show produced by Paquito Cordero. It originated in San Juan, Puerto Rico for broadcast by WKAQ-TV Telemundo on Channel 2.
History
In the early 1970s, it was called ''El Show Rambler T ...
''.
Haddock also collaborated in children's theater plays, beginning in 2000, including ''El Pincel y Los Cuentos de la Seňora Potter'' ("The Brush Tool and Ms. Potter's Tales"), about
Peter Rabbit
Peter Rabbit is a fictional animal character in various children's stories by English author Beatrix Potter.
A mischievous, adventurous young rabbit who wears a blue jacket, he first appeared in ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' in 1902, and subseq ...
.
In 2000, Haddock acted in the children's play ''La Bella Durmiente'' ("
Sleeping Beauty
"Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...
Robert Avellanet
Roberto Alejandro Avellanet Negrón, known professionally as Robert Avellanet or Roba, is a Puerto Rican singer who was a member of '' Menudo'' from 1988 to 1991. His uncle is the famous Puerto Rican singer Chucho Avellanet.
Biography
Avella ...
Lou Briel
Lou Briel (born October 19 Santurce, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican singer, composer, comedian, record producer, pianist, and host, among other things.
Musical career Early years with Anexo 3
Lou Briel started his career at a very young age as ...
, among others.
Haddock also participated in other plays, such as ''
Don Quixote
, the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...
'', ''Las Mariposas son Libres'' ("Butterflies are Free"), ''La Casa de Bernarda Alba'' ("Bernarda Alba's House") and ''Ocho Mujeres'' ("Eight Women").
During the 2000s, Haddock restarted her film career, acting in various Puerto Rican films.
When she re-took her film acting career, she acted in a Spanish version of "
The Importance of Being Earnest
''The Importance of Being Earnest, a Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde, the last of his four drawing-room plays, following ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1892), ''A Woman of No Importance'' (1893) and ''An Ideal Husban ...
" play and films, in this case named ''La Importancia de Llamarse Ernesto'', in addition to 2004's ''Barrio Obrero'' (a film which was named after a ward in the
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to:
* San Juan, Puerto Rico
* San Juan, Argentina
* San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines
San Juan may also refer to:
Places Arge ...
Jorge Haddock Acevedo
Jorge Haddock Acevedo (; born 15 August 1955) is a Puerto Rican engineer and academic administrator, who previously served as the president of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). On July 7, 2021, the Governing Board of the UPR unanimously r ...
is Haddock's brother; he is the president of the University of Puerto Rico. She also has four children (three daughters and one son), including a daughter named Kiara.
Haddock is friends with another well-known Puerto Rican actress, Giselle Blondet, who, in 2017, convinced Haddock to relocate near Blondet, to
Miami, Florida
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
.
See also
*
List of Puerto Ricans
This is a list of notable people from Puerto Rico which includes people who were born in Puerto Rico (Borinquen) and people who are of full or partial Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican descent. Puerto Rican citizens are included, as the governm ...