Carla Estrada (born Carla Patricia Estrada Guitrón on March 11, 1956 in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
) is a Mexican television producer, one of the foremost
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 genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...
producers of Latin America.
Biography
In 2005, the Mexican government decided to place a statue of the producer in one of Mexico City's most important parks and on January, 2007 she appeared on ''People En Español'''s list of The 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the world. When aired in the United States, Estrada's telenovela ''
Amor Real
''Amor real'' ( English: ''Royal Love'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Carla Estrada for Televisa, broadcast by Canal de las Estrellas (now known simply as Las Estrellas). It originally aired from June 9 to October 17, 2003. ''Amor real'' ...
'' shocked the world by having higher ratings than all of the other television shows in America; placing Univision on top of American networks such as NBC and ABC.
Estrada went to the UAM in
Xochimilco
Xochimilco (; nci, Xōchimīlco, ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') of Mexico City. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the ...
to study psychology. She decided not to follow that career soon after, however, and she asked to have her major changed. Given a choice of new classes she could take, she chose communications, in part because her father was a journalist and her mother an actress.
Before graduating from the UAM in 1978, Estrada had already been hired by
Televisa
Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content.
In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...
. She made history at Televisa by becoming the first woman producer in Mexican television history, but her beginnings were humble: at first, no celebrity wanted to work with her. Over the years this has changed, however, and she has produced some of Mexico's (and
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
's) most famous soap operas, while working with such famous actors as Adamari López,
Adela Noriega
Adela Amalia Noriega Méndez (; born October 24, 1969), professionally known as Adela Noriega, is a Mexican retired actress. She came to prominence after starring in many teen-oriented coming-of-age telenovelas produced by Televisa, including '' ...
Fernando Colunga
Fernando Colunga Olivares () (born 3 March 1966) is a Mexican actor best known for his work in Mexican telenovelas.
Colunga gained international fame for playing Luis Fernando de la Vega in the Mexican soap opera ''Maria la del Barrio''. He is ...
,
Gabriela Roel
Gabriela Roel (born 13 December 1959) is a Mexican film and television actress.
Filmography Film
Television
References
External links
*
1959 births
Living people
People from Delicias, Chihuahua
Mexican film actresses
Mexican t ...
and many more. Estrada was asked to produce soap operas for Televisa by Victor Hugo O'Farril. Her first soap opera was ''
Pobre Juventud
''Pobre juventud'' (English title: ''Poor Youth'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Carla Estrada for Televisa in 1986.Xe-Tu'', where many superstars, such as
Gloria Trevi
Gloria de los Ángeles Treviño Ruiz (born February 15, 1968), known as Gloria Trevi (), is a Mexican singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, television hostess, music video director and businesswoman known as "The Supreme Diva of Mexican Pop".
...
, participated.
Estrada has spoken about the abuse she had to go through during the production of ''Pobre Juventud'', both on the mental and physical aspect. According to her, she was subjected to mistreatings by her own employees, who went as far as hitting her on her legs with a cable once, because they were not used to having a woman boss.
She has often spoken about the importance of transmitting positive messages through her shows and her fascination towards love stories.
Carla Estrada is considered by many, including personal friend
Cristina Saralegui
Cristina María Saralegui de Ávila (born January 29, 1948) is a Cuban-born American journalist, television personality, actress and talk show host of the Spanish-language eponymous show, '. Before her television career, she worked for ten years ...
, to be the greatest soap opera producer in Mexico, and her soap operas generally have wide international acceptance. One of her projects, ''
Amor Real
''Amor real'' ( English: ''Royal Love'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Carla Estrada for Televisa, broadcast by Canal de las Estrellas (now known simply as Las Estrellas). It originally aired from June 9 to October 17, 2003. ''Amor real'' ...
'', was once watched by 59 percent of the Mexican audience.
Filmography
Awards & nominations
Premios TVyNovelas
The Premios TVyNovelas are presented annually by Televisa and the magazine TVyNovelas to honor the best Mexican television productions, including telenovelas. Instituted in 1983, the award ceremony rotates between Mexico City and Acapulco. The c ...