María Belón (born 1966) is a Spanish physician and motivational speaker, known for surviving the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

when she was on vacation in Thailand with her husband Enrique (Quique) Álvarez and three sons Lucas, Simón, and Tomás. She was severely injured in the tsunami and nearly died. She was portrayed in the 2012 film '' The Impossible'' by

Naomi Watts Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress. After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama '' For Love Alone'' (1986) and then appeared in three television series, '' Hey Dad..!'' (1990), '' ...

(with the name changed to Bennett), who was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Actress The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. ...

for her performance. The family's nationality was unspecified in the film.

Depiction in media

Belón is credited in the cast of the 2012 film '' The Impossible'' for providing her story and working on the set in Thailand in the same locations as the original tsunami. Belón chose Naomi Watts to play her in the film, stating that Watts was her favorite actress after seeing the film ''

21 Grams ''21 Grams'' is a 2003 American psychological drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu from a screenplay by Guillermo Arriaga. The film stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Danny Huston and Benicio Del Toro. The seco ...

''. She worked with screenwriter

Sergio G. Sánchez Sergio Gutiérrez Sánchez (born 1973) is a Spanish film director and screenwriter. Sánchez has written and directed his own screenplays for short films such as ''Temporada baja'' (2003) and ''7337'' (2000). Born in Oviedo, Sánchez's first fil ...

to ensure her story was accurately told. Belón has appeared on numerous television shows, including ''

Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American former television journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show '' Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg LP. Rose also co-an ...

'' and '' The View'', discussing her experience of making the film and her family's experience of the tsunami. She has been outspoken regarding the fact that her story of survival is not the only one, and that she is only one of many who suffered and survived. She now works as an advocate for those still recovering from the effects of the tsunami. She has said of her experience,

Advocacy

Belón now travels around the world as an advocate for survivors of the tsunami and gives motivational speeches about how she overcame the turmoil and two years of recovery following her injuries. She was the Spotlight Guest Speaker at the Share Iuvare Business Convention in 2015. Also in 2015 she was a speaker at the World Business Forum. In 2013 she was a guest lecturer at the Instituto de Cervantes in Gibraltar.World Business Forum 2015
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Personal life

She studied to be a physician and also previously worked as a professor of management with the

ESADE Business School ESADE Business School is a private college and graduate school located in Barcelona, Spain. It is part of ESADE (Catalan language, Catalan: ''Escola Superior d'Administració i Direcció d'Empreses'', Spanish: ''Escuela Superior de Administración ...

, and as a business consultant for companies like Pepsi. She has stated that some of her family is from the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

. Maria Belon bio accessed 3/21/2015

References

External links

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María Belón interview
(Red Carpet News Extra, posted to YouTube on 2013Jan27) {{DEFAULTSORT:Belon, Maria 1966 births Living people 20th-century Spanish physicians 21st-century Spanish physicians 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami Spanish women physicians 20th-century women physicians 21st-century women physicians 20th-century Spanish women