Penélope Menchaca (born September 6, 1968) is a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

based

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

television host A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

, singer, and actress.Penélope Menchaca Answers More Questions on mun2
Accessed on February 21, 2011.

Biography

Menchaca was born 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. She is the daughter of Dolores Menchaca, director of The Mexican National Ballet Folklorico.Penélope Menchaca en Mass Tele Tarde
Accessed on February 21, 2011. Menchaca attended University La Salle in

where she majored in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

.Penélope Menchaca answers your questions on mun2
Accessed on February 21, 2011. At the age of 15, she joined the National Ballet of Mexico and traveled the world as a feature

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...

. She joined the singing group Las Nenas at the age of 19, and was their lead vocalist for nearly 15 years. When she was 19 years old, Menchaca married for 11 years until divorcing, they have two daughters together.Radio Trece 1290 AM El Mameluco Entrevista a Penélope Menchaca Parte 1
Accessed on February 21, 2011.

Career

In 1999, Las Nenas were traveling the United States where she got the attention of

KRCA KRCA (channel 62) is a television station licensed to Riverside, California, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Estrella TV network to the Los Angeles area. It is the flagship television property of Burbank-based Estrella Media. ...

Channel 62 (Los Angeles TV) who was launching an afternoon show and wanted Menchaca as the host. After a lot of convincing by Channel 62 she gave up the singing group and moved with her two daughters to live in Los Angeles and host the show '' Los Angeles en Vivo''. During the five years that she was host to the unscripted and live show she interviewed personalities such as

Chayanne Elmer Figueroa Arce (born June 28, 1968), better known under the stage name Chayanne, is a Puerto Rican Latin pop singer and actor. As a solo artist, Chayanne has released 21 albums and sold over 50 million records worldwide, making him one of ...

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...

John Leguizamo John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (; ; born July 22, 196013:04) is an American actor, comedian, and film producer. He has appeared in over 100 films, produced over 20 films and documentaries, made over 30 television appearances, and has produced ...

, Lupillo and Jenni Rivera. Singer

Adán Sánchez Adán Santos Sánchez Vallejo (April 14, 1984 – March 27, 2004), known professionally as Adán Chalino Sánchez in honour to his father, was an American-Mexican singer and composer. Like his father, he specialized in Regional Mexican music. ...

's first TV appearance was on her show and a regular guest. In 2004, Promofilm, a content supplier to Telemundo recruited Menchaca to host the show ''

12 Corazones ''12 Corazones'' (, ''12 Hearts'') was a Spanish-language dating game show produced in the United States for the television network Telemundo from 2005 to 2017, based on its namesake Argentine TV show format. The show was filmed in Los Angeles an ...

'' (''12 Hearts'') a dating game that combines

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...

with games. The show debuted December 2004 on

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...

local station Channel 22.Hot Webcam Action with: Penélope Menchaca Part 1 on mun2
Accessed on February 21, 2011.Penélope Menchaca en el Matutino Express
Accessed on February 21, 2011. In January 2006, the show was picked up 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 ...

Mexico with 3 shows a day being aired. The show also began to be transmitted to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

.Radio Trece 1290 AM El Mameluco Entrevista a Penélope Menchaca Parte 2
Accessed on February 21, 2011. Menchaca has also hosted other weekend specials, including '' Noche de Poker'', ''

100 Mexicanos Dijeron ''100 mexicanos dijeron'' (Spanish for ''One hundred Mexicans said''), later rebranded to ''100 mexicanos dijieron'', is a Mexican version of the Goodson-Todman game show from the 1970s, ''Family Feud'', produced in Mexico City by the Las Estrel ...

'', ''

Miss Universe 2006 Miss Universe 2006 was the 55th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, United States on July 23, 2006. At the end of the event, Natalie Glebova of Canada crowned Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico as Miss ...

'', and ''

Billboard Latin Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards grew out of the ''Billboard'' Music Awards program from ''Billboard'' magazine, an industry publication charting the sales and radio airplay success of musical recordings. The ''Billboard'' awards are the La ...

'', '' El Grito'', to name a few. In August 2009, '' 12 Corazones: Rumbo al Altar'' began as a one-hour, weekend spin-off of Telemundo's weekday daytime game show "12 Corazones". Also hosted by Penelope Menchaca, the show features 12 engaged partners (6 couples) competing for weekly prizes to jump-start their lives together and a chance to win the grand prize of a dream wedding.Radio Trece 1290 AM Entrevista con Penélope Menchaca
Accessed on February 21, 2011. In August 2011 Televisa selected Menchaca to be the host of their version of ''Minute To Win It'', to air on Sundays April 2012. ''12 Corazones'' started its 8th season in March 2012. In 2018, Menchaca joined the roster of TV Azteca's morning show, ''

Venga la Alegría R. Vengadasalam, commonly known as Venga, is a Singaporean football official who is the founder and current president of Woodlands Lions FC, a youth-developmental football club and associate member of the FAS, since the club's inception in 2 ...

'', hosting a debate segment called ''Las cosas como son''. In 2022 Penelope left TV Azteca and moved to Milan, Italy to be close to her family. She started taping El Poder del Amor 2 in Istanbul, Turkey for Latin America.

Book

In 2010, Menchaca authored a

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

book entitled ''El Arte Del Cuchiplancheo'' (English: "The Art of the Horizontal Dance"). In her book, Menchaca provides tips for the ''"... enjoyment of erotic nature and sensuality: making love without inhibitions and diving with unabashed joy into the world of erotic games and sizzling sex fantasies."''Penélope Menchaca entrevista con Super Latina Gaby ya Llego Parte 2
Accessed on February 21, 2011.

Personal life

Menchaca who is divorced, was married for 11 years, and has two daughters. Her older daughter Yania worked on ''12 Corazones'' in the casting department for a year before entering college. Menchaca stays in shape by working out 7 days a week, partaking in boot camp,

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

salsa dancing Salsa is a latin dance, associated with the music genre of the same name, which was first popularized in the United States in the 1960s in New York City. Salsa is an amalgamation of Cuban dances, such as mambo, pachanga and rumba, as well as Ame ...

, and lifting weights. Menchaca has a collection of

macabre In works of art, the adjective macabre ( or ; ) means "having the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere". The macabre works to emphasize the details and symbols of death. The term also refers to works particularly gruesome in natu ...

and diabolical looking dolls, including a replica of "

Chucky Chucky may refer to: *Chucky (name) *Chucky (character), a fictional character in the Child's Play (franchise), ''Child's Play'' franchise **''Chucky: Slash & Dash'', a 2013 video game **Chucky (TV series), ''Chucky'' (TV series), a 2021 TV series ...

" from the ''Child's Play'' movies.2RSLVJ Penélope Menchaca on mun2
Accessed on February 21, 2011. Her favorite football team is

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

from her hometown of Mexico City. Menchaca has admitted to having had a

breast lift Mastopexy (Greek μαστός ''mastos'' "breast" + -pēxiā "affix") is the plastic surgery mammoplasty procedure for raising sagging breasts upon the chest of the woman, by changing and modifying the size, contour, and elevation of the breasts. ...

. Despite her sexy and flirtatious on screen persona on ''12 Corazones'', Menchaca claims to be rather conservative when it comes to relationships, and has only been with five men her entire life.

References

External links

* https://www.instagram.com/menchaca.oficial/
Official Twitter
*
Official 12 Corazones Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menchaca, Penelope 1968 births Mexican game show hosts Living people Actresses from Mexico City Actresses from Los Angeles Mexican television actresses Mexican women singers Mexican female dancers American actresses of Mexican descent Mexican emigrants to the United States Singers from Mexico City Singers from Los Angeles 21st-century American women