''The Stray Cat'' (Spanish title: ''La Gata'') is a Mexican

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'' ...

produced by

Nathalie Lartilleux Nathalie Lartilleux is a French television producer, who is an executive producer at Televisa. She is best known for her telenovela, ''Cuidado con el ángel''. Career Lartilleux began her career by being an associate producer of the telenovel ...

for

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 ...

. It is a remake of the Venezuelan telenovela ''La Gata'', produced in 1968 and Mexican telenovela '' Rosa Salvaje'' produced in 1987.

Maite Perroni Maite Perroni Beorlegui (born 9 March 1983) is a Mexican actress, singer, songwriter and producer. Perroni gained international fame in 2004 as a member of the Latin Grammy-nominated Latin pop group RBD. As an actress, Perroni's career began ...

and

Daniel Arenas Daniel Arenas Consuegra (born March 30, 1979) is a Colombian actor who has worked in both Colombia and Mexican television. Early life Arenas was born on March 30, 1979 in Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia. He is the youngest of six children. He ...

star as the protagonists, with

Erika Buenfil Teresa de Jesús Buenfil López (; born November 23, 1964), commonly known as Erika Buenfil, is a Mexican actress, TV host and singer. She is best known for her lead roles in several successful telenovelas including ''Amor en Silencio'' (1988), ...

as the adult protagonist, while

Jorge Poza Jorge Alberto Poza Pérez ( born 3 January 1977) is a Mexican film and television actor. Biography Poza was born in Tulancingo, Hidalgo, Mexico. He started his acting career in the movie ''Bandidos'' in 1990, but his career as a TV actor star ...

Mónika Sánchez Mónika Sánchez (born Mónika Analia Sánchez Torre on 3 December 1974 in Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican actress. Early life Sánchez was born on 3 December 1974 in Mexico City. She is the daughter of Mexican writer and poet, Fernando Sánc ...

and first actress

Laura Zapata Laura Guadalupe Zapata Miranda ( born July 31, 1956) is a Mexican support telenovela actress, singer, and dancer. She has acted in Televisa productions. Family Born in Mexico City, Zapata is the daughter of Guillermo Zapata Pérez de Utrera (a ...

star as the antagonists.Laura Zapata será la villana en la nueva versión de 'La Gata'

Plot

The story takes place in the outskirts of

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 ...

in Bordo de Xochiaca (a landfill), where a girl Esmeralda 12 years old who is always "disheveled and dirty" like a "Stray Cat" (una "Gata"). Esmeralda is a young neighborhood girl who grew up without her parents and learned to be happy with what little she had. She was raised from childhood by an elderly woman named Mrs. Rita who exploited her by making her go ask alms, sell candy and newspapers. Esmeralda could neither read nor write. She meets Pablo Martínez Negrete, a high society rich boy who teaches her to read and write and with whom she becomes friends. Since then Esmeralda notices that he is the first person to call her by her name and the first person who really truly cares about her. But Pablo's mother opposes his friendship with "The Stray Cat". Several years later, Esmeralda grows up and becomes a beautiful young woman who still does not read nor write and has not changed since childhood. Pablo realizes that his feelings for The Stray Cat are more than that of a friend and feels confused as to what he feels for Esmeralda. Esmeralda starts looking for work, thanks to Pablo, as she does not want to keep asking alms and she does not want him to give her money. Lorenza, Pablo's mother, strongly opposes the friendship between Pablo and Esmeralda and alienates her from him. Pablo is pushed to fall in love with Mónica a girl who comes from "a good social position" and is also his "cousin". Agustín, Pablo's father, convinces Pablo that he should study his masters abroad and marry Monica once he returns, a plot to separate him and Esmeralda. Pablo and Esmeralda decide to marry secretly before he goes abroad. From New York Pablo emails his father Agustín and asks him to help him fix travel papers for Esmeralda so she can reunite with him in New York. Pablo's father pretends to want to help him but has no interest in helping his son. Instead he plans to have Esmeralda kidnapped. Two men walk into Mrs. Rita's hut where they find Esmeralda alone, there the two men grab her and carry her out wrapped in blanklet and throw Esmeralda into the trunk of a stolen car. Esmeralda's friend Damián is going to her hut when he notices that one of the men is carrying something. Damián calls and whistles to his friends. They drive away but are soon closed in by the carriage. Garabato tells them that if they mess with one of them they mess with all of them. Garabato and the gang scare of the men and force open the trunk and find Esmeralda wrapped in the blanket. After several months Esmeralda gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Doña Rita who has always sought to benefit from "La Gata" forces her to marry Domenico "El Italiano" Almontem. Esmeralda having no other solution agrees to marry him only to purchase medicine for her daughter Leticia who is sick. Fernando "El Silencioso" gets out of jail and vows to take revenge on those who locked him up injustly for using self-defense. Esmeralda later meets "El Silencioso", her biological father. She ignores her true origin. He takes her into his house and promises her that he wants to be a father to her and a grandfather to her children. Pablo returns from abroad to marry Mónica believing Esmeralda had betrayed him. He believes that the twins are not his and that she has a relationship with El Silencioso. Esmeralda becomes a beautiful well-educated woman and is determined to fight for his love. The Stray Cat will have to use her strong character to get the love of Pablo back.

Cast

Main

as Esmeralda / La Gata *

as Pablo Martínez Negrete *

as Lorenza de Martínez Negrete *

as Blanca Rafaela de la Santa Cruz *

Manuel Ojeda Manuel Salvador Ojeda Armenta (4 November 1940 – 11 August 2022) was a Mexican actor. Ojeda was one of the most active actors of television and cinema in Mexico. He played the villain, Zolo, in the Hollywood film '' Romancing the Stone''. ...

as El Silencioso

Secondary

as Gisela Sinfuegos *

Pilar Pellicer María del Pilar Pellicer López de Llergo (12 February 1938 – 16 May 2020) was a Mexican actress. At the 17th Ariel Awards, she won the Ariel Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film ''La Choca'' (1974). Biography Pilar was ...

as Doña Rita Olea Pérez *

as Mariano Martínez Negrete *

Leticia Perdigón Leticia Perdigón (; born Guadalupe Leticia Perdigón Labrador on August 7, 1956, in Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North Amer ...

as Leticia "La Jarocha" * Juan Verduzco as Agustín Martínez Negrete *

Lupita Lara Lupita Lara (born December 6, 1950) is a Mexican actress. Early life On 6 December 1950, Lara was born as Guadalupe Lara Ochoa in Mexico City, Mexico. Career Lara began her career as a child actress at an early age. At age five, Lara made ...

as Eugenia Castañeda *

Socorro Bonilla Socorro Bonilla (born María del Socorro Martínez Ortega on August 20, 1947, in Camargo, Chihuahua, México Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is b ...

as Mercedes "Doña Meche" Reyes * Carlos Bonavides as Doménico "El Italiano" Almonte * Ianis Guerrero as Damián Reyes *

Mariluz Bermúdez Mariluz Bermúdez is a Costa Rican television actress and model, known for her roles in the telenovelas ''Camaleones'', ''Mentir para vivir'', '' Corona de lágrimas'' and '' La Gata''. She has posed for magazines such as ''H''. In 2015, Ignaci ...

as Virginia Martínez Negrete * Pierre Louis as Carlos "El Centavito" * Óscar Ferreti as Don Lupe * Teo Tapia AS Roberto Elizalde *

Alejandra Robles Gil Alejandra Robles Gil Pérez (born February 7, 1989) is a Mexican actress. Biography Alejandra Robles Gil was born in Mexico City and graduated from the Centro de Educación Artística (CEA). She began her television career in 2012 with the hit te ...

as Inés Olea Pérez * Jorge Alberto Bolaños as Omar * Benjamín Rivero as Jesús Olea Pérez "Tílico" / Juan Garza * Ruth Rosas as Dorita * Ricardo Baranda as Garabato / Víctor de la Fuente * Jorge Ortín as Osorio *

Antonio Medellín Antonio Medellín (15 April 1934 – 18 June 2017) was a Mexican film and television actor. He was known for his roles in the telenovelas ''Muchachitas'' and '' Rubí''. In film, he was known for his role in the 1982 drama Mexican film '' Aq ...

as Director de Cárcel * Susana Lozano as Unknown Character * Anic Moss as Alicia * Patricia Maqueo as Child Esmeralda * José Eduardo Álvarez as Child Pablo * Ana Sofía Durand as Child Virginia * Christian Vega as Child Mariano * Mauro Navarro as Child Garabato * Karim as Child Centavito * Rogelio Hernández as Child Damián

Special participation

Claudio Báez Claudio Báez (23 March 1948 – 19 November 2017) was a Mexican television actor. He is best known for his work in Televisa telenovelas Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, ...

as Ernesto Cantú * Elizabeth Dupeyrón as Carolina * Paloma Ruiz de Alda as Mónica Elizalde Castañeda *

Marcelo Córdoba Marcelo Alejandro Córdoba (born Marcelo Alejandro Córdoba in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 21, 1973) is an Argentine actor. Biography After a few years of living in México, he was in the cast of the 2005 telenovela Alborada, which w ...

as Javier Peñuela *

Luis Gatica Luis Gatica (born February 25, 1961) is a Mexican actor, son of the Chilean singer Lucho Gatica and the Puerto Rican actress Mapita Cortés. He is the uncle of fellow actor Alfredo Gatica. Biography Luis Gatica was born in Veracruz, Mexico. He g ...

as Fidel Gutiérrez * África Zavala as Adult Leticia Martínez

Mexico broadcast

''La Gata'' premiered on May 5, 2014, and earned 17.7 points of rating in its 4 p.m. time slot. It was the third highest rated telenovela of the evening on

Canal de las Estrellas Las Estrellas ("The Stars"; previously El Canal de las Estrellas, or "The Channel of the Stars") is one of the cornerstone networks of TelevisaUnivision, with affiliate stations all over Mexico, flagshipped at XEW-TDT in Mexico City. Many of the ...

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...

started broadcasting ''La Gata'' in the United States on September 1, 2014 weeknights at 7pm/6c replacing ''

De que te quiero, te quiero ''De que te quiero, te quiero'' (stylized as "''De Q Te quiero, Te quiero''" in its logo; English Title: ''Head Over Heels'' (previously known as Espuma de Venus and Solamente una vez) is a Mexican telenovela produced by Lucero Suárez for Televi ...

''. The last episode was broadcast on February 13, 2015 with ''

La sombra del pasado ''La sombra del pasado'' (English title: ''Shadows of the Past''), is a Mexican telenovela, produced by MaPat López de Zatarain for Televisa. It is a remake of the telenovela written by José Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Víctor Manuel Medina Cervante ...

'' replacing it on February 16, 2015.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stray Cat Mexican telenovelas 2014 telenovelas Televisa telenovelas 2014 Mexican television series debuts Television shows set in Mexico City Television shows set in New York City 2014 Mexican television series endings Mexican television series based on Venezuelan television series Spanish-language telenovelas