Gabriela Elena Španić Utrera (born December 10, 1973), known simply as Gabriela Spanic, is a Venezuelan actress and singer. She's known for her roles in several Latin telenovelas, most notably her portrayal of twins in '' La usurpadora'' (1998), one of the most popular telenovelas in the Spanish-speaking world. Spanic has been signed to

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 ...

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 ...

and

TV Azteca TV Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as some local operators. It owns two national ...

Early life

Spanic was born in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

and raised in

Ortiz Ortiz () is a Spanish-language patronymic surname meaning "son of Orti". "Orti" seems to be disputed in meaning, deriving from either Basque, Latin ''fortis'' meaning "brave, strong", or Latin ''fortunius'' meaning "fortunate". Officials of the ...

, to Croatian father Casimiro Spanic and Venezuelan mother Norma Utrera. She has a twin sister,

Daniela Spanic Dani Spanić Utrera (born 10 December 1973) is a Venezuelan model, actress and TV host. She is a twin sister of actress Gabriela Spanic. Personal life She became a naturalized citizen of Mexico in 2006. In 2007, she famously fell into a coma whil ...

, one younger sister, Patricia, and a younger brother, Antonio. She studied

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

Andrés Bello Catholic University Andrés Bello Catholic University also known in Spanish as Universidad Católica Andrés Bello is a private university in Venezuela. One of the largest universities in Venezuela, UCAB has campuses in several cities, such as Caracas (where the mai ...

for a year but left university to pursue an acting career.

Career

Spanic's career started in 1992 when she joined the

Miss Venezuela Miss Venezuela (Spanish: ''Organización Miss Venezuela'') is the national beauty pageant of Venezuela, traditionally held in September. It is preceded by two or three months of preliminary events, with the awarding of corporate prizes. The fi ...

contest, representing her home state,

Guárico ) , anthem = '' Himno del Estado Guárico'' , image_map = Guarico in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_a ...

, which served as a platform to launch her acting career, with appearances in Venezuelan telenovelas such as ''Morena Clara'', where she portrayed the villain Linda Prado. In 1994, Spanic had her first leading role in the telenovela ''Como Tu Ninguna'', which aired for two years and became one of the largest novelas of the country and had an enormous success, including internationally. After playing Amaranta in ''Todo por tu Amor'' (1997), Spanic moved to Mexico, where she acted in '' La usurpadora'' (1998), portraying twins Paola and Paulina, which came to worldwide success when the novela was transmitted to more than 125 countries around the world and became one of the most popular telenovelas in the Spanish-speaking world. ''La Usurpadora'' was the first novela to win more than 20 points in the grid of the TV American audience. In 2000 Gabriela Spanic co-hosted the

OTI Festival OTI Festival ( es, Festival OTI de la Canción, pt, Festival OTI da Canção), often known simply as La OTI, was an international song competition, organised annually between 1972 and 2000 by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) ...

in its last edition, which was held in

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...

. Spanic acted in other

productions such as ''

Por Tu Amor ''Por tu amor'' (English: ''For your love'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Angelli Nesma Medina for Televisa in 1999. Gabriela Spanic and Saúl Lisazo starred as protagonists, while Katie Barberi, Mauricio Aspe, Claudio Báez and Gerardo ...

'' (1999), and '' La intrusa'' (2001), before signing with

, starring in '' La venganza'' (2002), ''

Prisionera ''Prisionera'' is a telenovela made by Telemundo and Caracol Televisión. This telenovela was aired in 16 countries around the world. Plot Wrongfully accused of a crime she didn't commit, 16-year-old Guadalupe Santos is sentenced to 30 years in ...

'' (2004) and ''

Tierra de pasiones ''Tierra de Pasiones'' (''Land of Passions'') is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by Telemundo which is owned by NBC Universal The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television ...

'' (2006). Spanic won the Orquidea Award in 2005 for her trajectory as an actress, as well as the prestigious FAMAS Award for Best Actress for her role in ''Tierra de Pasiones''. In 2010, Spanic worked with Televisa again when she played the antagonist of ''

Soy tu Dueña The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and ...

''. As of 2011, Spanic is signed to

, and has worked in ''

Emperatriz Emperatriz may refer to: * Emperatriz (Mexican TV series) ''Emperatriz'' is a Mexican telenovela produced by Fides Velasco for Azteca. It stars Gabriela Spanic as the title character, while Bernie Paz as the male lead. Other casts include Serg ...

'' (2011), ''

La otra cara del alma ''La otra cara del alma'' is a Mexican telenovela that premiered on Azteca Trece on 12 November 2012, and concluded on 10 May 2013. The telenovela is created by Laura Sosa, based on the 1985 Mexican telenovela written by Luis Reyes de la Maza, en ...

'' (2012) and ''

Siempre tuya Acapulco ''Siempre Tuya Acapulco'' (literally ''Forever Yours Acapulco'') (English title ''A Love To Remember'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Azteca in 2014.'' Starring Melissa Barrera and Daniel Elbittar as the protagonists of the story, with ...

'' (2014).

Personal life

Spanic was married to actor

Miguel de León Miguel Angel de León Lopez (born February 23, 1962) is a Venezuelan actor. He is better known simply as Miguel de León. He has acted mainly in telenovelas, which garnered him international fame across Latin America, where the genre is popular, ...

from 1996 to 2002. She and her ex-boyfriend have a son, Gabriel de Jesús (born 2008).

Filmography

Discography

* Gabriela Total (2004) *Mejorando Tu Vida Con Gabriela Spanic, Vol. 1 e 2 (2005) *En Carne Viva (2014) *Gabriela Spanic Greatest Hits (2016)

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spanic, Gabriela 1973 births Living people People from Guárico Venezuelan expatriates in Mexico Venezuelan television actresses Venezuelan telenovela actresses 21st-century Venezuelan women singers Venezuelan people of Croatian descent Venezuelan Roman Catholics Venezuelan twins OTI Festival presenters Mexican people of Croatian descent Mexican people of Venezuelan descent