Actress Gabriela Spanic is known to all lovers of Latin American television series for her role in the Mexican hit "The Usurpers." She was born in Venezuela, becoming popular in her homeland, moved to Mexico, where she made a dizzying career.
Failed psychologist
Gabriela Spanic was born in Ortiz, in Venezuela, in 1973. An atypical Latino surname came to her from her father, who emigrated from Croatia to Venezuela in 1947. The girl grew up in a friendly large family, she shared her father’s shelter with her twin sister Daniela, her younger sister Patricia and her brother Antonio.
Until a certain point, Gabriela Spanic did not think about the career of the artist. After graduating from school, she, on the advice of her father, entered psychology courses, which she diligently attended for more than a year. However, having entered a time of blossoming youth, Gabriela became a bright, spectacular girl and decided to use her outstanding natural data to one hundred percent.
The migrant's daughter began her journey to the set in the traditional way for South America - working as a model. Venezuelan beauties are famous all over the world, girls from this country regularly become winners of the Miss Universe contest, but Gabriela was not lost on the general background. In 1992, she won the regional beauty pageant as Miss Guarico. However, Gabriela did not rely solely on her appearance and faithfully attended acting classes, filling her gaps in dramatic education.
Venezuelan star
There were always enough beautiful girls in Venezuela, so Gabriele Spanic did not have to rely solely on her external data. The girl begins her career in cinema as one of the many participants in extras, repeating the path of many television stars.
Soon she makes directors believe in herself and gets her first full-fledged roles in Venezuelan series. Gabriela Spanic becomes known to a wide range of viewers after a small role of Clara in the novel "Rosanhelika", which was released in 1991.
After this, a native of Ortiz appears in the TV series “The Cruel World”, “The Wounded Wolf”. The star of the screens is becoming more and more popular, the producers felt the power of charm of a young girl and began to offer her new roles.
In 1993, Gabriela Spanic starred in one of the most Venezuelan short stories - “Brunette Clara”, where she played the role of Linda Prado. Successful work in this project became the reason for the invitation to the series “Maria Celeste”. In 1995, Gabriela Spanic played her first major role, becoming the central character in the novel "Only You." The series was a huge success and received recognition far beyond the borders of Venezuela, it was shown in Europe, Asia.
"Usurper"
Having starred in the project “Everything for the sake of your love”, Gabriela Spanic decides to drastically change his life. Together with her husband Miguel Leon, she moves to Mexico - the main country for the production of Latin American soap operas. Here the Venezuelan actress was forced to start from the very beginning, she had no connections, acquaintances, she stood out among local artists with her accent.
For the sake of a successful career, Gabriela began attending speech courses to get rid of the Venezuelan dialect. She was very much helped by her acquaintance with the screenwriter Carlos Romero, who collaborated with her on the set of the series “Only You”. Especially for the sake of his girlfriend, he wrote a role in the new series "The Usurper." The main Mexican television company Televisa approved the start of filming, and the Venezuelan beauty set to work.
In this short story, the girl had to play two roles at once: the evil and frivolous Paola and the kind and gentle Paulina, who, in the story, were twins. The Mexican interpretation of "Prince and the Pauper" was a wild success not only in the homeland, but throughout the world.
The film of Gabriela Spanic was broadcast in 120 countries, has been translated into dozens of languages. The girl from Ortiz overnight became a world superstar.
Other work
Following the success of the Usurpers, Televisa offered Gabriele a new three-year contract. The girl’s next work was the role in the series “For Your Love”, where her partner was the famous Mexican actor Saul Lisazo.
On the wave of success of the Usurpers, the producers of Televisa decided to release something similar and began to implement the project “Attacker”. Gabriele Spanic again fell out to play the roles of two sisters Virginia and Vanessa.
Critics immediately attacked Televisa with accusations of auto plagiarism, there was a lot of talk that the creators of Attackers were trying to cash in on the success of the Usurper, despite the fact that the plots of both short stories had nothing to do with each other.
Nevertheless, the series was to the liking of ordinary Mexicans and consistently ranked second in the ratings, although the Usurpers could not repeat the success.
Personal life
With her first husband, Miguel Leon, Gabriela Spanic met on the set in Venezuela. Together with him she went to Mexico, where the couple worked a lot in the same productions. However, the acting marriage was short-lived - Miguel and Gabriela separated in four years.
The next chosen one of the girl was the Mexican Jose Llamas, whose relationship with her developed according to a rather complicated scenario.