Famous people from Mexico
Here is a list of famous people from Mexico. Curious if anybody from Mexico made it our most famous people in the world list? Read the aformentioned article in order to find out.
Salma Hayek
Actor
Salma Hayek Jiménez is a Lebanese and Mexican American film actress, director and producer. She began her career in Mexico starring in the telenovela Teresa and went on to star in the film El Callejón de los Milagros for which she was nominated for an Ariel Award. In 1991 Hayek moved to Hollywood and came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as Desperado, Dogma, and Wild Wild West. Her breakthrough role was in the 2002 film Frida as Frida Kahlo which she received an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress. The movie received widespread attention and was a critical and commercial success. She won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Children/Youth/Family Special in 2004 for The Maldonado Miracle and received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2007 after guest-starring in the ABC television series Ugly Betty. She also guest-starred on the NBC comedy series 30 Rock from 2009 to 2013. Hayek's recent films include Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2, acting alongside Adam Sandler, and Puss in Boots, which also features former collaborator Antonio Banderas, wherein she is the voice of the character 'Kitty Softpaws'.
Thalía
Latin pop Artist
Ariadna Thalia Sodi Miranda known mononymously as Thalía, is a Mexican singer, songwriter, published author, actress and businesswoman, who has sung in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French and Tagalog. She is recognized as the most successful female solo Mexican artist internationally by media conglomerates such as Univision Communications, Televisa and TV Azteca, while she has sold over 40 million records worldwide as a solo artist, being considered as one of the best selling Latin musicians of all time. Big part of the media refer to her as the "Queen of Latin pop", because of her numerous Latin pop hit singles and her legacy within the latin pop music scene of the past 2 decades. However, apart from singing, Thalía has also had a renowned career in acting, as she starred in a variety of soap operas that were watched by over two billion people in more than 180 countries and marked history in television because of their extremely high ratings. She was converted into a global television icon, especially during the decade of the 1990s, while she was publicly referred to as the reigning "Queen of telenovelas" by the mass media, because of the phenomenal reception her soap operas had. She was also reported to be the most successful telenovela actress in history, as stated by Televisa, the largest mass media company in the Spanish-speaking world.
Carlos Santana
Blues-rock Artist
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican and American musician who first became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and Latin American music. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. In 2003 Rolling Stone magazine listed Santana at number 20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards.
Frida Kahlo
Painting Artist
Frida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican painter, born in Coyoacán, who is best known for her self-portraits. Kahlo's life began and ended in Mexico City, in her home known as the Blue House. She gave her birth date as July 7, 1910, but her birth certificate shows July 6, 1907. Kahlo had allegedly wanted the year of her birth to coincide with the year of the beginning of the Mexican revolution so that her life would begin with the birth of modern Mexico. Her work has been celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition, and by feminists for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form. Mexican culture and Amerindian cultural tradition are important in her work, which has been sometimes characterized as Naïve art or folk art. Her work has also been described as "surrealist", and in 1938 André Breton, principal initiator of the surrealist movement, described Kahlo's art as a "ribbon around a bomb". Kahlo had a volatile marriage with the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. She suffered lifelong health problems. Many of her health problems were the result of a traffic accident she survived as a teenager. Recovering from her injuries isolated her from other people and this isolation influenced her works, many of which are self-portraits of one sort or another. Kahlo suggested, "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best." She also stated, "I was born a bitch. I was born a painter."
Javier Hernández Balcázar
Soccer
Javier Hernández Balcázar is a Mexican footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Manchester United and the Mexican national team. Hernández plays with his nickname, Chicharito, on his shirt. He previously played for the Mexican club Guadalajara, before becoming the first Mexican player to join Manchester United. Hernández made his debut for Mexico in September 2009 in a match against Colombia. He has also represented them at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He was the Gold Cup's top scorer with 7 goals and was named the most valuable player of the tournament. Hernandez is the joint third highest goalscorer of all-time for the Mexican national team.
José José
Bolero Artist
José Rómulo Sosa Ortiz, known by his stage name José José, is a Mexican singer. Also known in the entertainment world as El Príncipe de la Canción, he is recognized for his romantic ballads and praised for his vocals. His voice garnered acclaim from musical peers and media. Born and raised in Mexico City into a family of musicians, José José started his musical career in his early teens playing guitar and singing in serenades. He later joined a jazz and bossa nova trio where he sang and played the bass and double bass. José became a successful solo artist in the early 1970s. Demonstrating his vocal ability with a stunning performance of the song "El Triste" in a Latin music festival held in Mexico City in 1970, he climbed the Latin charts during the decade. In the 1980s, after signing with Ariola Records, he gained international fame as one of the most talented performers in Latin America. His 1983 album Secretos has sold over 7 million copies. With a series of huge hits, he received several nominations to the Grammy and numerous recognitions worldwide. He sold out in venues such as the Madison Square Garden and the Radio City Music Hall. His music has reached non Spanish-speaking countries like Japan, Israel and Russia. During the late 1990s, after several hits, his career began to decline as his voice started to falter due to alcoholism and health issues. José has also forged a career as an actor, starring in movies like Gavilán o Paloma and Perdóname Todo.
Pancho Villa
Military Commander
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or his nickname Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals. As commander of the División del Norte, he was the veritable caudillo of the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, which, given its size, mineral wealth, and proximity to the United States of America, provided him with extensive resources. Villa was also provisional Governor of Chihuahua in 1913 and 1914. Although he was prevented from being accepted into the "panteón" of national heroes until some 20 years after his death, today his memory is honored by Mexicans. In addition, numerous streets and neighborhoods in Mexico are named in his honor. Villa and his supporters seized hacienda land for distribution to peasants and soldiers. He robbed and commandeered trains and, like the other revolutionary generals, printed fiat money to pay for his cause. Villa's men and supporters became known as Villistas during the revolution from 1910 to roughly 1920. Villa's dominance in northern Mexico was broken in 1915 through a series of defeats he suffered at Celaya and Agua Prieta at the hands of Álvaro Obregón and Plutarco Elías Calles. After Villa's famous raid on Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916, U.S. Army General John J. Pershing tried unsuccessfully to capture Villa in a nine-month pursuit that ended when the United States entered into World War I and Pershing was called back. Villa retired in 1920 and was given a large estate, which he turned into a "military colony" for his former soldiers. In 1923, he decided to reinvolve himself in Mexican politics and as a result was assassinated, most likely on the orders of Obregón.
Carlos Slim
Entrepreneur
Carlos Slim Helú is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world, but that position has been regained by Bill Gates. His extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso, SA de CV, have amassed interests in the fields of communications, technology, retailing, and finance. Presently, Slim is the chairman and chief executive of telecommunications companies Telmex and América Móvil. América Móvil, which was Latin America’s largest mobile-phone carrier in 2010, accounted for around US$49 billion of Slim's wealth by the end of that year. His corporate holdings as of June 2013 have been estimated at US$66.8 billion.
Anthony Quinn
Professional Boxer
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca, more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer. He starred in numerous critically acclaimed and commercially successful films, including Zorba the Greek, Lawrence of Arabia, The Guns of Navarone, The Message, Guns for San Sebastian, Lion of the Desert and La Strada. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice: for Viva Zapata! in 1952 and Lust for Life in 1956.
Giovani dos Santos
Soccer
Giovani dos Santos Ramírez, simply Giovani, is a Mexican footballer who currently plays as a second striker for Spanish La Liga club Villarreal CF. He can also play as a winger or attacking midfielder. Dos Santos was a member of the Mexican National U-17 team that won the 2005 U-17 World Cup held in Peru. He made his debut for the Mexico national team in a 1–0 victory over Panama on 9 September 2007. He was called to play at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Dos Santos was also a member of the gold medal winning team at the 2012 London Olympics.
Diego Rivera
Painting Artist
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera was a prominent Mexican painter and the husband of Frida Kahlo. His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in Mexican art. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted murals among others in Mexico City, Chapingo, Cuernavaca, San Francisco, Detroit, and New York City. In 1931, a retrospective exhibition of his works was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Saúl Álvarez
Professional Boxer
Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán, commonly known as El Canelo, from canela, Spanish for cinnamon, in reference to his red hair; is a Mexican professional boxer in the Light Middleweight division. He is the former WBC, WBA, and Ring Magazine Light Middleweight Champion. He is promoted by Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.
Alberto Del Rio
Martial Artist
Alberto Rodríguez is a Mexican professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Alberto Del Rio. He is signed to WWE. Where he is a two-time World Heavyweight Champion, He is also a two-time WWE Champion, the 2011 Royal Rumble winner and a 2011 Money in the Bank winner. Before working for WWE, Rodriguez used the name Dos Caras, Jr. as both a mixed martial artist and luchador in mostly Mexico and Japan. He worked in both of Mexico's main wrestling promotions and achieved success in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, where he is a former CMLL World Heavyweight Champion, making him a five-time world heavyweight champion overall. The name Dos Caras translates to Two Faces, referring to the symbol of a double headed eagle on his mask.
Místico
Wrestler
Luis Ignascio Urive Alvirde is a Mexican luchador enmascarado, or masked professional wrestler, signed with WWE and appearing under the ring name Sin Cara. He is best known for his time in the lucha libre promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre under the ring name Místico, where since 2006 he was the main técnico in CMLL and the biggest box office draw in all of Mexico. Místico is Spanish for "Mystic", a religious ring character who is the storyline protégé of the wrestling priest Fray Tormenta. Upon signing with WWE in January 2011 Urive was repackaged as Sin Cara. Urive is the son of Manuel Almanza, who wrestled under the ring name "Dr. Karonte", the brother of wrestlers Astro Boy, Argos, Argenis and an unspecified member of Los Mini Psycho Circus, the cousin of wrestler Magnus and the nephew of CMLL booker Tony Salazar.
Antonio Aguilar
Ranchera Artist
José Pascual Antonio Aguilar Márquez-Barraza, most commonly known as Antonio Aguilar, nicknamed "El Charro de México", was a Mexican singer-songwriter, actor, film producer, and screenwriter. During his career, he made over 150 albums, which sold 25 million copies, and made 167 movies. Aguilar was best known for singing traditional Mexican folk songs and ballads as well for his participation in rural-themed films concerning the rural themes, often about the Mexican Revolution. He won the Premio ACE for Best Actor for his eponymous role in the epic film, Emiliano Zapata. Aguilar was also awarded with the Special Golden Ariel in 1997 for his invaluable contribution and spreading of Mexican cinema. Aguilar married Flor Silvestre, a popular singer and actress, in 1959. They had two sons, Antonio Aguilar Jr. and Pepe Aguilar, who also ventured into the film and music industries. Collectively, Aguilar's family is known as "La Dinastía Aguilar".
Octavio Paz
Diplomat
Octavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Joan Sebastian
Mariachi Artist
José Manuel Figueroa Sr. better known as Joan Sebastian is a popular Mexican singer and songwriter. He has composed hundreds of songs and been a regular staple on the top-40 charts in Mexico since his career began in 1977. His music is a mixture of Latin pop, ranchera and grupera music. His success is not only found in music but also in his short acting career when he became the main protagonist of a Mexican soap opera. In 1996 he made his acting debut in the Mexican soap opera Tú y Yo sharing credits with Maribel Guardia the soap opera became an instant televised hit. He has won seven Latin Grammy Awards and four Grammy Award
Sergio Pérez
Racing driver
Sergio Pérez Mendoza, also known as "Checo" Pérez, is a Mexican racing driver, currently driving for McLaren. Pérez was a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy until 2012. He also took his first Formula One podium at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix, a drive which won him plaudits and fuelled speculation of a move to Ferrari in the near future. However, Pérez later told reporters that he expected to stay with Sauber until at least the end of the 2012 season. Due to his young age and performance, he has been referred to as "The Mexican Wunderkind". Pérez joined McLaren for the 2013 season, replacing Lewis Hamilton and racing alongside Jenson Button.
Cesar Millan
Motivational speaker
Cesar Millan, is a Mexican American dog trainer. A self-taught expert, he is widely known for his television series Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, broadcast in more than eighty countries worldwide from 2004 to 2012. Prior to The Dog Whisperer series, Millan focused on rehabilitating especially aggressive dogs and founded the Dog Psychology Center in South Los Angeles — under construction in a new Los Angeles location as of late 2009. Millan's first three books, including Cesar's Way, all became New York Times best sellers, have cumulatively sold two million copies in the United States, and are available in 14 other countries. In 2009, in conjunction with IMG, Millan introduced a monthly magazine also titled Cesar's Way — with The Wall Street Journal reporting at that time that half of American consumers recognized Millan. With Ilusión Millan, his former wife, he founded the Cesar and Ilusión Millan Foundation – since renamed the Millan Foundation. He is working with Yale University to create a children's curriculum based on his work. Millan's most important tool in both his success with dogs and business has sometimes been attributed to a personal sense of balance. The New York Times said that he "lives in the now and maintains a sort of über-balanced mien".
Juan Manuel Márquez
Professional Boxer
Juan Manuel Márquez Méndez is a Mexican professional boxer. He is the 3rd Mexican-born boxer to become a four-division world champion, winning seven world titles in four different boxing weight classes. A natural counter puncher, Marquez is known for being a fast and highly technical fighter. He is also known for his three close fights against Manny Pacquiao, and by winning their fourth fight by a stunning knockout in the sixth round. Ring Magazine currently ranks Márquez as the number four pound-for-pound boxer in the world and number one in the junior welterweight division. He is considered by analysts to be among the greatest Mexican boxers of all-time.
Carlos Vela
Soccer
Carlos Alberto Vela Garrido is a Mexican football player currently playing as a striker for Real Sociedad. He also plays for the Mexico national football team. He started his career at Mexican club C.D. Guadalajara, and caught the eye after finishing as the top scorer at the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship. After joining Arsenal, he has had loan spells at Spanish clubs UD Salamanca and CA Osasuna, finally joining Real Sociedad permanently on 10 August 2012. Aside from his Mexican nationality, Vela also holds a Spanish passport.
Antonio López de Santa Anna
Military officer
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón, often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna and sometimes called "the Napoleon of the West", was a Mexican politician and general who greatly influenced early Mexican politics and government. Santa Anna fought first against Mexican independence from Spain, then in support of it. Though not the first caudillo of Mexico, he was among the earliest. He was general and president multiple times over a turbulent 40-year career; he was president on eleven non-consecutive occasions over a period of 22 years. A wealthy landowner, he built a firm political base in the major port city of Veracruz. He was the hero of the Army; he sought glory for himself and his army, and repeatedly rebuilt it after major losses. A brave soldier and a cunning politician, he so dominated his era that historians often call it the "Age of Santa Anna." However, historians also report that he is "perhaps the principal inhabitant even today of Mexico's black pantheon of those who failed the nation". His centralist rhetoric and military failures resulted in Mexico losing just over half its territory, beginning with the Texas Revolution and culminating with the Mexican Cession of 1848.
Porfirio Díaz
Military Commander
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican soldier and politician, who served seven terms as President of Mexico, totaling nearly three decades - one month in 1876, then from 1877 to 1880, and finally from 1884 until he was overthrown in 1911. A veteran of the Reform War and the French intervention in Mexico, Díaz rose to the rank of General, leading republican troops against the puppet Emperor Maximilian. Seizing power in a coup in 1876, Díaz and his allies would rule the country for the next thirty-five years, a period known in Mexico as the Porfiriato. Commonly considered by historians to have been a dictator, Díaz is a controversial figure in Mexican history. The period of his leadership was marked by significant internal stability, modernization, and economic growth. However, Díaz's regime grew unpopular due to repression and political stagnation, and he fell from power during the Mexican Revolution, after he had imprisoned his electoral rival and declared himself the winner of an eighth term in office. After his downfall, Díaz fled to France, where he died in exile four years later.
Ricardo Montalbán
Actor
Ricardo Montalbán was an actor.
Lila Downs
Singer-songwriter
Ana Lila Downs Sánchez, best known as Lila Downs is a Mexican-American singer-songwriter and actress. She performs her own compositions as well as tapping into Mexican traditional and popular music. She also incorporates indigenous Mexican influences and has recorded songs in indigenous languages such as Mixtec, Zapotec, Mayan, Nahuatl and P'urhepecha. Born and raised in Oaxaca, she primarily studied at the Institute of Arts by Oaxaca and briefly attended University of Minnesota, before withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She soon began performing in the traditional music scene of Oaxaca City. Her first album, Ofrenda, was released in 1994, in 1999, Downs came to prominence with her debut studio album, La Sandunga, which was a critical and commercial success. She achieved international success in 2001 with the album Border which emerged in the music scene of Mexico and Latin America in the early 2000s. Lila's seventh album, Pecados y Milagros, topped albums charts in most major markets and generated chart-topping world music albums. Her eighth album, is planned for release in 2014. Downs began performing in school, demonstrating her vocal ability with traditional music, Latin and American influences, and with her own original twist on dancing. Is a native Spanish speaker, and also speaks fluent English and mixtec.
Pedro Infante
Musical Artist
Pedro Infante Cruz, better known as Pedro Infante, is one of the most famous actors and singers of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema and is an idol of the Latinamerican people, together with Jorge Negrete and Javier Solís, who were styled the Tres Gallos Mexicanos. Infante was born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico. He was raised in Guamúchil. He died on 15 April 1957, in Mérida, Yucatán, in a plane crash during a flight en route to Mexico City. His film career began in 1939 with him appearing in more than 60 films, and starting in 1943, he recorded about 350 songs. For his performance in the movie Tizoc, he was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 7th Berlin International Film Festival.
Gael García Bernal
Actor
Gael García Bernal is a Mexican film actor and director.
Kat Von D
Presenter
Katherine von Drachenberg, best known as Kat Von D, is an American tattoo artist, model, musician and television personality. She is best known for her work as a tattoo artist on the TLC reality television show LA Ink, which premiered August 7, 2007, in the United States and ran for four seasons.
Benito Juárez
Politician
Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served as the president of Mexico for five terms: 1858–1861 as interim, then 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872 as constitutional president. He resisted the French occupation of Mexico, overthrew the Second Mexican Empire, restored the Republic, and used liberal measures to modernize the country.
Felipe Calderón
Politician
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from December 1, 2006 to November 30, 2012. He is a member of the Partido Acción Nacional, one of the three major Mexican political parties. Prior to the presidency, Calderón received two master's degrees and went on to work within the PAN while it was still an important opposition party. Calderón served as National President of the party, Federal Deputy, and Secretary of Energy in Vicente Fox's cabinet. He served in the cabinet of the previous administration up until he resigned to run for the Presidency and secured his party's nomination. The Federal Electoral Institute's official electoral results gave Felipe Calderón the largest vote total and the presidency but the decision was contested by Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Calderón's victory was confirmed on September 5, 2006 by the Federal Electoral Tribunal.
Cantinflas
Actor
Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes, although he called himself Mario Moreno, was a Mexican comic film actor, producer, and screenwriter known professionally as Cantinflas. He often portrayed impoverished campesinos or a peasant of pelado origin. The character came to be associated with the national identity of Mexico, and allowed Cantinflas to establish a long, successful film career that included a foray into Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin once commented that he was the best comedian alive, and Moreno has been referred to as the "Charlie Chaplin of Mexico". To audiences in the United States, he is best remembered as co-starring with David Niven in a Golden Globe Award-winning role in the 1956 film Around the World in 80 Days. As a pioneer of the cinema of Mexico, Moreno helped usher in its golden era. In addition to being a business leader, he also became involved in Mexico's tangled and often dangerous labor politics. Although he was a political conservative, his reputation as a spokesperson for the downtrodden gave his actions authenticity and became important in the early struggle against charrismo, the one-party government's practice of co-opting and controlling unions.
Joaquín Guzmán Loera
Drug lord
Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera is a Mexican drug lord who heads the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal organization named after the Mexican Pacific coast state of Sinaloa where it was initially formed. Known as "El Chapo Guzmán" for his 1.68 m stature, he became Mexico's top drug kingpin in 2003 after the arrest of his rival Osiel Cárdenas of the Gulf Cartel, and is now considered "The most powerful drug trafficker in the world," by the United States Department of the Treasury. Guzmán Loera has been ranked by Forbes magazine as one of the most powerful people in the world every year since 2009; ranking 41st, 60th and 55th respectively. He was placed as the 10th richest man in Mexico in 2011, with a net worth of roughly US$1 billion. It also calls him the "biggest druglord of all time", and the DEA strongly believes he has surpassed the influence and reach of Pablo Escobar, and now considers him "the godfather of the drug world." The Chicago Crime Commission has named Guzmán "Public Enemy Number One" even though he's never been there. The last person to receive that notoriety was Al Capone in 1930.
Julio César Chávez
Professional Boxer
Julio César Chávez is a retired Mexican professional boxer. Chávez is considered by many people for their sport statistics the greatest fighter ever to come out of Mexico. He is a six-time world champion in three weight divisions, and for several years he was considered one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world. In a career that spanned over 25 years, Chávez won five world titles in three weight divisions: WBC Super Featherweight in 1984, WBA Lightweight in 1987, WBC Lightweight in 1988, WBC Light Welterweight in 1989, IBF Light Welterweight in 1990, and WBC Light Welterweight in 1994. He holds records for most successful defenses of world titles, most title fights, and he is after Joe Louis with for most title defenses won by knockout. Chávez also has the longest undefeated streak in boxing history, 13 years. His record was 89-0-1 going into his first official loss to Frankie Randall and had an 87 fight win streak until his "draw" with Whitaker. Julio César Chávez was known for his outstanding punching power, devastating body attack, remarkably strong chin and the relentless stalking of his opponents. He ranks #24 on ESPN's 50 Greatest Boxers Of All Time. On December 7, 2010, he was inducted in the prestigious International Boxing Hall of Fame for the Class of 2011. He is the father of prospect Omar Chávez and former WBC Middleweight Champion Julio César Chávez, Jr.
Héctor Garza
Man
Héctor Solano Segura was a Mexican professional wrestler, known by his ring name Héctor Garza, who last worked for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración. He was in his second reign as Mexican National Heavyweight Champion when he died, having won it in Perros del Mal Producciones. He also worked for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in Mexico, and World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in the United States.
Vicente Fox
Politician
Vicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican businessman who was President of Mexico from December 1, 2000 to November 30, 2006 under the National Action Party. He is also the co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties. Fox was elected President of Mexico in the 2000 presidential election, a historically significant election that made him the first president elected from an opposition party since Francisco I. Madero in 1910 and the first one in 71 years to defeat, with 42 percent of the vote, the then-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party. After serving as president of Mexico for six years, President Fox returned to his home state of Guanajuato, where he resides with his wife and family. Since leaving the presidency, Vicente Fox has been involved in public speaking and the construction of the Vicente Fox Center of Studies, Library and Museum.
Cuauhtémoc Blanco
Soccer Midfielder
Cuauhtémoc Blanco Bravo is a Mexican professional footballer who currently plays for Lobos BUAP in the Mexican Liga de Ascenso. Known for his charismatic personality on the field, playing most of his career as a deep-lying forward and his last years as an attacking midfielder. He is widely considered as the most talented and influential Mexican player of his generation. Blanco is the only Mexican football player with an award in a major international FIFA competition, as he won the Silver Ball and the Silver Shoe awards in the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. He has been awarded the MVP of the Mexican First League Division five times. He is tied with Ronaldinho as the all-time leading Confederations Cup goalscorer. Blanco is the second leading goal scorer for the Mexican national football team and his debut team Club América; he is also Mexico's second top scorer in both the FIFA World Cup and the Copa Libertadores tournament.
Rafael Márquez
Soccer
Rafael Márquez Álvarez is a Mexican footballer currently playing for Club León of the Liga MX. He plays as a centre back or defensive midfielder. He spent over a decade playing in France and Spain. He has won numerous titles with Monaco and FC Barcelona. After winning the 2006 UEFA Champions League with Barcelona, he became the first Mexican player to win the honour.
Emiliano Zapata
Military Commander
Emiliano Zapata Salazar was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz. He formed and commanded an important revolutionary force, the Liberation Army of the South, during the Mexican Revolution. Followers of Zapata were known as Zapatistas. He is a figure from the Mexican Revolution era who is still revered today.
Lorena Rojas
Actor
Lorena Rojas born Seydi Lorena Rojas Gonzalez on 10 February 1972 is a Mexican actress and singer, a song writer and best known for her leading roles in popular Telenovelas.
Pedro Damián
Actor
Pedro Damián is a Mexican actor, television producer and director, who was executive producer for two popular teen telenovelas, Clase 406 and Rebelde, distributed within and outside Mexico.
Hector Bonilla
Actor
Héctor Bonilla is a Mexican actor.
Adrián Martínez
Soccer Goalkeeper
Adrián Martínez Flores is a retitred Mexican footballer who last played as a goalkeeper for Irapuato FC. He previously played for San Luis F.C. in the Primera Division de Mexico. He was capped by the Mexico national football team on four occasions, making his debut in 2000 and playing his last game in 2002.
Cristina Eustace
Latin pop Artist
Cristina is a musician.
Germán Dehesa
Journalist
Germán Dehesa was a Mexican journalist, academic and writer. Dehesa was born in Mexico City on July 1, 1944. He studied both Hispanic literature and chemical engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Dehesa wrote six plays and eleven books during his career. His works included Fallaste, Corazon!, Los PRIsidentes and Las Nuevas Aventuras de El Principito. He taught as a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico for 25 years. In May 2008, Dehesa was awarded the Don Quixote Prize by the government of Castile-La Mancha in Spain for his article Ah, Que Tiempos!. Germán Dehesa died at his home in Mexico City on September 2, 2010, at the age of 66. He had published his last newspaper column, Gaceta del Angel, in the Reforma newspaper days before his death.
Verónica Merchant
Actor
Verónica Merchant, is an actress who played the role of Mariana Romero Vargas in the Mexican telenovela Corazón salvaje.
Sergio Arau
Musician
Sergio Arau is a film director, screenwriter and actor.
Eduardo Villanueva
Film Director
Eduardo Villanueva is an artist, film director, screenwriter, film producer and film editor.
Magi Avila
Actor
Magi Avila is an actress.
Fernando Sariñana
Film Director
Fernando Sariñana is a film producer and film director.
Roberto Gómez Bolaños
Actor
Roberto Gómez Bolaños, more commonly known by his pseudonym Chespirito, is a Mexican screenwriter, actor, comedian, film director, television director, playwright, songwriter, and author internationally known for writing, directing, and starring the Chespirito, El Chapulín Colorado, and El Chavo del Ocho television series.
Daniela Romo
Pop Artist
Daniela Romo is a Mexican singer, actress and TV host. Daniela Romo was born Teresita Presmanes Corona in Mexico City to Teresa Corona. Her parents never married, and Daniela and her sister Patricia were raised by their grandmother. As a child she idolized Rocío Dúrcal, whom she credits for inspiring her to become an actress and a recording artist.
Sara Ramirez
Actor
Sara Ramirez is a Mexican singer/songwriter and actress. She is known for her role as Dr. Callie Torres in the medical drama Grey's Anatomy, and as the original Lady of the Lake in the 2005 Broadway musical Spamalot, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
Ninel Conde
Latin pop Artist
Ninel Herrera Conde is a Mexican singer, actress, and TV host known for her performances in Rebelde, Fuego En La Sangre and Mar De Amor.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Politician
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also known as AMLO or El Peje, is a Mexican politician who held the position of Head of Government of the Federal District from 2000 to 2005, before resigning in July 2005 to contend the 2006 presidential election, representing the Coalition for the Good of All, a coalition led by the Party of the Democratic Revolution that includes the Convergence party and the Labor Party. He is the leader of the National Regeneration Movement and was a candidate for 2012 presidential election, representing a coalition of the PRD, Labor Party and Citizens' Movement. He announced his resignation from the party on 9 September 2012.
Emmanuel
Singer
Emmanuel is a Mexican singer who debuted in the 1970s. He is the son of the late Argentinian-born bullfighter Raúl Acha"Rovira" and his first wife, Spanish singer Conchita Martinez. Emmanuel's songs are usually ballads, which became popular during the 1980s. His fourth and most successful album to date, Íntimamente, was written by the famous Spaniard ballad composer Manuel Alejandro in collaboration with Ana Magdalena. It was released in 1980 and had the following seven hit songs: ⁕"Todo Se Derrumbó Dentro De Mi" ⁕"Quiero Dormir Cansado" ⁕"El Día Que Puedas" ⁕"Con Olor A Hierba" ⁕"Tengo Mucho Que Aprender De Ti" ⁕"Insoportablemente Bella" ⁕"Este Terco Corazón" The remaining songs on the album are "Esa Triste Guitarra", "Caprichosa María", and "Eso Era La Vida", the last of which is the only song on the album not composed by Alejandro-Magdalena.
Pedro Fernández
Ranchera Artist
José Martín Cuevas Cobos, known professionally as Pedro Fernández, is a Mexican recording artist and actor. At the 9th Lo Nuestro Awards, Fernández was nominated for Regional/Mexican Album of the Year and Regional/Mexican Male Performer of the Year.
Nery Castillo
Soccer
Nery Alberto Castillo Confalonieri, is a Mexican footballer who currently plays for Rayo Vallecano, as a forward or winger. He has also been called up to the Mexico national team. He began his career at Uruguayan club Danubio, moving to Greece at the age of 16 to play for Olympiacos. Castillo spent seven years at Olympiacos, gradually developing into a regular starter over a three-year period. Once established in the team Castillo helped Olympiacos to three consecutive league titles, prompting Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk to spend €20 million to secure his services in 2007. After only a handful of starts for Shakhtar, Castillo was dropped for refusing to allow team-mate Cristiano Lucarelli to take a penalty. In December 2007, he moved on a year's loan to Premier League club Manchester City, paying a substantial amount of the loan fee himself. He would also be loaned out to Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and MLS club Chicago Fire. He made his international debut for Mexico on 2 June 2007 vs Iran, and represented his country in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the 2007 Copa America.
Verónica Castro
Actor
Verónica Castro is a Mexican actress and entertainer. She is the mother of singer Cristian Castro and filmmaker Michelle Sáinz Castro and the sister of actress Beatriz Castro, telenovela producer José Alberto Castro and Fausto Gerardo Sainz. She started her career as a television actress, where she met comedian Manuel Valdés, father of her son Cristian Castro, and in fotonovelas and telenovelas while earning her degree in international relations.
Fernando Colunga
Actor
Fernando Colunga Olivares .
Jesús Adrián Romero
Christian Artist
Jesús Adrián Romero is a Mexican author, Christian music singer, composer, and pastor from Hermosillo, Sonora in Mexico. Romero is the founder and president of Vastago Producciones, a record label dedicated to the production and distribution of music with a Christian message. Vastago Producciones also organizes and promotes concerts with Christian music.
Guillermo Ochoa
Soccer
Francisco Ochoa is a soccer player.
Diego Luna
Actor
Diego Luna Alexander is a Mexican actor known for his childhood telenovela work, a starring role in the film Y tu mamá también, and supporting roles in American films. He is also known for his roles in Rudo y Cursi, The Terminal and Milk. Together with Romola Garai, he starred in the film Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. He also had minor roles in Frida and Before Night Falls and provides Spanish language narration for the National Geographic Channel documentary Great Migrations.
Dolores del Río
Actor
Dolores del Río was a Mexican film actress. She was a Mexican actress in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s, and was one of the most important womanly figures of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. She was considered a mythical figure in Latin America and quintessential representation of the feminine face of Mexico in the world. During the 1920s and 1930s in Hollywood, Dolores was considered one of the most beautiful women of her time, a sort of female version of Rudolph Valentino, the "Latin lover" in the silent films. Her career flourished until the end of the silent era, with success in films such as Resurrection, Ramona and Evangeline. She was one of the few superstars of the silent era to adapt to the talkies in Hollywood. She filmed successful films like Bird of Paradise, Flying Down to Rio, Madame Du Barry, Wonder Bar and Journey into Fear. She had a four-year relationship with Orson Welles. She was with him during the filming of Citizen Kane. Welles considered her the great love of his life. When del Río returned to Mexico, under the guidance of the director Emilio Fernández, she became the most important star of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. The 1943 film María Candelaria is considered her masterpiece from this time. She was the first Latin American female star to be recognized internationally.
Omar Bravo
Soccer
Omar Bravo Tordecillas is a Mexican footballer who currently plays for Club Atlas in the Liga MX.
Mario Van Peebles
Actor
Mario Van Peebles is an Mexican-born American film director and actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films. He is the son of film-maker Melvin Van Peebles.
Rafael Caro Quintero
Drug lord
Rafael Caro Quintero is a former Mexican drug lord who founded the disintegrated Guadalajara Cartel with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and other drug traffickers in the 1970s. He is the brother of the incarcerated drug lord Miguel Caro Quintero, founder and former leader of the extinct Sonora Cartel. Having formed the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1970s, Caro Quintero worked with Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, and Pedro Avilés Pérez by shipping large sums of marijuana to the United States from Mexico. He was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena Salazar, his pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar, American writer John Clay Walker and dentistry student Alberto Radelat in 1985. After the murders, the drug lord fled to Costa Rica but was later arrested and extradited back to Mexico, where he was sentenced to 40-years in prison for murder. Following his arrest, the Guadalajara Cartel disintegrated, and its leaders were incorporated into the Tijuana Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel and Juárez Cartels. Caro Quintero was freed from jail on August 9, 2013 after a state court concluded that he had been tried improperly. However, amid pressure from the U.S. government to re-arrest him, a Mexican federal court issued an arrest warrant against the drug lord on August 14. He is a wanted fugitive in Mexico, the U.S., and in several other countries.
María Félix
Actor
María Félix was a Mexican actress, considered by many to be the most iconic leading lady of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, known for her larger-than-life, tough film characters. She was nominated for five Ariel Awards, of which she won three for Enamorada, Río Escondido, Doña Diabla and a special Golden Ariel Award for her contribution to cinema. She was more commonly known, particularly in her later years, by the honorific La Doña.
Aracely Arámbula
Actor
Aracely Arámbula Jacques is a Mexican actress, model and singer.
Yuri
Latin pop Artist
Yuri is a famous Mexican singer, actress, and TV host. She has maintained a significant presence in the entertainment business in Mexico for the last three decades. Born and raised in Veracruz, Mexico, she moved to Mexico City in 1977, for a career in entertainment.
Aldo de Nigris
Soccer
Jesús Aldo de Nigris Guajardo is a Mexican footballer who plays as a striker for Guadalajara in the Liga MX and the Mexico national football team.
Agustín de Iturbide
Noble person
Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu, also known as Augustine I of Mexico, was a Mexican army general and politician; during the Mexican War of Independence, he built a successful political and military coalition that took control in Mexico City on 27 September 1821, decisively gaining independence. After the liberation of Mexico was secured, he was proclaimed President of the Regency in 1821. A year later, he was announced as the Constitutional Emperor of the new nation, reigning as Emperor briefly from 19 May 1822 to 19 March 1823. He is credited as the original designer of the first Mexican flag. Although Iturbide's reign was short, it defined the political struggles before and after independence. The two ends of Mexico's political spectrum, liberals who favored populist representative government and conservatives who favored a more authoritarian regime, would each gain the upper hand at various times in the decades after Iturbide's abdication.
Carlos Salinas de Gortari
Politician
Carlos Salinas de Gortari is a Mexican economist and politician affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party who served as President of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. Earlier in his career he worked in the Budget Secretariat all the way up to Secretary. He was the PRI presidential candidate in 1988, and was elected on July 6, 1988.
Juan Rulfo
Author
Juan Rulfo was a Mexican writer, screenwriter and photographer. One of Latin America's most esteemed authors, Rulfo's reputation rests on two slim books, the novel Pedro Páramo, and El Llano en llamas, a collection of short stories. Fifteen of these seventeen short stories have been translated into English and published as The Burning Plain and Other Stories. This collection, includes his admired tale "¡Diles que no me maten!". There are more than 6,000 negatives of his photographs at the Juan Rulfo Foundation.
Lázaro Cárdenas
Politician
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.
Lucía Méndez
Actor
Lucía Leticia Méndez Pérez is a Sephardi Mexican telenovela and film actress, top model and singer that has sold over 10 million records world wide.
Diego Antonio Reyes
Soccer
Diego Antonio Reyes Rosales is a Mexican footballer, who currently plays for F.C. Porto in Portugal as a central defender or midfielder. Reyes has been playing for Mexico's national team since 2013. Reyes has been described as being "intelligent in his positioning, comfortable in possession and strong in the air."
Francisco I. Madero
Military Commander
Francisco Indalecio Madero González was a Mexican statesman, writer and revolutionary who served as 33rd President of Mexico from 1911 until his assassination in 1913. A campaigner for social justice and democracy, he was instrumental in creating the revolutionary movement in 1910, which led to the fall of the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. Born into a very wealthy landowning family in the north of Mexico, he was the proto-type of the respectable upper-class politician; a background which supplied the centre around which opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz could coalesce. Writing the book The Presidential Succession in 1910, he called on voters to prevent the sixth re-election of Porfirio Díaz, which he considered anti-democratic. His vision was to lay the foundation for a democratic 20th Century Mexico, but without polarizing the social classes. To that effect, he founded the Anti-Reelectionist Party and incited the Mexican people to rise up against General Díaz, which ignited the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Arrested by the dictatorship shortly after being declared Presidential candidate by his party, the opposition leader escaped from prison and launched the Plan of San Luis Potosí from the United States, in this manner beginning the Mexican Revolution.
Julio César Chávez, Jr.
Professional Boxer
Julio César Chávez Carrasco is a Mexican professional boxer and the former WBC Middleweight Champion. He is the son of retired four-time world boxing champion Julio César Chávez and older brother of welterweight Omar Chávez.
Álvaro Obregón
Politician
General Álvaro Obregón Salido was the President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. He supported Sonora's decision to follow Venustiano Carranza as leader of a revolution against the Huerta regime, and Carranza appointed Obregón commander of the revolutionary forces in northwestern Mexico and in 1915 appointed him as his minister of war. In 1920 Obregón launched a revolt against Carranza, in which Carranza was assassinated; he won the subsequent election with overwhelming support. Obregón's presidency was the first stable presidency since the Revolution began in 1910. He oversaw massive educational reform, moderate land reform, and labor laws sponsored by the increasingly powerful Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers. In 1923–24, Obregón's finance minister, Adolfo de la Huerta, launched a rebellion; Obregón returned to the battlefield to crush the rebellion. In 1924, Obregón's hand-picked successor, Plutarco Elías Calles, was elected as president, and although Obregón ostensibly retired to Sonora, he remained influential under Calles. Obregón won the 1928 presidential election, but before he could begin his term, he was assassinated by a Catholic angered by the Calles government's treatment of Catholics.
Venustiano Carranza
Politician
Venustiano Carranza de la Garza was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. He ultimately became President of Mexico following the overthrow of the dictatorial Victoriano Huerta regime in the summer of 1914, and during his administration the current constitution of Mexico was drafted. He was assassinated near the end of his term of office at the behest of a cabal of army generals resentful at his insistence that his successor be a civilian.
Miguel Treviño Morales
Mercenary
Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, commonly referred to by his alias Z-40, is a former Mexican drug lord and leader of the criminal organization known as Los Zetas. Considered a violent and dangerous criminal, he was one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords until his arrest in July 2013. Born to a family of six brothers and six sisters, Treviño Morales began his criminal career as a teenager, working for Los Tejas—a local gang from his hometown of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. His fluent English and experience of moving contraband along the U.S.–Mexico border enabled him to be recruited in the late 1990s by the drug lord Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, who headed the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas. Around 2005, he was appointed as the regional boss of Los Zetas in Nuevo Laredo and was given the task to fight off the forces of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was attempting to take over the lucrative drug trafficking routes to the United States. After successfully securing these routes in Nuevo Laredo in 2006, Treviño Morales was moved to Veracruz and appointed as the Zetas leader in the state after the death of the drug lord Efraín Teodoro Torres. Two years later, his boss Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano sent him to Guatemala to wipe out his competitors; after completing the task successfully, he appointed Treviño Morales as the national commander of Los Zetas in 2008. In 2010, Los Zetas gained their independence from the Gulf Cartel, their former allies, and both organizations went to war with each other.
Gonzalo Elvira
Film Producer
Gonzalo Elvira is a film producer.