Biography

Luis Gatica was born in Veracruz

Veracruz

Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...

. He grew in a show business family. He is the son of Chilean singer Lucho Gatica

Lucho Gatica

Luis Enrique Gatica Silva, better known as Lucho Gatica, is a Chilean bolero singer, film actor, and television host. It is estimated that Gatica has released more than 90 recordings. He has toured a vast portion of the world, having made concerts in Europe, the Middle East and Asia...

 and Puerto Rican actress Mapita Cortés

Mapita Cortés

Mapita Cortés , was an actress of telenovelas and the cinema of Mexico. She is the mother of Mexican actor Luis Gatica, the wife of Lucho Gatica, the niece of Puerto Rican actress Mapy Cortés, and the niece in law of Mexican actor Fernando Cortés...

; he is the nephew of Puerto Rican actress Mapy Cortés

Mapy Cortés

Mapy Cortés , born Maria del Pilar Cordero in Santurce, Puerto Rico, was a famous actress that participated in many films during the Mexican film industry's golden era...

 and second cousin of Puerto Rican actor, comedian and producer Paquito Cordero

Paquito Cordero

Paquito Cordero , was a comedian and television producer and also one of the pioneers of Puerto Rican television.-Early years:...

. Having celebrity relatives both in Mexico and in Puerto Rico, Gatica wanted to become a celebrity on his own since he was very young. Gatica participated in various theater plays

Play (theatre)

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

 and in some, not particularly notable, music groups as he grew. He struggled trying to follow in his parents' footsteps.

His first big break came in 1983, when he was hired by Televisa

Televisa

Televisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest mass media company in Latin America and in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract...

 to act in La fiera

La Fiera

Arturo Casco Hernández was a Mexican luchador, or professional wrestler who was best known under the ring name La Fiera, which is Spanish for "The Fierce". Hernández was a second generation wrestler, following in the footsteps of his father Hércules Poblano...

, which is considered a contemporary classic among telenovela

Telenovela

A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...

s. In 1984, he played Joel in Los años felices (The Happy Years).
This was followed by 1986's Marionetas (Puppets), where he played Jorge Linares.

Having obtained celebrity for the first time, Gatica tried his luck in the world of music, retiring from television from 1986 to 1994. Although his foray into the world of rock music was largely unsuccessful, he nevertheless kept active for those eight years, singing in many Mexican locations.

In 1994, he was offered a return to television, and he did so by participating in another Mexican classic, Marimar, playing Chuy. Gatica then made his film debut, when he participated in 1995's Tiempo de Muerte 2 (Time to Die 2).

Tiempo de Muerte 2 was followed by A sangre fría

A Sangre Fría

'A sangre fría' is a 1947 Argentine murder thriller film directed by Daniel Tinayre and written by Luis Saslavsky.-Plot:...

 ("In cold blood") where he played Beto. In 1996, Gatica returned to acting in telenovelas, participating in La antorcha encendida (The burning torch), as Juan Foncerrada and in Mi querida Isabel (My beloved Isabel), where he played Ricardo.

He took one year off before returning to the screen in 1998, acting as Ruben in Cazador de cazadores (Hunter of hunters), an action movie. That same year, he participated as Patricio in Preciosa, another telenovela that was successful. That telenovela was followed by another one, La mentira

La Mentira

La Mentira - telenovela, 1998). A production of Televisa, this Mexican telenovela is one of the most successful and popular series of all times.-General information:...

 (The Lie), where he personified Santiago.

Luis Gatica made one telenovela in 1999: in DKDA: Suenos de Juventud (DKDA: Dreams of Youth), he played Raul Arias.

Returning to the film industry in 2000, Gatica played Rodrigo Miranda in Cuenta saldada (Paid Debt).

His next work, however, was in a soap opera marred by general criticism by magazine and newspaper telenovela critics. Sin Pecado Concebido, where he played doctor Garduno, was not well received by the media, which doomed the show with tele-spectators, and the soap opera was not a success.

In 2002, Gatica joined other celebrities in the Big Brother reality show, in Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

.

Gatica began 2003 by participating in another telenovela: he played Jorge Esparza in iña amada mía (Beloved girl of mine). This was followed by Clap! El lugar de tus sueños (Clap! the place of your dreams), where he played Rivadeneira, and by 2004's Rubí

Rubí

Rubí is a Mexican telenovela that aired on Televisa in 2004. The plot is based on a short story by Yolanda Vargas Dulché, published as a serial on the 1960's Mexican comic book Lágrimas, Risas y Amor...

, where he acted as Cayetano.

In 2006, he acted in the telenovela produced by José Alberto Castro Codigo Postal, as Herman.

External links

• Luis Gatica at the telenovela database