Lupe Vélez

By the end of the decade she had progressed to leading roles. With the advent of talking pictures Vélez acted in comedies, but she became disappointed with her film career, and moved to New York where she worked in Broadway productions.

Returning to Hollywood in 1939, she made a series of comedies. She also made some films in Mexico. Vélez's personal life was often difficult; a five year marriage to Johnny Weissmuller and a series of romances, were highly publicized. She is often associated with the nicknames "The Mexican Spitfire" and "The Hot Pepper".

Vélez was one of the first Mexican actresses to succeed in Hollywood. The others are Dolores del Río, Katy Jurado and in more recent years, Salma Hayek.

Vélez was born María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez in the city of San Luis Potosí in Mexico, the daughter of a colonel in the armed forces of the dictator Porfirio Diaz, (Jacobo Villalobos Reyes), and his wife (Josefina Vélez). She had three younger siblings: Mercedes, Josefina and Emigdio. Because of her impulsive and aggressive behavior towards her ​​classmates, when she was 13 years old, her parents sent her to study at Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio, Texas. This was how she learned to speak English. Read Less