Natalia Oreiro

Natalia Marisa Oreiro Iglesias is an Uruguayan actress. She was born on May 19, 1977 in Montevideo and began studying theatre at the age of 8. Today her life passes between stage, cameras, premieres, recording studios, presentations and she is already a phenomenon. When was 12 years old, she presented herself for audition that needed child actors, and started a career in the commercial world. From then till 16 she recorded 37 commercials for O.B., Coca-Cola, Knorr, among others. At 14 she was picked out of 10,000 competitors to accompany Xuxa on her tour in America and representing her in programs (such as El show de Xuxa (1991)) and homages. But most of her earnings went on tickets to Buenos Aires to participate in film castings. When she was 17 she relocated to Argentina alone. She participated in a small role in the television series called Unconquerable Heart (1994) (at first as an ordinary extra, later as one of the schoolgirls). Then she renounced her part as an ambassadress (called "Paquita") to Xuxa and to be a host on MTV Latino. In 1995 she was called to play the protagonist's niece in the telenovela Sweet Anne (1995). Afterwards she appeared in Top Models (1996) and a year later in Rich and Famous (1997), which got attention all over Argentina and abroad. Already in 1996 she participated in the theatre play "Las mariposas son libres". In 1998 she co-hosted with Fernando Bravo the gala of Premios Martín Fierro (an equivalent of Emmy Awards in Argentina). She also appeared in the movie An Argentinian in New York (1998) as an ambitious teenage lady who dreams of being a triumph in the music world. The film beat all audience records with 1,634,702 spectators, and was the initial kick-off to her singing career. In 1998 she launched her first record worldwide called "Natalia Oreiro" and performed the song "Cambio dolor" that opened the television series Wild Angel (1998) which was the rating leader of afternoon television. Her songs ("Me muero de amor", between others) are heard all over the world. On January 27, 2000 she received the Celebrity of the Year prize in the chain by cable E! Entertainment Television Network in the television category for her outstanding career and for being the celebrity revelation of 1999. She was also nominated for a Martín Fierro Award in two consecutive years (1999 and 2000) as the best dramatic actress in a leading role for her part as a boyish and sensual orphan who seduced the viewers in Wild Angel (1998). This series was screened in 63 countries all over the world, among others in the United States, Russia, Greece, Slovenia, Cyprus, Lithuania, Romania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and the whole Latin America. In her musical career, she sang with Raffaella Carrà; in Italy (song "03 03 456"), was part of Gala de la Hispanidad, a classical Spanish show in Punta del Este. She was also in Festival de la Calle 8 in Miami and in Gala de Murcia in Spain. After making public her decision to dedicate her career to singing in 2000, she traveled to Los Angeles to put her voice to a second record titled "Tu veneno" ("Your Poison") this is a pop-rock style with an Andalusian touch, for which she was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award as best female pop album. Natalia received various offers to film in Spain, Italy and the United States. In 2000 and 2001 she did an extensive tour of recitals including countries like Romania, Philippines, Hungary, Greece, Poland, Czech Republic, Israel, Slovakia, Slovenia, Russia, Belarus, among others. In February 2001 she was elected the Queen of the Viña del Mar Festival 2000, conquering all the Chilean public by singing and beauty. Next year she participated as a guest to sing in the Viña del Mar Festival 2001 for the second year running and was chosen to co-conduct one of the festival nights. In March 2002 she continued her tour in Russia and Belarus and started to record her new album titled "Turmalina" ("Tourmaline"), which came on sale in June 2002. A month earlier, Natalia started filming Runaway Lady (2002), finished in December of the same year and transmitted in many countries of Latin America, Philippines, the Middle East and Europe. For this part, in 2003 she was nominated for a Martín Fierro Award as the best comedy actress in a leading role and for an Inte Award as the best actress. In March 2003 she began shooting of her second movie Cleopatra (2003). In the middle of 2003, she started a tour for Eastern Europe and Latin America. On March 1, 2004 she started filming The Desire (2004). In 2006 she joined as a boxer in the cast of the telenovela Sos mi vida (2006). After that, Natalia played the title character of Amanda O (2008) and focused on her cinematographic career, shooting 4 films: Música en espera (2009), France (2009), Miss Tacuarembó (2010) and My First Wedding (2011). In 2012 she will release a movie Clandestine Childhood (2011) and a series Lynch (2012).