Dulce María

Early life

Dulce María was born on 6 December 1985 in Mexico City. She has two sisters, Blanca Ireri and Claudia. Her ancestry includes German, Native Mexican, and Spanish roots, and she is a third cousin of painter Frida Kahlo; in an interview with Go Pride, she explained that her grandmother was Kahlo's cousin. She began appearing in television commercials as a child.

At age eight in 1993, she was cast in Plaza Sésamo, the Mexican version of Sesame Street, appearing in live-action segments and the animated opening credits produced by Oscar González Loyo. She also appeared in other commercials, including a Mother's Day ad for the furniture store Viana. Later, she joined El Club de Gaby and participated in several specials on the Discovery Kids channel before starting her telenovela work for Televisa.

Music career

In 1996, Dulce María joined the Mexican music group KIDS, which was very popular among children in Mexico. She left the group in 1999 for personal reasons. After leaving KIDS, she and her then-boyfriend Daniel Habif, also a KIDS member, formed the group D&D, recording five songs before splitting up for unknown reasons. In early 2000, she replaced Angie in the female Latin pop group Jeans, leaving after two years when she landed the main role of Marcela Mejía in the 2002 telenovela Clase 406.

She was later cast as one of the main characters in Rebelde, and the success of that show launched the group RBD, made up of Dulce, Maite Perroni, Christian Chávez, Alfonso Herrera, Anahí, and Christopher von Uckermann. RBD made nine studio albums in Spanish, Portuguese, and English, sold over 20 million albums worldwide, and toured across Mexico, South America, Serbia, Romania, the United States, and Spain. On 15 August 2008, RBD released a message announcing their split, followed by the Gira del Adiós World Tour which ended in 2008.

Solo projects

On 25 November 2008, Dulce collaborated with Tiziano Ferro and Anahí on the song 'El regalo màs grande'. After RBD's breakup, she signed with Universal Music and began recording as a solo artist in 2009. That year, she recorded two new songs for the novela Verano de amor: 'Verano' and 'Déjame Ser', which she co-wrote with Carlos Lara. She also collaborated with Akon on a remix of his song 'Beautiful', performing it together at the 2009 radio concert El Evento 40.

Her first solo single 'Inevitable' was released on 17 May 2010, with a music video directed by Argentinean director Francisco d'Amorim Lima. Her album Extranjera was divided into two parts: Extranjera Primera Parte, with seven tracks including 'Inevitable', was released on 9 November 2010, and Extranjera Segunda Parte, with seven more tracks plus a DVD, was released on 14 June 2011. Her second single 'Ya No', a cover of Selena's song from the album Amor Prohibido, began playing on radios on 16 November 2010, and its music video was released on 10 February 2011 on her YouTube channel DulceMariaLive after being leaked.

In 2016, she began recording her third studio album DM, finishing it in August 2016 and releasing it on 10 March 2017. She started the DM World Tour in 2017, performing in Mexico, Brazil, and Spain. In 2018, she announced a new album called Origen, featuring only songs she composed, with a concert at the Teatro Metropólitan in Mexico City to present some of the songs.

Acting career

After her early roles as a child star, Dulce María worked in teen-oriented television projects, appearing in El juego de la vida and Clase 406. In Clase 406, she acted alongside future RBD bandmates Alfonso Herrera, Anahí, and Christian Chávez. In 2004, she was cast as Roberta Pardo in Rebelde, a Mexican adaptation of the Argentinian telenovela Rebelde Way. The series aired over 400 episodes until its conclusion in 2006 and achieved global commercial distribution.

For her performance, she received the TVyNovelas Award for Best Young Lead Actress in 2006. After Rebelde ended, Televisa produced the 2007 sitcom RBD: La familia, a fictionalized series starring the band members. It was the first Mexican television production shot entirely in high definition, running for 13 episodes from 14 March to 13 June 2007. In 2009, she starred as Miranda Perea in the telenovela Verano de amor, produced by Pedro Damián, and recorded the theme songs 'Verano' and 'Déjame Ser'.

Her performance earned the People en Español Award for Best Young Actress in 2010. In April 2010, she was cast in the title role of the independent film ¿Alguien ha visto a Lupita?, starring alongside Chilean actor Cristián de la Fuente, which was released in 2011. She returned to television in 2013 with a guest appearance in Mentir para Vivir. She made her debut in an antagonistic role in 2016, starring in Corazón que miente, and later starred in the telenovela Muy padres in 2018.

Philanthropy

Throughout her career, Dulce María has participated in several humanitarian campaigns. In September 2009, she was chosen by Google, Save the Children, and Chicos.net as the representative of the campaign Technology Yes, which promotes good internet use.