Maria Helena Doering

Maria Helena Doering Monsalve de Escobar, straight outta Cali, Colombia, comes from a big family—one of five siblings. She kicked off her career in modeling, hopping around the globe: Italy, Germany, Japan, Spain, Switzerland… honestly, she was everywhere. If you watched TV in the late 80s or early 90s, there’s a good shot you caught her in ads for basically everything—Coffee Delight, Colgate, Nutella (now that’s a flex), Parmalat, Swatch, even Alfa Romeo. She really did it all. Eventually, a big-shot Colombian producer noticed her and brought her back home for La maldición del paraíso in ’93. That’s where her acting life took off. Maria Helena’s been married to businessman Eduardo Escobar, and they’ve got a son, Alejandro. Family goals, right? This Caleña dove headfirst into the telenovela world. Some of her big ones: La maldición del paraíso, Las aguas mansas, La viuda de Blanco, Milagros de amor… seriously, the list goes on. She even popped up in La Pola not long ago, playing the mom of the main villain. That show, by the way, is all about Policarpa Salavarrieta—the original Colombian rebel girl. And it’s not her first time in a period piece, either. Back in ’93, she played Magdalena Ortega de Nariño in Crónicas de una generación trágica, basically stepping into the shoes of Antonio Nariño’s wife. Pretty wild range. For 2011, she’s got a movie lined up—Escritor de Telenovelas with Dago Garcia—and another telenovela, Los Rico También Lloran, for RCN. Busy doesn’t even begin to cover it.