Sylvia Pasquel

Sylvia Pasquel (born Silvia Banquells Pinal, 13 October 1949) is a Mexican actress.

Pasquel was born into a show business family: her father, Rafael Banquells, was a famous Cuban-born actor and director. Her mother is Silvia Pinal, an actress very well known throughout Latin America and Spain. She chose the professional surname of "Pasquel" as a combination of her father's and mother's last names.

Pasquel's siblings are also famous: her siblings on mother's side are actresses Viridiana Alatriste, singer Alejandra Guzmán and Luis Enrique Guzmán Pinal. Both Alejandra and Luis Enrique were a product of Pasquel's mother's third marriage to Mexican once teen idol Enrique Guzmán. Viridiana died as a consequence of a car accident.

She is a half-sister of the actress and singer Rocío Banquells. Rocío is the daughter of Pasquel's father with his third wife, actress Dina de Marco. Her other siblings on father's side are Janette, Mary Paz, Ariadne and Rafael II. In an interview, Pasquel said that because of the age difference between herself and her siblings, she was more motherly to them than sisterly.

Pasquel has been married twice, the first time at age 16 because her mother wanted her to be married as a virgin. Her first husband was the rocker Mike Salas. Her daughter, Stephanie Salas, is also a famous telenovela actress and an aspiring singer in Mexico. Her granddaughter, Michelle Salas, is Luis Miguel's daughter.

Her second husband is Fernando Frade. His daughter, named Viridiana (in honor of her dead sister) died in an accident in a pool in 1987.

Pasquel, her mother, and two of her of sisters—Banquells and Guzman—have been inducted into the Paseo de las Luminarias in Mexico City. Pasquel was inducted for her work in movies and television.

1960s

At the age of nineteen, Pasquel did her first movie, El Despertar del Lobo (The Wolf's Awakening). That movie was made in 1968, the year in which Pasquel became very famous in Mexico. She followed her first film with her telenovela debut, in Los Inconformes (The Nonconformists).

In 1969, she took part in a movie about wrestling, starring alongside Santo and his wrestling enemy, Blue Demon, in Santo Contra Blue Demon en la Atlantida(Santo versus Blue Demon at the Atlantida). She also appeared in two other films in 1969, Una Mujer Honesta (An Honest Woman) and La Casa del Farol Rojo (The Redlight House).

1970s

The decade of the 1970s was a very busy one for Pasquel, as she starred in multiple films, soap operas, and even in magazine soaps, which were popular in Latin America then. In 1970, she starred in Me he de comer esa tuna (I Shall Eat That Prickly Pear), La Cruz de Mariza Cruzes (Mariza Cruzes' Cross) and in El Mariachi, the only telenovela she did that year.

In 1971, she played "Gianna Donatti" in the telenovela Muchacha Italiana Viene a Casarse (Italian Girl Comes to Get Married) with Angélica María. That soap opera was a major hit, and Pasquel followed her work there with another telenovela, La Recogida (The Step-Daughter). Her one movie in 1971 was Secreto de Confesion (Confession Secret). 1972 proved to be a relatively easy year for Pasquel, whose fame had already spread to the rest of Latin America and among Hispanics in the United States. She participated in only one movie and no soap operas. Her movie that year was named Cinco Mil Dolares de Recompensa (Five Thousand Dollars Reward).

She participated alongside Chabelo, a very popular children's actor of the era, in 1973's Chabelo y Pepito contra los Monstruos (Chabelo and Pepito Against the Monsters). This was followed by another telenovela, El Amor Tiene Cara de Mujer (Love has a Woman's Face). She finished 1973 playing "Maritza" in "Mi Rival" (My Rival).

Pasquel did two soap operas in 1974, each of which proved to be important in her career: in Ha LLegado una Intrusa (An Intruder has Arrived, remade during the 1990s as La Usurpadora), she played two roles in the same drama for the first time in her career, acting as twins "Veronina and Hilda Moreno". Mundo de Juguete (Toy World), meanwhile, became one of the most successful Mexican telenovelas of the era.

After El Milagro de Vivir (The Miracle of Living), a 1975 soap opera, Pasquel began slowing her on screen work rate, and she took 1976 off to return in 1977, with another soap opera, named Humillados y Ofendidos (Humiliated and Offended). Once again, she took a full year off the screens in 1978 and returned in 1979 with a movie named Johnny Chicano and a soap named J.J. Juez.

1980s

By the 1980s, Pasquel was already a family woman, a fact which contributed to a further slowdown of her screen career. She participated in 1980's Al Rojo Vivo (loosely translated to Very Red), in 1982's El Amor Nunca Muere (Love Never Dies), 1983's Cuando los Hijos se Van (When Children Leave), and 1987's Los Años Perdidos (The Lost Years).

She took off three more years after that, returning in 1990 to participate in one episode of the popular television show, Mujer, Casos de la Vida Real, which is hosted by her mother. The chapter she appeared in was based on a real-life story of a rape victim. Soon after, she made another telenovela, Dias sin Luna (Days Without a Moon). Her return to soap operas was followed by her return to film, with two movies made in 1991: Politico por Error (Politician by Mistake) and Asalto (Robbery).

1990s

In 1990, a teen-oriented soap opera, Alcanzar una estrella (Reaching a Star), with Eduardo Capetillo, had become a major hit on Mexican television. Pasquel acted in that production's 1991 sequel, Alcanzar una estrella II, where she acted alongside Capetillo, Sasha Sokol and a budding Puerto Rican star named Ricky Martin.

She followed that with 1993's Las Secretas Intenciones (Secret Intentions). and 1995's comedy film El Superman....Dilon Dos (The Super....lacy one, Part Two). In 1996, she participated in Para Toda la Vida (Forever), which was another telenovela. She returned once again in 1998's Huracan, where she played "Caridad".

2000s

She starred as "Zulema" in 2000's Mi Destino Eres Tu (You Are My Destiny).

In 2001, she participated in another major Mexican telenovela hit, El Manantial (The Cascade). That same year, she played as "Silvia" in Aventuras en el Tiempo (Time Adventures). During 2002, she participated in a very large number of episodes of Mujer, Casos de la Vida Real.

She also participated, as of 2005, in the Mexican soap opera Amarte es mi Pecado (My Sin is Loving You).

Her latest appearance was, as of 2008, in the soap opera Yo amo a Juan Querendón.

On stage, Pasquel had great success in 1979 in the play Claudia me quieren volver loco.

2010s

In 2013, Pasquel signed to star in Qué pobres tan ricos from the hit producer of Por Ella Soy Eva, Rosy Ocampo.