Gabriela
Elena Spanic Utrera was born on December 10, 1973 in Ortiz, State of Guárico,
Venezuela. Her grandparents and her father were born in Croatia. They moved to
Venezuela in 1947. Gabriela has twin sister Daniela, brother Antonio and younger
sister Patricia. She was married to the actor Miguel de León, whom she met
during the filming of soap opera "Como Tú Ninguna".Gabriela grew in the country, far from the hustle and bustle of the city. As a child, she dreamt of being a ballerina, but later she became increasingly interested in acting. At the beginning, her parents weren't delighted with her decision. However, they realised very soon that they couldn't stop her in her intent to become an actress. Gaby appeared in soap operas when she was still an adolescent. Even the fact that she served only for a decoration and that she got small parts with no text didn't take her off her dreams. She knew that only physical aspect and the participation in beauty competitions could open her the road toward main roles in soap operas. Therefor, she made a very strict diet and lost about 25 kilos
in a short time. In 1992, she participated in the contest
for "Miss Venezuela" representing the State of Guárico and obtained the title of
"Miss Venezuela International". After that competition, she began working as a
professional model (1993).
Gabriela was studying a psychology one year, alternating this with acting classes at the Luz Columba Theatre Research Centre directed by Nelson Ortega. Later, she also completed different courses of professional improvement at the Training Centre of Professionals Communication, which is a part of Diego Cisneros Organisation, and in the Free Workshop for the Actor. She took special courses at Herman Institute for professional models.
Gaby's dreams came true with her first role in the soap opera "Divina Obsesión" (1992). In the soap opera "Morena Clara" (1993), she demonstrated her extraordinary abilities as an actress with the role of malicious Linda Prado that led her to her first leading role in "Como Tú Ninguna" (1995). This production obtained the highest rating in last few years in Venezuela and it has been sold to more than 80 countries and translated into several languages. The soap opera "Quirpa De Tres Mujeres" (1996) reaffirmed her histrionics qualities that she emphasised with her role of young Emiliana. In "Todo Por Tu Amor" (1997) she demonstrated that she is a versatile actress in the drama and in the comedy with her role of Amaranta. Those two soap operas just confirmed that Gabriela was well on the road to success.
as sold to more than 150
countries and translated into more than 25 languages. "La Usurpadora" obtained
the highest rating at Mexican television in last few years and the highest
rating ever in United States. In 1999 Gaby recorded her second soap opera for
Televisa, "Por tu amor", with Sául Lisazo as a partner. The story about Cielo, a
proud and resolute young woman, and Marco, a mysterious millionaire, obtained a
good rating according to Televisa's rating scale, but media marked it as a
failure. Anyhow, "Por tu amor" obtained much better rating in other countries.
In October 2001 Gaby completed recordings of her third soap opera for Televisa,
"La Intrusa". The story about two families, Junquera and Roldán, about love and
hatreds, the story full of secrets and intrigues also obtained a good rating,
but media were even more pitiless this time. According to unofficial information
"La Intrusa" was sold to 120 countries so far.
.
The first soap is "Prisionera" (2004), the