Talisa Soto

Talisa Soto (born Miriam Soto on March 27, 1967) is an American model and actress of Puerto Rican descent.

Talisa's parents moved from Puerto Rico in the 1950s to Brooklyn, New York, where Talisa was born. Later on, her parents moved to Northampton Massachusetts when she was still just a child. Talisa's family was one of the few Puerto Rican families that resided in her neighborhood. She was raised and educated there, but she felt that people were prejudiced against her and she became a loner. Talisa landed her first modeling job in 1982, when she was 15 years old. In 1985, she tried to sign up with the Ford modeling agency, but was rejected because she looked "too" Latina. Talisa then went and signed with Click Model Management and headed for Europe. She established herself as one of the top models of the 1980s and was very busy modeling in Italy and France. She appeared on the covers of Vogue, Mademoiselle, Glamour and Self magazines.

In 1988, when Talisa returned to the United States, she auditioned and landed the role of India in her feature debut, Spike of Bensonhurst, a comedy which starred Sasha Mitchell and Ernest Borgnine. In 1989, she was cast as Lupe Lamora, in the James Bond movie Licence to Kill starring Timothy Dalton and as Maria Rivera in The Mambo Kings.

In 1990, Talisa was chosen by People Magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. In 1995, she was featured in the Sports Illustrated "Swimsuit Issue". She was ranked #58 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2002.^[1] Talisa has participated in more than 20 movies, among which are: Mortal Kombat (1995) as Kitana; Piñero (2001) as Sugar, starring Benjamin Bratt; and Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002) as Ryne alongside Lucy Liu and Antonio Banderas. Talisa has also made two guest appearances on the television series C-16: FBI. In 1995, she played the role of Doña Julia, one of Johnny Depp's many love interests in the tongue-in-cheek romantic comedy Don Juan DeMarco, Depp playing the title role. She also made an appearance in Marc Anthony's music video for I Need to Know. In 1996 Talisa played the title role in the campy movie Vampirella based on the comic book character.

Talisa married Costas Mandylor, in 1997 and they were divorced in 2000. She fell in love with Benjamin Bratt, whom she met while filming Piñero. They were married on April 13, 2002 and on December 6 that year, she gave birth to their daughter Sophia Rosalinda Bratt. The couple welcomed a son, Mateo Bravery Bratt, on October 3, 2005. They reside in Los Angeles, California.

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans

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