After a two-year hiatus, Mexican actress and Grammy-nominated pop singer Maite Perroni has returned to the telenovela.
Perroni is the protagonist in the latest Televisa-produced soap to air on Univision, La Gata. It’s a remake of a late 1960s production of the same name that aired in Venezuela, and a redo of the 1987 Mexican telenovela Rosa Salvaje, a tremendous success for Televisa that set the trend for today’s type of storylines.
La Gata premiered in Mexico on May 5 on Televisa’s Canal de las Estrellas and is set to launch at the beginning of September on Univision at 7 p.m (ET).
Perroni portrays Esmeralda, nicknamed “La Gata,” who as a poor, miserable child befriends Pablo, a good-hearted boy from a wealthy family. As the years progress, friendship turns to love -- a love that is put to the test by Pablo’s elite family. The adult Pablo is played by Daniel Arenas, a Colombian heartthrob known for his roles in Televisa’s 2013 production Corazon Indomable and the 2011 Televisa novela Amorcito Corazon.
Taking the role of main antagonist Lorena, Pablo’s mother, is Laura Zapata. In the role of Don Fernando “El Silencioso” de la Santacruz is Manuel Ojeda, a veteran of telenovelas who starred in the mid-1990s production El Vuelo del Aguila and portrayed the villain Zolo in the 1984 Hollywood film Romancing the Stone.
Also in an integral role is Monika Sanchez, a Mexico-born, Miami-raised actress with 20 years of experience in telenovelas -- including lead roles in Televisa’s Pueblo chico, infierno grande and Amar sin limites.
In other Telemundo news, Telemundo Internacional and Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) have forged an international co-production arrangement for the forthcoming telenovela Dueños del Paraíso, starring veteran actress Kate del Castillo. Telemundo will be in charge of the series’ international syndication.
