María la del Barrio

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2012)

María la del barrio
DVD cover
Format	telenovela
Created by	Inés Rodena
Directed by	Beatriz Sheridan
Starring	Thalía Fernando Colunga Itatí Cantoral Irán Eory Ricardo Blume Ludwika Paleta
Theme music composer	Emilio Estefan Kike Santander
Opening theme	María la del Barrio by Thalía
Ending theme	María la del Barrio by Thalía
Country of origin	Mexico
Original language(s)	Spanish
No. of episodes	92 (42-45 minutes)
Production
Producer(s)	Angelli Nesma Medina
Editor(s)	Claudio Gonzalez
Cinematography	Antonio Acevedo
Running time	45 minutes
Production company(s)	Televisa
Distributor	Televisa
Broadcast
Original channel	Canal de las Estrellas
Picture format	480i SDTV
Original run	August 14, 1995 – May 3, 1996
Chronology
Preceded by	Si Dios Me Quita La Vida
Followed by	La Antorcha Encendida
Related shows	Maria La Del Barrio (Philippine TV series)
External links
[www.esmas.com Website]

María la del barrio (Maria of the Slums), the third telenovela in the Las Tres Marías trilogy, is a Mexican telenovela starring Thalía, Fernando Colunga, Itatí Cantoral, Ricardo Blume, Irán Eory and the young actors Ludwika Paleta & Osvaldo Benavides. It was produced and broadcast on Televisa in 1995–1996.

The series is a remake of Los Ricos También Lloran, which featured Verónica Castro, Rogelio Guerra and Rocío Banquells. María la del barrio is considered one of the most popular and successful telenovelas ever, having been broadcast in over 180 countries and watched by more than two billion people. ^[1]

[edit] Plot

María Hernández is a 15-year-old scavenger who lives with her godmother, Casilda, on the outskirts of Mexico City. Before dying, Casilda begs the local priest not to leave María to fend for herself. The priest asks one of his benefactors, Don Fernando de la Vega, to let Maria work as a servant in his house. Instead, Don Fernando takes Maria in as a member of his family and tries his best to make her feel welcome. However, Maria's presence disrupts the family order as the house splits between those who welcome Maria and those who want her to leave. Don Fernando's wife Victoria, his niece Soraya, the maid Carlota, and Don Fernando's eldest son Luis Fernando, can't stand Maria because of her language, social class, and lack of knowledge as to how to act in an upper-class setting. Maria is called "la marginal" or "the marginal one" and is often ridiculed. However, Maria find solace in Don Fernando's generosity, Vladimir (middle child) and Vanessa's (youngest and only daughter) friendship, the rest of the kitchen staff, and the various animals that she acquires throughout the course of the series (birds, goats, a rabbit, monkey, etc.).

María quickly falls in love with the dashing Luis Fernando despite his problems with alcohol and his arrogant personality. At first, Luis Fernando tries to woo Maria for fun although he slowly starts falling in love with her. Soraya, who likes Luis Fernando and wants to enjoy his family fortune, despises Maria and vows to never let anything happen between the two lovers. She pretends to be pregnant with Luis Fernando's child and the two get married. Once Luis Fernando realizes his love for Maria and that Soraya is not pregnant, their marriage ends and Soraya disappears after an accident caused by her lover she had and made everyone believe she's dead. Luis Fernando resumes a married life with Maria that falls apart due to Luis Fernando's jealous character and his addiction to alcohol. He walks in on an innocent embrace between María and his brother Vladimir, who had professed his love for Maria during her first days in the de la Vega residency. Luis Fernando storms out in jealousy and claims that María's baby is not his. When the baby is born, Maria gives it away during a temporary bout of insanity. Luis Fernando eventually discovers the truth and rescues his wife from an asylum and adopts another child for her, but she never loses hope of recovering the son she lost. After the disappearance of her son the couple adopts a girl named Tita and Lupe calls her goddaughter Penelope to take care of the child as her nanny. She humiliates the child and tries to ruin the wedding of Maria and Luis Fernando until she's fired and Maria sent her to jail after everything she did against her.

Years later, Maria finds Fernando, her son as a teenager. She promises his adoptive mother Agripina who picked him along with his godfather economic help as long as they don't tell Nando as he is called, that Maria is actually his biological mother. Maria wants to find the right time to tell Nando the truth. Maria does not tell Luis Fernando about her involvement with Nando and his adoptive family. Nevertheless, Luis Fernando has someone spy on Maria and finds out about her economic help to Nando's family. He mistakenly believes that Nando is Maria's lover and has another jealous rage that makes Nando's family feel threatened. Agripina and Nando decide to leave town but Maria catches up with them at the train station and tells her son the truth. Shortly after Luis Fernando learns the truth and Nando is accepted as another family member of their household. Maria sends Penelope, her long-time enemy, with her husband Papacito to prison.

Soraya suddenly returns to Mexico to avenge herself against those who according to her would not let her find happiness. During her time away, she killed the man that caused her accident and married a foreign billionaire named Oscar Montalban, who is killed by Soraya in a traffic accident. Soraya is unable to get his fortune as his daughter Alicia is the only heir. Soraya also tortures and humiliates Alicia, who is disabled, and Alicia's governess (Esperanza). The De la Vega family realizes the situation and decide to take Alicia and her governess away from the clutches of Soraya, "the black widow" and "the living dead" as Carlota (a maid of the house) called her. Nando falls in love with Soraya but quickly Nando falls in love with Alicia and was almost killed by Soraya. Tita finds her real parents but loses her temper with them and leaves them and is accidentally hit by a car. She is saved and falls in love with Aldo. Soraya wants to take vengeance to Nando because he left her for Alicia as his father did the same for Maria. Soraya killed Calixta, her nanny and biological mother. She blames Nando for the crime but Maria is sent to prison in her son's place. In the jail Soraya sents to Maria fake photographs of her and Luis Fernando in erotic moments. There she is in the same cell with Penelope and reunites with her big enemy. Quickly the tension between them ends after many events coused by Penelope against Maria. Maria saves Gracia another prisoner from a violent guard named Rosenda because thanks to Gracia sent to the cell of loneliness and the prison's principal fires Rosenda. The guard burns up the prison. Maria is thought to be among the dead but she survived and was taken care of by some nurses. Luis Fernando finds her working as a nurse but he finds out that Maria has amnesia. Everything gets worse when Soraya arrives for vengeance.

[edit] Final

Soraya kidnaps Maria and takes her to an old cabin. She tells her how much she hates her and how her life has been going downhill ever since Maria arrived at de la Vega's mansion. They start to fight and Soraya throws Maria on the floor, causing Maria to lose consciousness. When Maria wakes up, she remembers everything and the two fight again. When the police and Luis Fernando arrive, Soraya decides that if she can't live happily, then no one can. She sets the cabin on fire, but she accidentally sets her dress on fire in the process and thus begins to burn to death. Maria and Luis Fernando manage to escape the flames and they celebrate their anniversary with their family and friends.

[edit] Cast

• Thalía as María Hernández De la Vega - in love with Luis Fernando; biological mother of Nandito; adoptive mother of Tita; goddaughter of Casilda
• Fernando Colunga as Luis Fernando De la Vega - son of Fernando and Victoria, in love with Maria, biological father of Nandito, adoptive father of Tita
• Itatí Cantoral as Soraya Montenegro de la Vega de Montalban - Main villain, first wife of Luis Fernando, Oscar's widow, niece of Victoria, stepmother of Alicia, hates Maria, dies by burned alive by a gasoline with a fire match
• Ricardo Blume as Don Fernando De la Vega, husband of Victoria, father of Luis Fernando, Vladimir and Vanessa
• Irán Eory as Victoria Montengro de la Vega, wife of Fernando, mother of Luis Fernando, Vladimir and Vanessa, aunt of Soraya
• Héctor Soberón as Vladimir De la Vega, brother of Luis Fernando and Vanessa, son of Fernando and Victoria, in love with Maria
• Montserrat Gallosa as Vanessa De la Vega, sister of Luis Fernando and Vladimir, daughter of Fernando and Victoria, in love with Pedro
• Ludwika Paleta as María de los Ángeles 'Tita' De la Vega Hernández - adoptive daughter of Luis Fernando and Maria, biological daughter of Clemente and Veronica, in love with Aldo
• Meche Barba as Lupe - the housemaid in the De La Vega mansion
• Carmen Salinas as Agripina Perez, the adoptive mother of Nandito
• Osvaldo Benavides as Fernando 'Nandito' De la Vega Hernández - son of Maria and Luis Fernando and adoptive son of Agripina, in love with Alicia
• Sebastián Garza as Pedro - friend of Maria,in love with Vanessa
• Manuel Saval as Oscar Montalban - in love with Soraya, father of Alicia (killed by Soraya)
• Jessica Jurado as Veronica Robles del Castillo - in love with Clemente, biological mother of Tita
• Ariadne Welter as Esperanza Calderón Alicia's nanny
• Yuliana Peniche as Alicia Montalban Smith, daughter of Oscar, stepdaughter of Soraya, in love with Nandito
• Aurora Molina as Casilda godmother of Maria
• Pituka de Foronda as Seño Caro
• Tito Guízar as Padre Honorio priest
• Silvia Caos as Calixta Popoca witch, Soraya's biological mother (killed by Soraya)
• Ana Patricia Rojo as Penelope Linares servant at De la Vega's house, Tita's nanny, in love with Luis Fernando, then with Jose Maria, villain, hates Maria, later become good
• René Muñoz as El Veracruz, godfather of Nandito, finally he will married Agripina.
• Gloria Izaguirre as Marsela
• Rebeca Manríquez as Carlota, servant at De La Vega's house
• Beatriz Moreno as Fellipa cook of De La Vega, in love with Urbano
• Raúl Padilla "Chóforo" as Urbano servant at De La Vega's house, in love with Fellipa
• Alejandra Procuna as Brenda ex-girlfriend of Luis Fernando
• Yadira Santana as Rufina
• Roberto Ballesteros as El Fantasma
• Leonardo Daniel as Hinojosa
• Juan Antonio Edwards as Dr. Rodrigo Suarez
• David Ostrosky as Zabala
• Javier Gómez as Rosales
• Isabel Martínez 'La Tarabilla'
• Jorge Cáceres as Osvaldo Treviño
• Emilia Carranza as Raymunda Robles
• Roberto Blandon as José María Cano "Papacito" husband of Penelope, villain, ends up in jail
• Antonio Medellín as Doctor Carreras
• Lilia Machel as Sor Matilde
• Ninón Sevilla as Caridad, friend of Agripina
• Sara Montes as Elisa
• Claudia Ortega as Antonia godmother of Nandito
• Javier Ruán as Zamora
• Rodrigo Abed as Bernardo
• Daniel Gaurvy as Clemente Barena, in love with Veronica, father of Tita
• Mauricio Aspe as Aldo Armenteros, son of Abelardo, in love with Tita
• Enrique Lizalde as Abelardo Armenderos, lawyer of Soraya, father of Aldos
• Eric del Castillo as Juez
• Ricardo Vera as Camilo Macias
• Sebastián Ligarde as Lic. Gonzalo Dorantes, villain, lawyer, friend of Soraya, in love with Maria
• Irlanda Mora as La Leona
• Patricia Martínez as Romelia Aguado
• Evangelina Martínez
• Ariel López Padilla as Dr. Daniel Ordóñez, who saved Maria when she's amnesia and also in love with Maria
• Frances Ondiviela as Cecilia, villain, in love with Daniel, hates Maria
• Esteban Moldovan as Carlitos Ordoñez, son of Daniel
• Natasha Dupeyrón as Perlita Ordóñez, daughter of Daniel
• Rocío Sobrado as Gracia Valdez, friend of Maria in jail
• María Prado as Rosenda La Carcelera, villain, hates Maria, fired for abusing Gracia Valdez with a stick, sets prison on fire, dies burning alive
• Alejandro Tommasi as Dr. Keller
• Enrique Muñoz as Agente Murillo
• Lourdes Dechamps as Argelia, Soraya's maid

[edit] Awards

[edit] References

[edit] International release

Country	TV Channels	Local Title
Argentina	Telefe[1] Canal 9[2] Magazine
Brazil	SBT	Maria do Bairro
Chile	MEGA TV La Red
Colombia	Canal Uno Canal Capital Inravisión Jorge Barón Televisión
Dominican Republic	Telemicro
Ecuador	Canal Uno Gama TV TC Televisión
Greece	Alpha TV & Alter Channel	Μαρία της γειτονιάς[3]
Hungary	RTL Klub	María, a lány a külvárosból[4]
Indonesia	SCTV	Maria Cinta Yang Hilang
Israel	VIVA	מריה מריה
Nicaragua	Televicentro
Paraguay	SNT Telefuturo
Peru	América Televisión
Philippines	RPN
Poland	TVP3	Maria z przedmieścia[5]
Portugal	RTP1	Maria do Bairro
Romania	Acasa TV	Sarmana Maria
Russia	REN TV
United States	Univision First run Galavisión (USA) Telefutura / now called UniMás
Venezuela	Venevisión Televen

[edit] External links

• María la del Barrio at the Internet Movie Database
• María la del Barrio (translated) @ Univision.com

[edit] References