Silvia Pinal

Silvia Pinal Hidalgo (born 12 September 1931) is a Mexican actress. She began her career in the theater, venturing into cinema in 1949. She is one of Mexico's greatest female stars, one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema and part of the Golden Age of Hollywood for her film Shark! (1969). Her work in film and popularity in her native country led Pinal to work in Europe (Spain and Italy). Pinal achieved international recognition by starring in a famous film trilogy directed by Luis Buñuel: Viridiana (1961), El ángel exterminador (1962) and Simón del Desierto (1965). In addition to her film career, Pinal was a pioneer in Mexican musical theatre, ventured into television, and held political office. Early life Silvia Pinal Hidalgo was born in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico. Her parents were María Luisa Hidalgo Aguilar and Moisés Pasquel. Pasquel was an orchestra conductor at the Mexican radio station XEW. Pinal's mother became pregnant by Pasquel when she was 15 years old. Her father did not acknowledge Silvia as his child, and Pinal did not know him until she was 11 years old.<ref>TVyNovelas México: Silvia Pinal presents her autobiographic book]</ref> Her biological father sired three more sons: Eugenio, Moisés, and Virginia. However, Pinal never spent time with the Pasquel family. Pinal spent her first years behind the counter of a seafood restaurant near the XEW, where her mother worked. When she was five years old, her mother married Luis G. Pinal, whom they called "El Caballero Pinal" ("Sir Pinal"), a journalist, military man, and politician twenty years her senior. Pinal subsequently adopted Silvia as his daughter, and in later interviews, she described Pinal as her only father. Pinal also had three daughters from a previous marriage: Mercedes, Beatriz, and Eugenia. Sr. Pinal held several public positions in Mexico, including the municipal president of Tequisquiapan, Querétaro. The family lived in several cities in Mexico, including Querétaro, Acapulco, Monterrey, Chilpancingo, Cuernavaca and Puebla, before finally settling in Mexico City.