This page uses content from the Talisa Soto biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Talisa Soto (born Miriam Soto on March 27, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American top 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". 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 T.V. guest appearances in 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.

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, 2002, she gave birth to their daughter Sophia Rosalinda Bratt. The couple welcomed a son, Mateo Bravery Bratt, on October 3, 2005. Talisa Soto lives with her family in Los Angeles, California.

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans

External links

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