Thalía

Thalía married music executive Tommy Mottola on December 2, 2000, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. The couple has two children, daughter Sabrina Sakaë, born in October 2007, and son Matthew Alejandro, born in June 2011. Thalía became a naturalized United States citizen in 2006 while retaining her Mexican citizenship, residing with her family in New York.

In September 2002, her sisters Laura Zapata and Ernestina Sodi were kidnapped in Mexico City; Zapata was released after 18 days in captivity, and Sodi was released after 36 days. In 2008, Thalía was diagnosed with Lyme disease after being bitten by a tick, undergoing extensive antibiotic treatment that temporarily halted promotional activities for her studio album Lunada. She has spoken candidly about her recovery and health journey in interviews and in her 2011 autobiography Growing Stronger.

Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda was born on August 26, 1971, in Mexico City. She is the youngest of five daughters born to painter Yolanda Miranda Mange, who served as her manager from 1980 to 1999, and scientist and criminologist Ernesto Sodi Pallares. At the age of one, she appeared in a television commercial, and by age four, she began studying ballet and piano at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música. When she was six years old, her father passed away from complications of diabetes, a trauma that caused her to lose her voice for a year and led to years of psychological therapy.

Her performing career began in earnest in 1981 when she joined the children's musical group Pac Man, later renamed Din-Din, participating in the televised festival Juguemos a cantar and releasing four studio albums. In 1984, she took second place in Juguemos a cantar as a solo performer with "Moderna niña del rock." This success earned her a role in the chorus of Vaselina, a youth stage production of Grease starring the pop group Timbiriche. She soon took over the lead role of Sandy Dee, performing in 500 stage presentations before formally joining Timbiriche as a vocalist in 1986. With Timbiriche, she recorded hit studio albums including Timbiriche VII and the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX before departing the band in 1989 to study English, acting, and dance in Los Angeles.

Thalía made her acting debut on television with a supporting appearance in Pobre señorita Limantour in 1987, followed by a breakthrough co-starring role as Beatriz in the teen telenovela Quinceañera opposite Adela Noriega. The show won Best Telenovela at the Premios TVyNovelas, and Thalía won the award for Best New Actress. After headlining Luz y Sombra in 1989, she achieved worldwide television stardom through Televisa's "María Trilogy": María Mercedes in 1992, Marimar in 1994, and María la del Barrio in 1995.

The three productions, together with her 1999 serial Rosalinda, followed classic rags-to-riches narratives and became international cultural phenomena. Broadcast in more than 180 countries and reaching an estimated global audience of two billion viewers, the telenovelas broke viewership records across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. In the Philippines, the popularity of Marimar prompted nationwide frenzy during her 1996 visit, drawing public crowds compared to papal visits. The immense reach of these broadcasts established her as the highest-paid actress in Televisa history and earned her the enduring title of Queen of Telenovelas.

Thalía launched her solo music career in 1990 with a self-titled debut album produced by Alfredo Díaz Ordaz on the Fonovisa label, generating hits such as "Un Pacto Entre los Dos" and "Saliva." She followed with Mundo de Cristal in 1991 and Love in 1992, which spawned the popular single "Sangre" and a French-Spanish rendition of Edith Piaf's "La Vie en rose." In 1994, she signed with EMI Latin and partnered with producer Emilio Estefan Jr. to release En Éxtasis (1995), featuring her international signature song "Piel Morena." The album achieved multi-platinum certifications across several continents, prompting the 1997 Tagalog-language release Nandito Ako for the Philippine market.

Her international prominence expanded with Amor a la Mexicana in 1997 and Arrasando in 2000, both produced by Estefan. Arrasando earned her a Latin Grammy Award for Best Sound Engineered Album and generated enduring tracks including "Entre el mar y una estrella" and "Regresa a mí." In 2002, she released another self-titled album featuring the chart-topping singles "Tú y Yo" and "No Me Enseñaste," followed by her 2003 English-language crossover album Thalía, which featured rapper Fat Joe on the top-ten hit "I Want You." Subsequent releases included the lavishly produced El Sexto Sentido in 2005 and Lunada in 2008.

Signing with Sony Music Latin, Thalía recorded the live acoustic album Primera Fila in 2009. The project became one of Mexico's best-selling albums of all time, spending 55 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the national charts and achieving diamond certification. Her later studio albums include Habítame Siempre (2012), Amore Mío (2014), Latina (2016), and Valiente (2018), which featured the quadruple-platinum collaborative hit "No Me Acuerdo" with Natti Natasha.

Beyond entertainment, Thalía developed an extensive commercial empire. In 2003, she became the first Mexican woman to launch a national clothing brand in the United States through an exclusive partnership with Kmart. She subsequently launched the Thalía Eyewear Collection in association with Kenmark Optical, which expanded to more than 80 countries and generated over 100 million dollars in sales. In 2015, she debuted a comprehensive apparel, footwear, and jewelry collection with Macy's, described by the retailer as one of the largest private-brand launches in company history. Her commercial portfolio has also encompassed fragrances, cosmetics lines, a hair care brand named Adria by Thalía, and editorial publications.

Thalía has also been active in broadcasting and publishing, hosting the nationally syndicated Conexión Thalía Radio Show across the United States from 2007 to 2016 and writing four books, including beauty guides, a children's book titled Chupie, and her memoir. In philanthropy, she has served as a celebrity ambassador for the March of Dimes since 2004, promoting maternal and infant health awareness. In 2016, she was officially appointed a UNICEF Mexico Goodwill Ambassador, supporting childhood development initiatives and humanitarian relief efforts.