Top 10 Famous Mexican Singers of All Time
Almost two years ago, I interviewed one of the famous Mexican singers, Leonardo Prieto, to understand the influence of Mexican folklore in his rock music.
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Who are the most famous people in Mexico?
Mexico is famous for a lot of reasons. For starters, it has pristine beaches, ancient ruins and historical sites, and great food. It is also famous for its passion for fútbol, which I covered in the best soccer books.
Interestingly, beyond all the famous attractions and passions, there’s, however, little talk about famous people in Mexico. After all, Mexico’s famous people are another reason that Mexico is famous.
It’s the writers, musicians, athletes, artists, and movie directors that make any country a global name. You must have seen the movie The Revenant starring Leonardo di Caprio or the movie Birdman.
But how many of you know that the director Alejandro G. Iñárritu behind these movies is Mexican?
The point is that there’s a lot more than meets the eye. The question is, how far are we willing to learn something new to challenge our ingrained assumptions? So, I will discuss famous people from Mexico to change what you already know.
Let’s get started with a list of the top 10 famous Mexican people from all walks of life, including actors, artists, movie directors, etc.
Gael García Bernal is one of the famous people in Mexico who is famous for his exceptional acting skills. He was ranked 25th on the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century by the NYT.
Bernal was born into an acting family, and quite naturally, he started acting as a child. As a child and later, as a teenage actor, he appeared in Mexican telenovelas. However, it was the movie Amores Perros in 2000 that earned him critical praise and made him one of the most famous Mexican people. The film got a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
In 2001, he played one of the main characters in Y tu mamá también, one of the best Mexican coming of age movies. In 2004, he played the Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara role in The Motorcycle Diaries. I talked more about this in the best Argentinian movies.
What sets Bernal apart from other famous Mexican people is his commitment to socially conscious filmmaking. As a co-founder of the production company Canana Films, he has produced films highlighting social issues in Latin America.
‘No’ is one of the movies produced by Canana Films. I talked about ‘No’ in the best historical movies.
Frida Kahlo needs no introduction, as almost everyone has heard of her name. She is one of the most iconic and famous Mexican people for her deeply personal paintings on identity, suffering, and resilience.
Farida was born in 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico City, and her life was bedridden due to a severe bus accident. Most of her work is self-portraits because she could not move and had to stay indoors. Her emotional and physical struggles in these self-portraits have made her a symbol of strength and self-expression.
She used to blend realism, symbolism, and surrealism uniquely. She often took inspiration from Mexican folk art and explored themes related to indigenous culture. Her art challenged traditional norms, making her one of the most famous people in Mexico.
Today, Frida Kahlo is a giant figure in Mexican art and a global cultural icon. Her influence extends far beyond the art world, inspiring movements in feminism. She also wrote a diary, The Diary of Frida Kahlo, which I recently covered in Mexican books.
Diego Rivera was the husband of Frida Kahlo and one of Mexico’s famous people for monumental murals. His murals show the struggles and history of the Mexican people. While they both had their challenges and different art orientations, Rivera strongly supported Kahlo’s artistic ambitions.
As for his personal life, he traveled to Europe in 1907 and returned to Mexico in 1921. He was a key figure in the Mexican Mural Movement. His most famous murals are at the National Palace in Mexico City and the Detroit Institute of Arts. He continued painting until he died in 1957.
If you are visiting Mexico, and thinking of museums to visit in Mexico City, the following museums celebrate the lives of Frida Kahlo and her husband.
Frida Kahlo Museum (La Casa Azul)
Museo Mural Diego Rivera
Museo Dolores Olmedo
Carlos Santana is a legendary guitarist and one of the most famous Mexican people in the music industry. He revolutionized rock with his unique Latin rhythms, blues, and jazz blend. Santana became an international sensation in the late 1960s with his band, Santana, after their groundbreaking performance at Woodstock in 1969.
He has won 10 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards, and Rolling Stone named him the 11th greatest guitarist of all time. However, his contribution to bringing Latin music into the mainstream makes him one of the most famous people from Mexico celebrities.
He has released 7 studio albums apart from countless singles and collaborations. As for musical influences, he has been inspired by Miles Davis, B.B. King, and T-Bone Walker, among others. I discussed some of these legends and their work in the best jazz albums.
Beyond his music, Santana does much philanthropic work with the Milagro Foundation, which supports underprivileged children in education, health, and the arts. His music and humanitarian work continue to inspire everyone, making him one of the most famous people from Mexico.
If you like to know more about Mexican music, read my interview with Leonardo Prieto.
Guillermo del Toro is one of the most famous people in Mexico who has greatly impacted the global film industry. Del Toro’s movies are about monsters and macabre. Interestingly, he developed a passion for monsters and the macabre at a young age. He even has a private collection of more than 600 objects everything related to monsters.
This fascination later became his distinctive filmmaking style, blending fantasy, horror, and deep emotional resonance. Del Toro has been making movies since the 1990s with his debut feature “Cronos”. However, his Hollywood breakthrough came with “Blade II”.
Over the years, he has produced many successful films, including Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water. The Shape of Water even won him the Academy Award for Best Director for his unique storytelling prowess.
Although, del Toro doesn’t live in Mexico anymore due to the kidnapping and eventual release of his father after paying ransom. But he hasn’t forgotten his roots as he highlights issues related to his home country and promotes Mexican culture worldwide. I have covered his films in the best Mexican movies.
Alejandro González Iñárritu is another famous Mexican people from the movie industry on our list. Iñárritu began his career in entertainment as a radio host at the Mexican radio station WFM before turning to filmmaking.
There are very few directors who make it big on their directorial debut and Iñárritu is one of them. Amores Perros, his first directorial debut, became an international success, making him one of the most famous people in Mexico.
His unique storytelling style, which involves psychological exploration of human connections, makes his movies unique. No wonder he is the Mexican director who won the Academy Award for Best Director twice for “Birdman” and “The Revenant.”
Iñárritu’s work is more than relevant, as he often touches on themes of cultural identity, immigration, and human resilience. His virtual reality installation, Carne y Arena, talks about the harsh life of an immigrant and is the first VR project to win a special Oscar.
Who doesn’t know the sizzling hot Salma Hayek? And, if you don’t know already, the fault is all yours. After all, Hayek is not only one of the most recognizable famous people in Mexico but a Hollywood icon as well.
She began her career in Mexico with telenovelas before she boldly moved to Los Angeles in 1991. Hayek’s breakthrough came with her role in Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado, which established her as a leading Latina actress in Hollywood.
Hayek also portrayed the artist Frida Kahlo in the biopic “Frida,” which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. This was the first time a Mexican actress had been nominated in this category.
Beyond acting, Hayek is also a producer and an activist. She leverages her fame and success to promote Mexican culture, advocate for women’s rights, and support various charitable causes.
Hayek’s production company, Ventanarosa, tells Latin American stories and amplifies diverse voices. ‘No One Writes to the Colonel’ is one of the films she produced in 2002. The movie is based on the novella by Gabriel García Márquez, whose work I talked about best books to read in 2024.
Octavio Paz is undoubtedly one of the most influential and famous people in Mexico in terms of literature. A poet, essayist, and diplomat, Paz’s work impacted 20th-century Mexico and world literature.
Many writers among Mexico’s famous people come close to Paz in terms of literary achievements and international recognition. In 1990, he became the first Mexican to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. His seminal work, “The Labyrinth of Solitude,” is a reference point for understanding Mexican culture and identity.
Beyond his literary contributions, Paz was also a significant cultural and political voice. He served as a diplomat for Mexico in many countries, including India and France.
The exciting thing about him was that he criticized the Mexican government and leftist intellectuals. His magazine “Vuelta” was a platform for intellectual debate in Mexico and Latin America.
Julio César Chávez is one of the greatest Mexican boxers ever, with a career spanning over 25 years. He held multiple world championships in three weight divisions in such an illustrious career. He also held a remarkable record of 89 wins before his first professional loss, which speaks volumes about his skill and determination.
Chávez stands out among Mexico’s famous people for holding the most successful defenses of world titles (27) and the most title fight victories (31). His fights against fellow boxing legends like Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, and Oscar De La Hoya became iconic moments in boxing history
He also symbolizes national pride and resilience, often called the “Mexican national treasure.” It’s no wonder that even after retirement, Chávez remains one of the most recognizable famous people in Mexico.
K’inich Janaab Pakal , also known as Pakal the Great, is an exception to our list because he predates modern Mexico by over a millennium. He was born in 603 CE and became the jaw (king) of the Maya city-state of Palenque at the age of 12.
He ruled for 68 years until his death in 683 CE. His rule brought great prosperity and architectural advancement to Palenque. Under his rule, the city-state experienced a golden age, constructing monumental structures that still awe visitors today.
The most notable is the Temple of the Inscriptions, which also houses Pakal’s tomb. The famous archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier discovered his long-forgotten sarcophagus in 1952.
His long rule also provides invaluable insights into Maya history, politics, and cosmology. The intricate carvings and inscriptions commissioned during his rule have helped modern scholars decipher Maya hieroglyphs and their complex calendar system.
Although he lived over 1,300 years ago, K’inich Janaab Pakal remains one of the most famous people in Mexico. He symbolizes the rich pre-Columbian heritage that forms a crucial part of Mexican identity and history.
María Sabina was a Mazatec healer from Oaxaca. She is among the most famous Mexican people celebrated for her spiritual connection with nature and her knowledge of medicinal mushrooms. Sabina practiced using ancient Indigenous traditions, which involved the use of psilocybin mushrooms.
She used to refer to these healing rituals as “veladas.” These ceremonies were meant to connect individuals with the divine and were central to her role as a “curandera” or healer.
Sabina’s influence reached beyond her community when, in the 1950s, her work with mushrooms attracted the attention of Western researchers. It brought a global interest in psychedelic substances. Interestingly, there was also research going on in America for psychedelic substances, especially LSD.
Nonetheless, despite the unintended exposure, which included unwanted tourism and exploitation of her practices, María Sabina is one of the most famous people from Mexico for her Indigenous knowledge and the spiritual traditions of Mexico.
Mexico is a country of many contradictions and differences. For example, the taste, quality, and even production methods of Mexican tequila vary from state to state.
Similarly, Mexico remains a top tourist attraction for global tourists, and yet it also grapples with violence and crime. One thing is sure; life never stops in Mexico.
And it is the very reason that has given birth to many famous people in Mexico. Most of Mexico’s famous people came from humble backgrounds, grew up in uncertain environments, and made a big name for themselves and their country.
So, if you also know famous people that are from Mexico, leave a comment, and I will add them to the list!
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