Dulce María Espinosa Saviñón (Spanish: [ˈdulse maˈɾi.a saβiˈɲon], born 6 December 1985), simply known as Dulce María, is a Mexican singer and actress.
Dulce María began her career at age five, appearing in more than 100 television commercials. At age eleven, she joined the musical group KIDS, and at fifteen, she became a member of Jeans. She has also starred in numerous telenovelas, including El vuelo del águila (1994), Nunca te olvidaré (1999), Primer amor, a mil por hora (2000), Clase 406 (2002), Rebelde (2004), Verano de amor (2009), Corazón que miente (2016), Muy padres (2017), and Pienso en ti (2023).
She achieved international recognition in 2004 after starring in Televisa's telenovela Rebelde and joining the two-time Latin Grammy-nominated pop group RBD, which sold over 15 million records worldwide.
In 2009, Dulce María launched her solo music career after signing with Universal Music Latin. Her debut extended play, Extranjera - Primera Parte (2010), opened at number one on Mexico's Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas chart, and she became the first Mexican artist to receive a platinum certification in Brazil. She has since released four solo studio albums: Extranjera - Segunda Parte (2011), Sin Fronteras (2014), DM (2017), and Origen (2021).
Dulce María has won various international accolades, including the MTV Europe Music Awards, Premios TVyNovelas, People en Español Awards, Premios Juventud, and the American, Mexican, and Brazilian editions of the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. She has been featured on the "most beautiful" lists of publications such as People en Español and Quién, and has been recognized as one of the most influential Mexican figures on Twitter.
Early life
Dulce María was born on 6 December 1985 in Mexico City. She has two sisters, Blanca Ireri and Claudia. She is of German, Native Mexican, and Spanish descent, and is a third cousin of painter Frida Kahlo. In an interview with Go Pride, she noted the relationship, stating that her grandmother was Kahlo's cousin.
As a child, Dulce María began appearing in television commercials. In 1993, at age eight, she was cast in Plaza Sesamo, the Mexican version of Sesame Street. She appeared in both live-action segments and the show's animated opening credits, which were produced by Oscar González Loyo. She also appeared in various other commercials during her youth, including a Mother's Day advertisement for the furniture store Viana. She was later cast in El Club de Gaby and participated in several specials on the Discovery Kids channel. Shortly after, she began acting in telenovelas for Televisa.
Music career
In 1996, Dulce joined the Mexican music group KIDS. They were very popular among children in Mexico. In 1999, Dulce decided to leave the group for personal reasons. After her departure from KIDS, Dulce and her then boyfriend, Daniel Habif, also a member of KIDS, decided to start their own group called D&D. They recorded five songs but, for unknown reasons, split up. In early 2000, Dulce replaced Angie in Jeans, a female Latin pop group. She left the group after two years due to landing the main role of Marcela Mejía in the 2002 telenovela, Clase 406 which starred the Mexican singer and actress. Other members from RBD also starred in the telenovela before the group launched in 2004.
Dulce begin acting in movies and was eventually cast as one of the main characters in Rebelde. The success of Rebelde launched RBD made up of Dulce, Maite Perroni, Christian Chávez, Alfonso Herrera, Anahí, and Christopher von Uckermann. The group made 9 studio albums, including records in Spanish, Portuguese and English. To date, they have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, and toured across Mexico, South America, Serbia, Romania, the United States, and Spain. On 15 August 2008, RBD released a message telling fans that they had decided to split up. They went on one final tour, Gira del Adiós World Tour which ended in 2008. On 25 November 2008, Dulce collaborated with Tiziano Ferro and Anahí on a song called El regalo màs grande. Following the breakup of RBD, Dulce signed with Universal Music and announced that she began recording in 2009 as a solo artist.
Solo projects
In 2009, she recorded two new songs for the novela, Verano de amor, called "Verano" and "Déjame Ser", a song she co-wrote along with Carlos Lara. Dulce also collaborated with Akon, to remix his song "Beautiful". They performed the song together at the 2009 radio concert, El Evento 40.
Dulce María released her first solo single on 17 May 2010, titled "Inevitable". The music video was released on 24 May and was directed by Argentinean director Francisco d'Amorim Lima. Dulce María's solo album Extranjera was originally set to be released on 7 September, but the release date was changed due to the recording of some new tracks. The album was then set to be released 9 November 2010, with her stating on Twitter, "We have more surprises for you guys so be patient!". The surprise was that the album was going to be divided in two: Extranjera Primera Parte, with 7 tracks, including the hit "Inevitable", released on 9 November 2010 and Extranjera Segunda Parte with 7 more tracks plus a DVD with extras. On 9 November 2010, Dulce María presented her album with a showcase at the Lunario and announced her second single "Ya No", which will be featured on the second part of the album set to be released in the summer of 2011. The song is a cover of the late singer Selena from the album Amor Prohibido. The song began playing on radios on 16 November 2010.
On 14 January 2011, a preview clip was released for Dulce's new single "Ya No" showing her in 3 different outfits, and in the last scene arguing with her love interest. Dulce María's music video for "Ya No" was released on 10 February on her personal YouTube channel, DulceMariaLive, earlier than planned due to it being leaked. Dulce María announced on her official YouTube account that Extranjera Segunda Parte would be released on 14 June 2011.
In 2016, Dulce began recording her third studio album titled "DM". The record was finished in August 2016, and was released on 10 March 2017. In 2017 she started DM World Tour promoting the album, where she performed in countries as Mexico, Brazil and Spain.
In 2018, she announced that she is preparing a new album that will be called Origen, who will only have songs that she composed. She announced a concert at the Teatro Metropólitan in Mexico City to present part of these songs, the album is expected to launch in 2019.
Acting career
Following her early roles as a child star, Dulce María started to work in teen-oriented television projects, appearing in El juego de la vida and Clase 406. In Clase 406, she acted alongside future RBD bandmates Alfonso Herrera, Anahí, and Christian Chávez. In 2004, she was cast as Roberta Pardo in Rebelde, a Mexican adaptation of the Argentinian telenovela Rebelde Way. The series achieved global commercial distribution, airing over 400 episodes until its conclusion in 2006. For her performance, she received the TVyNovelas Award for Best Young Lead Actress in 2006.
Following the conclusion of Rebelde, Televisa produced the 2007 sitcom RBD: La familia, a fictionalized series starring the band members. It was the first Mexican television production shot entirely in high definition, running for 13 episodes from 14 March to 13 June 2007.
In 2009, Dulce María starred as Miranda Perea in the telenovela Verano de amor, produced by Pedro Damián. She also recorded the theme songs "Verano" and "Déjame Ser" for the project. The series integrated environmental messaging aligned with Televisa's "Televisa Verde" initiative. Her performance earned the People en Español Award for Best Young Actress in 2010.
In April 2010, she was cast in the title role of the independent film ¿Alguien ha visto a Lupita?, starring alongside Chilean actor Cristián de la Fuente, which was released in 2011…