Santa Diabla
Season 1 e.tv (*194) 09:30 Telenovela
Carlos Ponce has done it all, from singing and presenting reality shows to stealing every scene as evil lawyer Humberto Cano in telenovela Santa Diabla (2013-current), but his best role is being a loving dad. “It’s my greatest role,” says the father of four. “Giancarlo (19) and Sebastian (17) are grown men but my girls Savanna and Sienna (15) are my princesses! They are my world.”
Carlos’s background is as interes1
ting as his career. He was born in Puerto Rico, his parents Esther and Carlos Sr are refugees who fled during the Cuban Revolution in 1954 and then they moved to Miami, Florida in 1986.
At the age of six, the entertain2
ment bug hit him hard – he was well-known for doing TV adverts and was nicknamed “Carlitos” (Little Carlos).
While Latin-American telenovelas 3
are his forte, Carlos has been acting in English-speaking shows since 1998, when he had a one-episode role in teen drama Beverly Hills 90210 (19902000). From 1998, he played Carlos Rivera in family drama 7th Heaven (19962007) for 12 episodes and recently Ben in dramedy Devious Maids (2013-2016).
Carlos stays toned with bi-weekly 4
yoga classes, which he got hooked on after playing yoga instructor Sal in 2009 comedy film Couples Retreat.
He’s often typecast as Mexican but 5
Carlos is selective about his roles, adding that “if I feel my Miami accent is too strong, I just say, ‘No, thank you,’ in a very diplomatic way”.
He says that despite it not working 6
out, he still loves ex-wife Veronica “as she gave me my babies” – they split in 2010 after 15 years of marriage.
He’s been singing for years and his 7
1999 song Amelia was the anthem of the World Athletic Games in Spain.