Searches for Latino stars are not rare on the Lycos Network, particularly given our close relationship with our Spanish cousins. But one Latina has stood out recently as a possible breakout star: Odalys García.
Could García be the next Jennifer Lopez? Well, like J. Lo, she is a renaissance woman and jill-of-all-trades. García began as a dancer, studying ballet as a child in her hometown of Havana. She later came to Miami and worked as a model until 1991, when she got a job as a co-hostess on the popular variety show Noche de Gigantes on the Spanish-language network Univision.
In 1993, García began her most famous job, hosting the comedy show Lente Loco. Lente Loco, which means "loony lens," is a Spanish version of Candid Camera. One fan of the show refers to García as "Salma Hayek genetically enhanced by a horny teenager."
Yes, that means García has also done a lot of modeling, much of it topless (her yearly calendar is particularly popular). She's also starred on the soap opera Morelia, hosted the movie review program La Película, acted in stage productions, and hosted the morning show on a Miami-based Spanish-language radio station. In her spare time she counted Florida ballots and found a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease.
What's the next step for a model/actress/dancer? Of course, singer! García has been recording her first album, which will be released next month. According to her website, it consists of "ballads and tropical rhythms."
The excitement over the album, as well as some modeling García has done recently for magazines, has led to an explosion in online interest from Lycos users. Searches for García began to rise in the last week in March. Since then they've gone up roughly 13 percent per week, or 150 percent in total.
Two months ago, García was roughly as popular as the minor ex-Baywatch star Erika Eleniak. Now she's as popular as the much more substantial actress Elizabeth Hurley. She even got ten times as many searches as the better-known Jerry Garcia. No word yet on an Odalys García ice cream (does anyone know a fruit which rhymes with "Odalys?").
So is García the next Jennifer Lopez? Actually, her career path looks to be more a combination of Lopez and Hayek. Like Lopez, she started as a dancer and since branched out to acting and singing. Like Hayek, who began on Mexican television, she is building a career in the Spanish media before the inevitable crossover to English-speaking roles.
So for now, García may be a closely held secret of Latino America. But when you see García on the cover of Maxim Magazine in a year or so, remember who gave you an early warning.
MONDAY: Get a job, na ni-na na, na ni-na na na.
