Juan Pablo Gamboa Cook is one of most profilic character actors of both Colombian and Mexican television. He is a household name to all who are customized to watch telenovelas. Usually he portrays the slick antagonists, such as Willy in La Usurpadora (1998), Esteban in La Intrusa (2001) or Cesar in Nina Amada Mia (2003). He also played a good guy A...
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Juan Pablo Gamboa Cook is one of most profilic character actors of both Colombian and Mexican television. He is a household name to all who are customized to watch telenovelas. Usually he portrays the slick antagonists, such as Willy in La Usurpadora (1998), Esteban in La Intrusa (2001) or Cesar in Nina Amada Mia (2003). He also played a good guy Alvaro in popular series Esmeralda (1997), Noe Gamboa in Carita de Angel (2000) and Vicente Leon in Donde Esta Elisa (2012), who is somewhere in between. Filming in Colombia, Mexico and USA, he established himself as one of most distinctive actors in Latin-American television. Being blond and medium built, he most certainly stood from typical Latin heartthrobs. That, along with his ability to portray emotions convincingly, was his ticket to Mexican and Colombian stardom.When on the college, he studied arts, painting and literature. Later he also studied communications in Hofstra University in New York. His first role was in telenovela Marielena (1992), playing only small part of a receptionist. However, critics noticed his talent, which led to roles in Morelia (1995) and Si Nos Dejan. Then, he got the honor to play important characters in two of the most successful Mexican telenovelas on the 90s: Esmeralda and La Usurpadora, both protagonised by his good friend, actor Fernando Colunga. In Esmeralda he played heroine's savior from blindness and her potential love interest. In La Usurpadora, he played Guillermo 'Willy', main antagonist's (Gabriela Spanic) greedy brother-in-law/lover, who who one of ten most important characters throughout the show. His portrayal gave him his first TVyNovelas Award nomination for best male antagonist. He received second playing Cesar Fabregas in Nina Amada Mia four years later. In 2001, he reunited with most of his La Usurpadora co-stars (Gabriela Spanic, Dominika Paleta, Enrique Lizalde, Laura Zapata, Silvia Caos, Silvia Derbez among others) to star in La Intusa, which also featured Spanic as twin sisters. The show didn't receive much praise, being criticized as too much referencing La Usurpadora. However, Juan Pablo Gamboa got good reviews for his portrayal of greedy Esteban, proving once again that he makes a convincing antagonist, especially the lying and plotting one.He participated in many shows since, usually in his home country Colombia. He starred in successful telenovela Pura Sangre (2007) as Federico, children's show Super Pa, Las Detectivas y el Victor (2009) and Secretos de Familia (2010). In 2012, he is starring in Colombian version of popular telenovela Donde Esta Elisa, playing titular character's rich father, whose secrets come out as his daughter is kidnapped.Except television, Juan Pablo also starred in films such as Peruvian Cuando el Cielo es Azul and Vampires: Los Muertos, next to Jon Bon Jovi. He also participated in mini-series Fidel as American ambassador.He was previously married to Viviana Escobar and has two children, Santiago and Mariana, born approximately in the early 90s.Considering his acting resume and his ability to be likable or the the one you love to hate, depending on the role, Juan Pablo Gamboa is one of Latin America's most respectful actors, as well as one of the youngest 'primeros actores' working on Colombian and Mexican television today.
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