# Yo soy Betty, la fea

Yo soy Betty, la fea (English: I am Betty, the Ugly one), often referred to simply as Betty, la fea, is a Colombian telenovela created by Fernando Gaitán. It aired from 25 October 1999 to 8 May 2001 on RCN. Ana María Orozco stars as the titular character, alongside Jorge Enrique Abello, Natalia Ramírez, Lorna Cepeda, Luis Mesa and Julián Arango.
It is the first telenovela to have been remade worldwide and has been regarded as bringing the telenovela to new levels of success. The story's appeal to global audiences has been credited to it being centered around the life of an unattractive character rather than that of a typical attractive character.

## Plot

Taking place mainly in Bogotá, Colombia, Yo soy Betty, la fea is essentially a Cinderella comedy about the rise of poor, ugly 'Betty' Beatriz Pinzón Solano and the fall of rich, handsome Armando Mendoza. Armando is a very incompetent playboy with a scheme to turn a huge profit as the new president of Eco Moda, a famous clothing manufacturing company, alongside the new vice-president Mario Calderon. However, his scheme is doomed for his faulty mathematics. Betty, his secretary (and economics wizard), is in love with him despite his engagement to Marcela Valencia. She helps Armando deceive the board of directors as he loses money and brings the company to ruin. The story has three movements: 1) Armando's foolish destruction of Eco Moda, 2) Betty's flight from the disgrace and her temporary new job in Cartagena where she undergoes an emotional and physical transformation, and 3) Betty's return to Eco Moda, where she is installed as new CEO.

## Cast
### Main

* Ana María Orozco as Beatriz "Betty" Aurora Pinzón Solano; A rather uncouth woman but very skilled in economics with a good CV. Later becomes a CEO assistant and economist. She is the pride of her parents. She is in love with Armando Mendoza.
* Jorge Enrique Abello as Armando Mendoza Sáenz; Eco Moda's CEO. A somewhat irresponsible playboy with only basic knowledge in industrial engineering who presents a risky and ambitious proposal with which he wins the presidency of Eco Moda. When he manages it, it brings the company to the brink of bankruptcy, thus Betty steps in to help. Despite being a completely superficial playboy, he sincerely falls in love with Betty, seeing beyond her ugliness.
* Natalia Ramírez as Marcela Valencia; Armando's fiancée and Eco Moda's stockholder and retail manager. Despite her dislike of Betty, she is not actually a bad person, but a woman full of pride, classism and lacks dignity, and she loves Armando. She later willingly gives up on him as she discovers he actually loves Betty.
* Lorna Cepeda as Patricia Fernández; Marcela's best friend and secretary. A divorced woman, refined and superficial, as well as materialist, she is looking for a rich husband. Armando hates her because she is a dumb blonde and knows that Marcela wants her as Armando's secretary to watch over his infidelities.
* Luis Mesa as Daniel Felipe Valencia; Marcela's brother. Male chauvinist and arrogant, shareholder of Eco Moda. He rivals and dislikes Armando and unlike him, he is realistic and the only one worried about his company. He has an affair with Patricia.
* Julián Arango as Hugo Lombardi; Eco Moda's fashion designer. Openly gay and arrogant, who despises ugliness. He dislikes almost everyone at Eco Moda and especially hates Eco Moda's secretaries, whom he nicknames 'The Ugly Cuartel', with the exception of Inesita who is perhaps the only person he actually cares for. Arango was married to Ana María Orozco during the recording.
* Ricardo Vélez as Mario Calderón; Armando's best friend and Eco Moda's commercial vice president. A staunch playboy, inveterate enemy of commitments and fatherhood, he is strangely enough a rather neutral figure.
* Mario Duarte as Nicolás Flaminio Mora Cifuentes; Betty's best friend and economist. Like Betty, he is unattractive and highly intelligent. He is in love with Patricia and boasts of his position as president of Terramoda. Patricia softens to him but only because of his newfound wealth.
* Kepa Amuchastegui as Roberto Mendoza; Armando's father, founder of the company. Kind hearted and intelligent.
* Talú Quintero as Margarita Sáenz de Mendoza; Armando's mother.
* Adriana Franco as Julia Solano Galindo de Pinzón; Betty's mother. Loves her daughter dearly.
* Jorge Herrera as Hermes Pinzón Galarza; Betty's father and accountant.
* Pilar Uribe as María Beatriz Valencia; Marcela's and Daniel's sister. Carefree woman who loves opulence.
* Julio César Herrera as Freddy Stewart Contreras; messenger, infatuated with Aura Maria and also in love of Jenny. Flamboyant but not gay, he is a very happy man.
* Dora Cadavid as Inés "Inesita" Ramírez de Muriel; seamstress, member of the cuartel. Kind and wise, she is the elderly assistant to Hugo Lombardi who loves her like a mother. She is the voice of reason and is as sane as Betty in the cuartel.
* Estefanía Gómez as Aura María Fuentes Rico; receptionist, member of the cuartel. Single mother looking for a husband and stepfather for her son. Beautiful and voluptuous, she is usually promiscuous but with a big heart.
* Paula Peña as Sofía López de Rodríguez; secretary, member of the cuartel. Divorced woman who constantly fights with her ex-husband Efraín over their children's pension. She has a feud with Jenny, the current romantic partner of her ex-husband. Formerly Gustavo Olarte's secretary and after his dismissal, she temporarily becomes Betty's secretary.
* Luces Velásquez as Bertha Muñoz de González; Gutiérrez' secretary, somewhat gluttonous, member of the cuartel. She is married with children and deeply loves her husband. She occasionally imitates Patricia's way of dressing.
* Marcela Posada as Sandra Patiño; Calderón's secretary, member of the cuartel. Known for her height. She is usually aggressive with whoever is the enemy of the cuartel.
* María Eugenía Arboleda as Mariana Valdés; Marcela's secretary, member of the cuartel. Known for reading tarot, she is very optimistic and a lover of rumba.
* Celmira Luzardo as Catalina Ángel; Betty's "fairy godmother" and public relationist. A dignified, loquacious, eloquent and recognized woman.
* Alberto León Jaramillo as Saúl Gutiérrez; Eco Moda's Director of Human Resources. Pedantic and smug man who also despises ugliness and is known for his "Spanglish". He usually sides with whoever is in charge.
* Marta Isabel Bolaños as Jenny García; Efraín's younger girlfriend. Attractive but quite dimwitted and materialistic, she rivals Sofía for Efraín's money. She calls Efraín "pupuchurro".
* David Ramírez as Wilson Sastoque Mejía; Eco Moda's security guard and friend to Betty and her friends.
* Raúl Santa as Efraín Rodríguez Merchán "El Cheque"; Sofia's ex-husband and Jenny's boyfriend.
* Patrick Delmas as Michel Doinel; Betty's handsome friend and suitor. He is in love with Betty, to whom he offers a stable relationship without caring that she is virtually ugly.
* Diego Cadavid as Román; a street rat.

### Recurring

* Alberto Valdiri as "Gordito" González, Bertha's husband.
* Angeline Moncayo as Karina Larson. Formerly a model and Armando's ex-mistress.
* Carlos Serrato as Gustavo Olarte, Eco Moda's ex-financial vice president. Daniel's right hand.
* César Mora as Antonio Sánchez, Betty's lawyer.
* Claudia Becerra as Mónica Agudelo.
* Diego Vivanco as Rolando "el Chesito su mercé", Hugo's boyfriend. Is bisexual.
* Germán Tóvar as José Ambrosio Rosales; lawyer, Antonio's colleague.
* Hugo Perez as Rafael Muriel, Inesita's ex-husband.
* Iván Piñeros as Jimmy Fuentes (Aura María's son).
* Lorena McAllister as Diana Medina.
* Luis Enrique Roldán as Juan Manuel Santamaría, penalist Eco Moda's lawyer.
* Miguel Ángel Báes as a 2nd systems engineer.
* Paulo Sánchez Neira as Miguel Ortíz, Eco Moda's ex-systems engineer at the service of Olarte.
* Rubén Óliver as Miguel Robles, corrupt president of Rag Tela.
* Sebastián Sánchez as Miguel. (2001)
* Scarlet Ortiz as Alejandra Zingg.
* Yesenia Valencia as Susi.
* Verónica Ocampo as Claudia Bosch, an attractive model obsessed with Armando since both had an affair.
* Vilma Vera as Maruja Bravo de Gutiérrez, Saul Gutiérrez's wife.

## Sequels and spin-offs
### Ecomoda

The success of Yo soy Betty, la fea led to its first sequel titled Ecomoda. It premiered first on Univision on 2 December 2001, concluding on 2 June 2002. Some scenes from the first episode were filmed in Buenos Aires, and some scenes for the opening sequence were filmed in Miami, Florida. In Colombia, the series premiered on 21 May 2002.

### Betty Toons

Betty Toons is an animated television series that features Betty as a child with her friends. It aired on RCN Televisión between 2002 and 2003. In the U.S., Betty Toons previously aired Saturday mornings on most affiliates of Telefutura (now UniMás), as part of the Toonturama block from 2006 to 2008.

### Betty, la fea: la historia continúa

In July 2023, it was announced that Amazon Prime Video had ordered a second sequel series. The series, titled Betty, la fea: la historia continúa premiered on 19 July 2024.

## International remakes

| Country | Language | Name | Network | Protagonist | Date premiered | Date ended |
| Algeria | Algerian Arabic | طيموشة (Timoucha) | ENTV | Mina Lachter | 24 April 2020 | 9 May 2021 |
| Belgium | Dutch | Sara | vtm | Veerle Baetens | 25 September 2007 | 29 June 2008 |
| Brazil | Portuguese | Bela, a Feia | Rede Record | Giselle Itié | 4 August 2009 | 2 June 2010 |
| People's Republic of China | Mandarin Chinese | 丑女无敌 / 醜女無敵(Chǒunǚ wúdí) | Hunan Satellite TV | Li Xinru | September 2008 | |
| Czech Republic | Czech | Ošklivka Katka | TV Prima | Kateřina Janečková | 3 March 2008 | 20 April 2009 |
| Ecuador | Spanish | Veto al Feo | Ecuavisa | Efraín Ruales | 16 April 2013 | 26 April 2013 |
| Egypt | Arabic | هبة رجل الغراب (Heba Regl El-Ghorab) | OSN, CBC2, MBC 1 | Amy Samir Ghanem | 1 January 2014 | 15 April 2021 |
| Georgia | Georgian | გოგონა გარეუბნიდან (Gogona Gareubnidan) | Imedi TV | Tina Makharadze | 24 May 2010 | 21 October 2012 |
| Germany | German | Verliebt in Berlin | Sat.1 | Alexandra Neldel | 28 February 2005 | 12 October 2007 |
| Greece | Greek | Μαρία, ἡ Ἄσχημη (Maria, i Aschimi) | Mega Channel | Aggeliki Daliani | 1 January 2007 | 23 June 2008 |
| India | Hindi | जस्सी जैसी कोई नहीं (Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin) | SET India | Mona Singh | 1 September 2003 | 4 May 2006 |
| Malaysia | Malay | Misi Betty | TV9 | Siti Fazurina | 2011 | |
| Mexico | Spanish | La fea más bella | Televisa | Angélica Vale | 2006 | 2007 |
| Netherlands | Dutch | Lotte | Talpa | Nyncke Beekhuyzen | 2006 | 9 April 2007 |
| Philippines | Filipino | i ♥ Betty La Fea | ABS-CBN | Bea Alonzo | 8 September 2008 | 24 April 2009 |
| Poland | Polish | BrzydUla | TVN | Julia Kamińska | October 2008 | December 2009 |
| Russia | Russian | Не родись красивой / Ne Rodis Krasivoy | STS | Nelly Uvarova | 5 September 2005 | 7 July 2006 |
| Croatia | Croatian | Ne daj se, Nina | RTL Televizija FOX Televizija | Lana Gojak | 29 October 2007 (SRB) 3 January 2008 (CRO) | 3 March 2008 (SRB) 4 August 2008 (CRO) |
| South Africa | English | uBettina Wethu | SABC1 | Farieda Metsileng | 2021 | - |
| Spain | Spanish | Yo soy Bea | Telecinco | Ruth Núñez | 2006 | 2008 |
| Thailand | Thai | ยัยเป็ดขี้เหร่ Ugly Betty Thailand | ThairathTV | Piyarat Kaljaruek | 9 March 2015 | 7 September 2015 |
| Turkey | Turkish | Sensiz Olmuyor | Show TV, Kanal D | Özlem Conker, Yeliz Şar | 2005 | |
| Ukraine | Ukrainian | Моя улюблена Страшко (Moja uljublena Straško) | 1+1 | Iryna Poplavska | 30 August 2021 | TBA |
| United States | English | Ugly Betty | ABC | America Ferrera | 28 September 2006 | 14 April 2010 |
| United States | Spanish | Betty en NY | Telemundo | Elyfer Torres | 6 February 2019 | 12 August 2019 |
| Vietnam | Vietnamese | Cô Gái Xấu Xí | VTV3 | Nguyễn Ngọc Hiệp | 11 February 2008 | 31 March 2009 |