Danna Paola

***Danna Paola Rivera Munguía*** (June 23, 1995, Mexico City, DF, Mexico), better known as Danna Paola, is a Mexican actress, singer and model. She gained popularity as an actress and singer, starring in dozens of television projects throughout her life.

Danna Paola was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico. She is the daughter of Patricia Munguía and Juan José Rivera Arellano, the former singer of Grupo Ciclón and Los Caminantes. Her parents divorced. She has an older sister, Vania.

Danna Paola's acting career began in 1999 when at age 4 she and her sister attended Televisa's casting call in Mexico City for Plaza Sésamo, the Mexican version of Sesame Street. Both were later cast on the show and appeared in several episodes. One year later at age 5, she was cast in the telenovela, Rayito de Luz, in 2000. In 2001, she received her first lead role in the children's telenovela, María Belén. The same year, she released her debut album, titled Mi Globo Azul.

In 2004, she was chosen as the lead in the successful children's series, Amy, la niña de la mochila azul. Her second studio album, Océano, soon followed. A year later, she was the female lead of Pablo y Andrea, the television adaptation of the classic novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Over the next several years, she earned parts in multiple television series produced by Televisa.

In 2009, she was cast as "Patito" in Atrévete a Soñar, the Mexican remake of the popular Argentine children's telenovela, Patito Feo. Danna Paola filmed two seasons of the show and production was concluded in late 2009. Atrévete a Soñar marked Paola's transition from children's to tween telenovelas. Paola and the cast of the telenovela recorded two soundtracks and toured across Mexico, in order to promote the show. The telenovela and its soundtrack were commercially successful throughout Mexico and Latin America. The soundtrack was certified double platinum in Mexico.

In late 2010, she voiced "Rapunzel" for the Latin American Spanish-language dubbing of the Disney film"Tangled" and participated in the film's Spanish-language soundtrack.

In May 2013, Danna Paola auditioned for the first Spanish-language production of the successful Broadway musical, Wicked, in Mexico City. She auditioned for both Glinda and Elphaba, performing Popular and Defying Gravity. Later that same month, the final cast for the Mexican production was announced, with Paola cast as "Elphaba". The production opened in Mexico City at Teatro Telcel on 17 October 2013. Critics in Mexico, as well as the play's original composer, Stephen Schwartz, praised her performance. In addition to being well received by critics, the play was also a commercial success in Mexico City. During its first 10 weeks, "Wicked" sold over 100,000 tickets and had more than 100 performances; it broke a box office record making it one of the most successful theatre productions in Mexico's history. At the age of 18, Danna Paola was the youngest person to play the role of "Elphaba" in a professional theatre production.

Danna Paola appeared in over 300 performances of Wicked from 2013 to early 2015. Following the conclusion of "Wicked", she was invited by producer Alex Gou, to join the cast of the musical, Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar, where she played the lead role of "Maria" and went on tour throughout Mexico. In July 2015, she signed a contract with the U.S. based Spanish-language network, Telemundo, marking her return to telenovelas after a nearly five-year absence.

In early 2016, Paola filmed in the Mexican movie, ¡Como va! Lo más sencillo es complicarlo todo (later renamed Lo Más Sencillo Es Complicarlo Todo), on location in Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, and Querétaro. The movie was released in Mexican cinemas on 26 January 2018. In mid-April 2016, she was confirmed as a cast member in the telenovela drama, La Doña, produced by Telemundo. The telenovela filmed in Mexico with Aracely Arámbula and David Chocarro and premiered in November 2016. The finale aired on Telemundo in the U.S. on 1 May 2017.

In 2017, Paola was cast in the Telemundo bio-series, José José: El príncipe de la canción, based on the life of Mexican singer José José. Paola played famed Mexican singer-songwriter, Lucero and appears in 4 episodes of the show. The miniseries premiered on Telemundo on 15 January 2018.[28] In late January 2018, Paola was scheduled to begin filming a role in the bio series based on the life of Mexican actress, Silva Pinal. She later dropped out before filming began and instead revealed that she was cast in the Netflix original Spanish teen thriller television series, Élite. Production for the television show forced Paola to move to Madrid for six months starting in January 2018. She was cast in the program following a long audition process in 2017. The show has 8 episodes shot in 4K and it premiered globally on Netflix in October 2018.