Biography
Maria Helena Doering Monsalve de Escobar, one of five siblings from Cali, Colombia, began her career as a model, working in Italy, Germany, Japan, Spain, and Switzerland. From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, she appeared in commercials for brands such as Coffee Delight, Colgate, Kolynos, Kinder Surprise, Danone, Nutella, Parmalat, Martini, Swatch, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and Svelto. She later secured a role in the Colombian production La maldición del paraíso (1993). Maria Helena is married to businessman Eduardo Escobar and they have a son named Alejandro.
This Caleña (woman from Cali) has starred in numerous novelas, including La maldición del paraíso, Las aguas mansas, La viuda de Blanco, Adrián está de visita, La venganza, Milagros de amor, Te voy a enseñar a querer, Hasta que la plata nos separe, Victoria, El penúltimo beso, and Bella Calamidades. Recently, she played the mother of the female antagonist in La Pola, the historical biography of Policarpa Salavarrieta, a heroine of Colombia's independence. This was not her first historical role; in 1993, she portrayed Magdalena Ortega de Nariño in Crónicas de una Generación Trágica, where she played the wife of Antonio Nariño, an early 19th-century Colombian military leader.
Her 2011 projects include the film Escritor de Telenovelas, produced by Dago García, and a new telenovela titled Los Ricos También Lloran for RCN.
