Biografia
Lilia Lazo was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, in 1935. From a young age, she demonstrated remarkable talent in acting, painting, writing, and public speaking. After her father's passing, she and her mother relocated to Havana. She joined Sociedad de Bellas Artes (The Society of Fine Arts), a theatrical group that served as a launching pad for many prominent Cuban actors. On stage, Lilia honed her skills and exhibited exceptional ability in handling challenging roles.
In late 1940s Cuba, numerous radio stations aired a variety of soap operas. Lilia auditioned for and was hired by Radio CMQ in 1948. By 1950, she starred in five daily radio programs, all with top ratings. Following the trend of U.S. radio companies transitioning to television in the late 1940s, CMQ opened its state-of-the-art TV studio in 1949, and Lilia was invited to perform on television.
Her devoted radio audience could now see the talented and charming woman they had heard, boosting her popularity immensely. In 1952, the Cuban Television Association named her the country's best dramatic and comedic actress. She created several comedic characters for Cuban TV, including one called Popa, which later reappeared in the United States.
Her peak TV career spanned from 1953 to 1960, during which she also appeared in several films, notably Affair in Havana alongside Raymond Burr and John Cassavetes, and starred in La Vida Comienza Ahora, a Cuban production released in 1960 and regarded by critics as the first significant film of the Castro era. In 1960, she accepted an invitation to study acting with Lee Strasberg at New York's Actors Studio. Opposing Cuba's Communist Revolution, she and her husband of 47 years, producer Mario Agüero, settled in New York.
In 1967, Gaspar Pumarejo, a former Cuban TV mogul, invited Lilia to return to television with her comedic character Popa. The series, Popa En Nueva York, was filmed and broadcast on WNJU channel 47 in Newark, NJ. A second season aired in 1968 in color, making it the first Spanish-language TV show produced in color in the U.S. That same year, Columbia Pictures released a full-length film, Popa en Nueva York, directed by renowned Mexican director Julio Bracho and co-starring Mexican leading man Rogelio Guerra.
In 1971, Goya Foods, Inc. sponsored the production of Santa Barbara, Virgen y Martir, which became the first Spanish-language TV soap opera produced in the United States. The 75 full-color episodes aired between 1971 and 1972, topping ratings in various U.S. cities.
By 1975, following her mother's illness and passing and her husband's new Upper East Side restaurant venture, Lilia retired from acting permanently. She then focused on art, pursuing a successful painting career with numerous solo and group exhibitions both in the U.S. and internationally.
