Biografia
Fernando Allende stands out from the crowd. As the leading box office star in Latin America, he is unique—the first Latin heartthrob to achieve remarkable success across film, television, producing, and music. Born in Mexico City to a Mexican father and Cuban mother, with Spanish and Puerto Rican grandparents, Allende began singing folk songs at age seven. By 15, his striking looks earned him his first starring role in the film Maria, opposite Taryn Power, daughter of Tyrone Power. This marked the beginning of a prolific career spanning 20 films and 13 awards. Although he initially planned to pursue law at LaSalle University in Mexico City, acting opportunities soon took precedence. Before Hollywood beckoned, Allende appeared in hundreds of episodes of Spanish-language dramatic television and released a dozen bestselling records, including a gold single. He also hosted his own variety specials and earned both the Hispanic equivalent of the Oscars and an Emmy in the same year.
In 1979, confident that his background would open doors in the U.S. entertainment industry, Allende emptied his savings and moved to Hollywood. "I thought my background would open doors," he recalls. Nearly two years of relentless auditions and training in acting, speech, yoga, and singing drained his funds before landing his first U.S. acting role. The wait paid off when he was cast opposite Joanne Woodward in ABC’s The Streets of Los Angeles, a breakthrough that led to starring in the ABC pilot The Phoenix, his first English-language film Heartbreaker, and a prominent role on the TV series Flamingo Road as Morgan Fairchild’s lover for eighteen months. Allende soon became the celebrity spokesman for the Milk Advisory Board’s bilingual advertising campaign and recorded 190 hours of a leading Hispanic television show, plus his own special featuring songs from his debut RCA album.
A career milestone came when Allende was cast as George Mellis, the "Golden Greek" playboy-sadist, in CBS’s miniseries Master of the Game—a role that defied stereotypes and significantly broadened his acting range. Since then, his TV career has flourished with roles opposite Karen Black in HBO’s The Hitchhiker, and guest appearances in Murder, She Wrote, Hart to Hart, Glitter, and a memorable episode of Miami Vice. Most recently, audiences have enjoyed his performances in ABC’s Murder in Three Acts alongside Peter Ustinov and Tony Curtis, and NBC’s The Alamo.
