Thalía: 1972—: Singer, Actress

Born to Ernesto Sodi y Pallares and Yolanda Miranda y Mange, at Hospital Español in Mexico City on August 26, 1972, Ariadne Thalía Sodi y Miranda was the youngest of five, which included sisters Laura, Ernes-tina, Gabriela, and Frederica. Thalía (pronounced tahLEE-ah) got her start in film at age four, when she obtained a walk-on role in a movie that also featured her sister, Laura. When their father died unexpectedly in 1977, Thalía withdrew from normal activities and fell silent, an emotional trauma that she later described in the song "En Silencio."

Not yet ensnared in career entanglements, Thalía was educated at the Thomas Alva Edison School and Liceo Franco Mexicano. She studied French, art, and music, but enjoyed rough-and-tumble play. She loved outdoor sports and dreamed of emulating tumbler Nadia Comaneci by winning for Mexico an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics. After enrolling in classical ballet at the Academia de Nellie Happee, Thalía explored a feminine side and often pictured herself as a singer and actor. In 1980 she began piano lessons at the Instituto Mexicano de Musica and joined Din-Din, a two-girl, two-boy singing group that appeared at arts festivals and recorded four albums, beginning with Alegrias Musicale.

At age twelve Thalía won second place singing at the festival Juguemos a Cantar. In 1986 producer Luis de Llano hired her to sing backup with Timbiriche, a teen band with whom she appeared in a 1987 Halloween special, Noche de Brujas y Terror. The band recorded three CDs: Timbiriche VII, Timbiriche VIII, and Timbiriche IX. When the group staged the pop musical Vaselina (Grease) in Mexico, she appeared as a chorus girl. After the lead singer left, Thalía quickly mastered the one-dimensional Sandra Dee. The performance catapulted Thalía to the level of recording artist and television personality.