Paulina Rubio: 1971—: Singer, Actress

Although Rubio had long wanted to break into the English-language music market, she had a tough time convincing manager Dario de Leon that the time was right for a crossover attempt. When de Leon continued to resist Rubio's push for the English-language project, arguing that such a move might drive away some of her existing Latino fans, she ended their relationship and hired in his place Angelo Medina and Ricardo Cordero. Medina and Cordero, who had helped guide Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin to mainstream success, promised to do the same for Rubio.

A little over a month before the June 2002 release of her debut English-language CD, Rubio was once again honored, but this time it was for her beauty and not her music. In May of 2002, People en Espanol announced that the Mexican singer had topped its 2002 list of the "25 Most Beautiful Latin Entertainers," besting such other contenders as The Sopranos co-star Jamie Lynn Sigler, singer Enrique Iglesias, NYPD Blue cast member Esai Morales, and Rush Hour 2 co-star Rosalyn Sanchez. In announcing the magazine's top pick for 2002, the managing editor of People en Espanol, Angelo Figueroa, told the Associated Press, "Paulina is not only beautiful and sexy, but she has that star quality that will certainly put her on the map.… She is destined to be the next breakout performer."

Interviewed by USA Today in May of 2002, shortly before the release of her first English-language CD, Rubio spoke fondly of her relationship with Latin singer Marc Anthony and some of the other Latino singing stars who had already made the crossover to mainstream music. "Marc and Ricky and Shakira and Enrique and J. Lo are my friends. We all grew together, wanting in our minds to release worldwide albums. And we all know that Julio Iglesias and Gloria Estefan and Carlos Santana worked hard to open that door for us. Now we're family, in a new moment in music's history." She went on to describe the new CD, Border Girl, as "a fusion of rhythms and cultures from all over the world. I think my music is a representation of globalization and of the present time. I love techno music—to me, DJs are musicians now. But I also use acoustic rhythms, and I have my roots. When you hear guitars crying in my music, that's Mexico. When you don't live in Mexico, the country lives inside you."