The sultry Mexican actress who won El Chapo’s trust and set up his interview with Sean Penn is no stranger to ruthless drug lords — she has played them on TV.
Kate del Castillo starred in the 2011 telenovela “La Reina del Sur,” or “Queen of the South,” the most popular Mexican TV soap opera ever.
In the series, the 43-year-old Mexico City native played a woman who takes over a drug-trafficking business after her gangster boyfriend is murdered.
She also played a drug boss and politician in Showtime’s “Weeds” in 2009 and was featured in the 2006 flick “Bordertown,” which focused on the murder of Mexican women by gangs.
The actress is set to star in a new Netflix drama this year, playing fictional Mexican First Lady Irene Urzua in “Ingobernable,” a Spanish-language political drama.
Today I believe more in ‘El Chapo’ Guzman than in the Governments that hide painful truths
- Kate del Castillo
Off camera, del Castillo, the daughter of Mexican cinema star Eric del Castillo, is known for speaking out on issues such as human trafficking and the treatment of animals.
In January 2012, she tweeted to her more than 2.5 million followers, “Today I believe more in ‘El Chapo’ Guzman than in the Governments that hide painful truths: Those who hide the cure for AIDS and cancer for their own benefit and to become richer.’’
One of her tweets directly addressed El Chapo, asking him to ditch his deadly trade. “You would become a hero of heroes, Let’s traffic in love, you know how,” she wrote.
El Chapo apparently became smitten with del Castillo, named one of People en Espanol’s “50 Most Beautiful People’’ in 2011. He sent her flowers and corresponded with her through a BlackBerry messaging service, according to Penn’s “Rolling Stone” article.
She used the relationship to get the rights to produce a biopic about Guzman.
“He was interested in seeing the story of his life told on film but would entrust its telling only to Kate,” Penn wrote.
On Twitter in September, she crowed that she had just become a US citizen and criticized Donald Trump.
Despite that, she also has shown anti-American attitudes. In one interview, asked if she celebrated Thanksgiving, she replied, “I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving because I am not American and because I don’t agree with many things they did to get where they are, to be honest.”