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These Divas Paved the Way for Latina Stars — in the Pre–J. Lo Era!

These Divas Paved the Way for Latina Stars — in the Pre–J. Lo Era!

Por Lena Hansen

Marzo 28, 2019

Credit: (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Caesars Entertainment)

Before the 1990s, Rita Moreno, Charytín Goyco and Iris Chacón were the mujeronas who created the space for J. Lo and other Latin divas we love today to flourish in American culture.

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JENNIFER LOPEZ

Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Caesars Entertainment

Jennifer Lopez is today’s ultimate Latin diva. The Nuyorican star shines as a singer, actress, producer, dancer, talent judge, entrepreneur, fashionista...the list is endless! But who were the mujeronas that opened the door for J. Lo and younger generations of Latina stars like Becky G, Karol G and Natti Natasha? Read on!

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JENNIFER LOPEZ

Credit: (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Caesars Entertainment)

J. Lo is an awe-inspiring show woman who magically defies age and any other limitation with seemingly superhuman powers. But before she was famous, other Caribbean divas were breaking barriers for Latinas as actresses, singers and dancers. Iris Chacón, Charytín Goyco and Rita Moreno are still bringing audiences to their feet, and we salute their brilliant trajectories.

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JENNIFER LOPEZ

Credit: (Photo by GV Cruz/WireImage)

Lopez has said she was inspired by Puerto Rican goddess Iris Chacón. Ironically, in the film El Cantante — starring Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony as the iconic salsa singer Hector Lavoe and his wife Puchi — there is a funny scene where Puchi and Lavoe fight over him watching Chacón shake her famous booty on TV, making his wife jealous.

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IRIS CHACÓN

Credit: (Photo by Catherine McGann/Getty Images)

Chacón was famous for her talent as a singer and dancer and also for her voluptuous figure and huge derrière. “I'm very happy to be the first one, the one that started that path, that one that opened that space for all of them,” the performer known as “La bomba de Puerto Rico” told Latina about paving the way for other Latin vedettes.

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IRIS CHACÓN

Credit: (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

The entertainer — posing here backstage in 1984 at the Late Show with David Letterman in New York City — won over audiences worldwide.

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IRIS CHACÓN

Credit: (Photo by Gladys Vega/Getty Images)

Chacón showed she is still queen of the stage with her performance in the musical play “Enchismas” in 2018 at the at Centro de Bellas Artes in Caguas, Puerto Rico.

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IRIS CHACÓN

Credit: (Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty Images)

In her autobiography Yo Soy Iris Chacón, the Puerto Rican star tells the journey of how she went from being a solitary girl full of dreams to becoming “La Vedette de America.” “It’s about how I became the woman I always wanted to be, how I became a human being who truly values her life and the life of others,” she said in a social media post about her book. “It also talks about how I wished for a better world for me and those I loved, and how I achieved that.”

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IRIS CHACÓN AND CHARYTÍN

Credit: (Photo by Gladys Vega/Getty Images)

Chacón and Charytín Goyco, another iconic performer from the Dominican Republic, shared the stage last year in the plays “Malas” and “Enchismas” in Puerto Rico. Like the true divas they are, they are great friends and there is no rivalry between the two, despite belonging to the competitive world of showbiz and having both been married (at different times of course!) to late Puerto Rican producer Elín Ortiz.

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CHARYTÍN GOYCO

Credit: (Photo by Gladys Vega/Getty Images)

Charytín (here in the play “Enchismas” in 2018) is a versatile artist who has achieved success as a singer, dancer, actress and TV host.

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