Biography

Loreto Cristina Valenzuela Valdivia (born 3 July 1954) is a Chilean actress and director, recognized for her extensive career in theater and television.

Valenzuela achieved great popularity in the play Tres Marías y una Rosa (1979), in the enigmatic and censored La dama del balcón (1986), in the drama La Quintrala (1987), and for her treacherous antagonistic role in Amanda (2016). Loreto Valenzuela studied business engineering at the University of Chile's Faculty of Economy and Business from 1972 to 1973 due to political considerations. After the 1973 military coup, a continuous persecution against leftist students began. The school was dissolved the same year, so she was forced to abandon her studies. Subsequently, she took secretarial and acting courses at the School of Communication Arts (EAC) of the Pontifical Catholic University, graduating in 1979.

In 1979 she starred with Luz Jiménez, Myriam Palacios, and Soledad Alonso in the play Tres Marías y una Rosa by David Benavente and directed by Raúl Osorio. Its success led her to tour Latin America and Europe. In the theater, she has excelled in the productions Three Sisters by Chekhov, El día que me quieras by José Ignacio Cabrujas, Invitación a cenar by Egon Wolff, and a theatrical adaptation of Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado, in addition to several plays with the outstanding Ictus Theater company, such as Sueños de mala muerte and Oleada.

After participating in plays, Valenzuela made her television debut in 1984 with La represa on TVN, produced by Sonia Fuchs. In the telenovela she played a small but fundamental role, sharing a scene with Malú Gatica, Luz Jiménez, and Alfredo Castro.

In 1986, she obtained her first leading role, in María Elena Gertner's enigmatic La dama del balcón. Valenzuela plays three characters and earned the recognition of TV critics. The character suffers a Nazi genetic experiment that keeps her young. However, the telenovela was censored by the military regime of Augusto Pinochet. Later, she participated in Vicente Sabatini's successful miniseries La Quintrala (1987), playing Rufina, a sorceress slave. In this production, she shared credits with Raquel Argandoña, Roxana Campos, and María Izquierdo. At the same time, she made her cinematic debut with the 1986 film Hechos consumados, followed by Consuelo in 1989.

In 2000 she returned to TVN after making special appearances on some shows. This time she participated in several productions, such as Santo ladrón, the successful Amores de mercado (2001), and the young adult telenovela 16 (2003). Later she moved to the station Canal 13 to participate in successful productions such as Brujas and Lola.

In 2016 she obtained her first antagonistic role in Amanda, playing Catalina Minardi, a rigid and narcissistic matriarch who suffers from a facial paralysis, owner of the estate where the protagonist returns for revenge. The character has been ranked as one of the actress's best performances, both in terms of aesthetics and idioms.Valenzuela plays an important social role together with the CoArtRe Corporation, which works on the reintegration of Chilean prisoners into the labor market.