Born in 1944 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Angélica María is the daughter of American entrepreneur, Arnold Hartman, and theater producer, Angélica de Jesús Ortiz Sandoval. Following the divorce of her parents at the age of 5, María moved to Mexico City with her mother.

Early career

Her mother’s sister, Yolanda Ortiz, introduced little Angélica to the Mexican Cinema when Gregorio Wallerstein, a movie producer, was looking for a boy for his next movie. Angélica told the producer, “Give me a haircut and I’m that boy”. Charmed by the girl, he let her into his audition. She got the role in the movie Pecado (“Sin”). Soon afterwards, she worked on, Una Mujer Decente (“A Decent Woman”), La Hija de la Otra (“The Daughter of the Mistress”), Los Amantes (“The Lovers”), Fierecilla (Little Beast), Sígueme, Corazón (“Follow Me, Sweetheart”). She obtained the Ariel award for her role in Mi Esposa y la Otra (“My Wife and the Mistress”) when she was 6. She also performed in her first fotonovela Rayito del Sol (“Little Sunray”). She sang in her two next movies, 2 Caras Tiene el Destino (“Destiny Has Two Faces”) and Los Gavilanes (The Hawks) with superstar Pedro Infante, who told her she would be a great actress, because she spoke with her eyes, as he did.

Teen idol

In 1955, Rita Macedo offered her a role in the play La mala semilla (The Bad Seed), which would be the first of a series of plays she was involved with while she filmed. When she was 16 she joined the telenovela industry with the production Cartas de amor (Love Letters). The following year, she acted in musicals as well as in “lucha libre” movies such as El Señor Tormenta (Lord Storm) and Muerte en el ring (Death in the Ring). At that time she was beginning to be referred to as La novia de la juventud (Youth’s girlfriend) and after her first musical, a journalist, Octavio de Alba, named her La Novia de México (Mexico’s girlfriend or Mexico’s sweetheart), which is the title she would keep thereafter.

Singing career

After a few musicals, she asked for her mother’s assistance (who was also her manager) and together with Armando Manzanero, then a new songwriter, she sang 1962’s Eddy Eddy which would eventually become one of her greatest musical successes. Manzanero took Angélica to see a producer, and in the same year she released her first album on the Musart record label. The album was a success, so she began touring and making movies with teen idols such as César Costa and actor/singer Enrique Guzmán whom she would date later. After joining RCA, she would later become one of the biggest stars in Latin America. In 1973 she met the aspiring singer Juan Gabriel who would become one of the biggest selling artists in the world. Together, they would record ballads performed by mariachi bands. The single Tú sigues siendo el mismo (“You are still the same”) sold one million copies in the United States alone, and has since then been performed by dozens of other singers. She recorded three more albums in 1974. In 1980, she recorded for the first time in a U. K. studio, making an album of ballads and a single record with two pop songs in English, seeking some kind of crossover. During these years, she signed with Marsal Productions, then Caytronics, Melody, RCA again, and finally CBS, which was her last contract with a foreign record company. Since then, she established her own recording company with which she has produced 7 albums.

Her singing career spans through 2013, being her most recent album “With Your Love”, produced by R. Levaron, and launched by Universal Music.