Talisa Soto (Actor)

Talisa Soto in License To Kill. (Photo: MGM)

Highly attractive model-turned-actress, Talisa Soto was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Northampton, Massachusetts, but admittedly retains the Puerto Rican accent of her household. Soto walked into modeling when she was 15, working in Italy as well as for British VOGUE out of Paris. Despite a successful modeling career that saw her land the covers of Vogue, Glamour and Mademoiselle, among others, she yearned to act. Returned to States, her break came as India, the Puerto Rican girlfriend, in "Spike in Bensonhurst" (1988). The next year, she was Bond Girl Lupe Lamora in "License to Kill". TV work followed, including the USA network movie "Silhouette" (1990) and the HBO anthology, "Prison Stories: Women Behind Bars" (1991), in which Soto's dramatic skills were on display. Although she had supporting parts in the films "The Mambo Kings" (1992) and the direct-to-video "Hostage" (also 1992), Soto continued to try her hand at TV in the series "Harts of the West" (CBS, 1993-94). In the latter, she was featured as the granddaughter of a Native American owner of the town's general store.

In 1995, Soto found herself in two high-profile features, opposite Johnny Depp in "Don Juan De Marco" and as the "secret weapon" Princess Kitana in "Mortal Kombat". (In 1997, Soto reprised Kitana in the sequel "Mortal Kombat: The Annihilation".) She also returned to her modeling roots posing for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and appeared on its accompanying TV special. She also landed a supporting role in Michael Cimino's "Sunchaser" (1996), starring Woody Harrelson.

Soto stayed out of the limelight for the next several years but reemerged in the 2001 film "Pinero" about Miguel Pinero, whose urban poetry is recognized as a pre-cursor to rap and hip-hop. It starred Benjamin Bratt whom Soto married in May of 2002, causing her perhaps the most media attention of her career. Also in 2002, she appeared in the film "Ecks vs. Sever" alongside Lucy Liu and Antonio Banderas.