Irán Castillo Mexican Actress and Singer From Veracruz

Early life

Iran Castillo was born on 4 January 1977 in the port city of Veracruz, Mexico. As a child she asked her mother to take her to an audition for the children's programme Chiquilladas. She was not chosen, but someone on the production team suggested she work in commercials, and she began modelling for magazines and television at the age of six. At twelve she joined an acting workshop run by Martha Zavaleta and Pedro Damian.

By the late 1980s she had tried out for the group La Onda Vaselina and, because of her height, was placed instead in another girl group, Mosquitas Muertas. The group released a self-titled album in 1991. Around the same time she started appearing in telenovelas and worked as a reporter on the children's programme El Club de Gaby.

Career

Castillo's breakthrough was the role of Cecilia in the telenovela Agujetas de color de rosa in 1994, where she also recorded songs for the soundtrack. She played in the stage musical Vaselina and in 1996 had her first lead television role in Confidente de secundaria, whose theme song she recorded. In 1997 she released her debut solo album, Tiempos Nuevos, with Sony Music, led by the single "Yo por el". A promotional tour took her through Central America. In 1998 she led the youth telenovela Preciosa, and her second album, Tatuada en tus besos, followed in 1999, with the single "Por ti, por mi".

In film, she appeared in The Tiger of Santa Julia in 2002, her third feature, followed by the telenovela Clase 406. After taking a year away and travelling to India, she returned in 2004 in Amar otra vez. In 2008 she filmed Victorio, in which she played a woman living among Central American gang members. It had a limited release but brought her an Ariel Award nomination in 2011. She also voiced Jessie in the Latin American versions of Toy Story 2, 3 and 4.

She spent the 2010s on television and stage. In 2012 she was cast in the Venevision series Los secretos de Lucia, and in 2014 she began recording a third album, Amanecer, her first in 15 years. In 2016 she appeared in the series about the singer Juan Gabriel, Hasta que te conocí. She toured with the 90's Pop Tour from 2017 until 2018, performing her hits alongside other acts of that decade, and she appeared in El Chapo in 2018. She filmed Ready to Mingle, which is listed as her latest film credit in 2019.

Later in her career she moved toward what she calls healing music, with songs aimed at wellbeing and visits to children's hospitals, and she launched a meditation channel on YouTube. In 2023 she began a family music project, El Castillo de Iran, and in 2024 started a podcast named Me late ser humano. In 2025 she gave a solo concert marking 28 years since Tiempos Nuevos.

Recognition

Castillo won the Best Actress award at the 2003 Heraldo Awards for The Tiger of Santa Julia. She was nominated for the MTV Movie Awards Mexico for the same film, for the TVyNovelas Awards for her role in Alborada, and for the Ariel Award in 2011 for Victorio.

Personal life

Castillo has long practised meditation and yoga, having deepened both during her stay in India in 2003. In 2006 she lived briefly in Vancouver, Canada, to study English.