Norma Zúñiga

Cuban character actress and comedienne who started her career at age eight as a dancer in tent shows owned by her uncle. By the time she was fourteen, Norma was good enough to join the famed Enrique Arredondo theatrical troupe touring the island's stages with great success. As a young adult she performed as a featured dancer at the popular Palette Club in Havana and was soon seen in theaters and television where she developed a great talent for parody and comedy. She performed in countless plays and television sitcoms turning into one of Cuba's most popular young stars. However in 1959, with the arrival of the Cuban revolution, things turned sour for Norma and in 1960 she followed hundreds of thousands of her compatriots into exile in Miami, Florida. She knew it would not be easy to relaunch her career in a land where nobody knew her, but also knew she could not stay in her homeland under a communist dictatorship. She persevered in exile and after a while she was able to demonstrate her versatility on Spanish radio and theaters in Miami and New York City. In 1962, as well as much later in her career, she participated in Sábado Gigante (1962-2015), which was an eclectic entertainment show that was not only Univision's longest-running TV series, but also the longest-running television variety series in world TV history. Another big break for Norma came in 1965 when she was given the part of Nananina in the television sitcom "La tremenda corte" (The tremendous court) based on the iconic comedy that had been broadcast on Cuban and Latin American radio from 1942 to 1961. She also costarred in the PBS hit Qué pasa, U.S.A.? playing two characters, the "santera" Asunción and Mrs. Suarez (1977-1979). Other triumphs followed both on stages and on television when Norma became a huge commodity as a character actress in popular, highly rated telenovelas (soap operas) such as Ángel rebelde (2004), Sacrificio de mujer (2011), and Cosita Linda (2014) among many others. Norma Zúñiga is without a doubt a talent for all seasons.