Laura Zapata
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| Laura Zapata | |
| Birth name | Laura Guadalupe Zapata Miranda |
| Born | 1952 |
Laura Zapata (born Laura Guadalupe Zapata Miranda on July 31, 1952) is a Mexican telenovela actress. She has acted in Televisa productions most of her life. She is daughter of Guillermo Zapata (a Mexican boxer) and Yolanda Miranda Mange (from her first marriage). Curiously, she married one of Thalía's father, Ernesto Sodi 's nephews (a Thalía cousin), that's why she was named Laura Zapata de Sodi in Mexico.
Zapata is the eldest sister of singer Thalía and of Ernestina Sodi, a famous writer. Zapata was the first one of the family to gain international fame, acting in such soap operas as Rosalinda, Pobre Niña Rica, Esmeralda and especially Rosa Salvaje, alongside Veronica Castro. In Maria Mercedes, one of Thalía's first soap operas, she played a villain opposite her sister. In the world of telenovelas, she is as well-known known for her protagonist roles as for her roles as antagonist.
On September of 2002, Zapata and her sister Ernestina were kidnapped and taken to an unspecified location. The news of their kidnapping made headlines across Latin America and among the Spanish speaking television channels of the United States. Thalia is married to billionaire Tommy Mottola, so it was speculated that their captors would ask for a large sum of money.
Instead, Zapata was released ten days after her kidnapping, and her sister Ernestina five days after Zapata.
In January 2004, Zapata once again made headlines; gossip shows talked about an alleged dispute between her and her sisters about Zapata's intentions to make a play based on the kidnapping. Zapata announced she will put that project on hold and concentrate on another play, one which stars former Menudo member Johnny Lozada, but as of 2005 the play based on her kidnapping was about to be premiered, despite legal threats from Thalía. Ernestina agreed to be portrayed in the play.
In the United States and Canadian versions of August 22, 2005's edition of Mira! magazine, an article was published alleging that Zapata and Sodi's kidnappings had been planned from a jail in Peru. According to the articles, a Mexican drug dealer who is jailed in Lima placed calls to the Mexican location Tiaxplana, to plan the kidnappings and set a ransom in the amount of 5 million US dollars for the two sisters.
