María Elena Velasco

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Not to be confused with La India.

María Elena Velasco, better known as La India María or Maria Nicolasa (born 17 December 1940 Mexico, Puebla) is a famous Mexican actress and comedian, and one of Mexico's few major female film directors. Not much about Velasco's private life has been open to the public's eye; she prefers to be seen by the public as the character she usually plays in her movies: that of a countryside Indian who tries to make the most with what she has.

Velasco has said publicly that she wants India María to represent Mexico's poor social classes, and she has tried to carry out social messages in most of the movies she has made. The character she portrays is a typical southwestern Mexican Indian (her characters usually say they are from the State of Jalisco), dressed in traditional garb consisting of traditionally braided and ribboned hair, colorful native-type blouses and skirts. In her films, she often goes out of her way to speak at least a few lines in native languages, such as Chichimecan, Zapotecan or Nahuatlan.

Velasco invented the India María character in 1972 for Mexican TV network Telesistema Mexicano (now Televisa) for a comic segment of the weekly program Siempre en domingo. It quickly became a hit and in the same year, Velasco began starring in an enormously successful series of low budget comedies that became a mainstay in Mexican movie theaters through the mid 1980s.

[edit] Filmography

Velasco has starred in approximately 20 movies in Mexico, and a number of television series. She received an Ariel Award in 2004 for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film Huapango (a film not of the India María series).

  • Tonta tonta pero no tanto (1972) ... India María
  • Pobre, pero honrada!(1973) ... India María
  • Algo es algo dijo el diablo (1974) ...
  • La Madrecita (1974) ... (La india María) Sor Maria
  • Presidenta municipal(1975) ... India María
  • El Miedo no anda en burro (1976) ... India María
  • Sor tequila (1977) ... India María
  • Duro pero seguro (1978) ... India María
  • La Comadrita (1978) ... Maria Nicolasa
  • OK Mister Pancho (1981) ... India Maria
  • ¡El que no corre... vuela! (1982) ... Maria Nicolasa
  • El Coyote emplumado (1983) ... India Maria
  • Ni Chana, ni Juana (1984) ... India Maria
  • Ni de aqui, ni de alla (1988) .... India Maria
  • Se equivoco la cigueña (1993) .... India María
  • Las delicias de poder (1996) .... Lorena Barriga
  • Ay maria que punteria (1998) .... Maria
  • Amor Incondicional (episode of Mujer, Casos de la Vida Real; 2003) .... Maria
  • Huapango (2004)
  • Ni de aqui ni de aca
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