Marian Pabón

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Marian Pabón (born c. 1958) is a noted Puerto Rican actress. She also had some success as a singer and recording artist.

Pabón grew used to life in the spotlight: her father, Mario Pabón, was one of Puerto Rico's most famous actors and directors. She was named after him; her family used the name "Marian" as a version of "Mario".

Pabón was one of Puerto Rico's most prolific actresses when telenovelas were produced there. Pabón was active in these Spanish soap operas until 1989, when the last Puerto Rican telenovela was produced.

Pabón also had a long theater career that has spanned over a decade, which started just as Puerto Rican telenovelas were phased out. A fan of musicals, she would also star in the occasional musical play as a singer and dancer (musicals are rarely produced in Puerto Rico, due to the market's relatively small size, which prevents expensive productions from lasting long enough to recoup production costs).

She also became a comedic actress during that period, notably as part of Sunshine Logroño's television productions. Notable among her characters at the time was "Paola", the helper of an incompetent magician who, whenever his magic tricks failed miserably, would always demand that she, who normally wore a form-hugging dress (Pabón is also known for her svelte physique and large natural bosom), prance around the stage as to save the act by turning it into a cheesecake display.

At the time, Pabón recorded a solo album. She had two minor hits that earned some airplay on Puerto Rican media: a cover version of Chubby Checker's "Let's Twist Again, and "Se Enteró Tu Mujer" ("Your Wife Now Knows"). The song tells the melodramatic story of the clandestine lover of a cheating husband who has learned that her lover's wife has discovered their affair; she is actually relieved by the discovery. Her deadpanned "...¡Y me alegro!" ("...and I'm happy for it!") is a soundbite on various Puerto Rican radio programs, and has become an audience favorite, perhaps as a local example of camp.

From 1999 until 2006, Pabón starred alongside Rene Monclova, among others, in Sunshine Logroño's television comedy, El Condominio. In this series she portrayed Brenda Q., a very assertive Niuyorican who has turned into a madam after a stint pursuing prostitution as a career. Brenda is weary of her male neighbors, who only perceive her sex appeal and are inevitably drawn to her breasts, and constantly (and angrily) demands that they only stare to her eyes. She has a cousin, Cari, (played by actress Cristina Soler), a nymphomaniac who has a relatively low intelligence quotient and bigger breasts than Brenda Q.'s, and whom she tries to coerce into doing sex acts for money with customers, which inevitably Cari would inevitably do rather willingly and not charge for, to Brenda's frustration.

Controversy arose in 2004 over whether that show should be cancelled because Tony Mojena had been the show's original producer, Pabón stuck by Logroño, defending the show as a workhouse for her fellow Puerto Rican co-stars.

Pabón has kept participating in theatre shows. She was involved in several of San Juan's most important plays of the 1990s, and she has toured Puerto Rico as a stage actress. She keeps involved in theater, and, with the possibility of El Condominio disappearing from Puerto Rican television, she also participates in a stage version of the hit TV show, which includes the same actors and characters of the television programs.

Pabón also participated Puerto Rican films such as Desvío al Paraiso (Wrong Way to Paradise) and Casi casi. This last film was written and directed by her nephews Tony Vallés and Jaime Vallés.

Pabón is one of the most noted musical comedy performers in Puerto Rico having starred as Lola in the San Juan production of Damn Yankees (opposite Roberto Vigoreaux as Joe Hardy), Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, Sister Mary Leo in the San Juan premiere of Sor-Presas (Nunsense), and Roxie Hart in Chicago. She has also appeared in numerous zarzuelas (Spanish operettas). She played Fraulein Kost in the 1995 San Juan production of Cabaret, taking over the lead role of Sally Bowles when the show's star, Ivette Rodriguez, took time off due to illness. In 2006 she played Cassie in the Puerto Rican revival of A Chorus Line.