Gabriela Španić (born Gabriela Elena Španić Utrera, 10 December 1973), or Gaby Spanic, is an award-winning Venezuelan actress best known for her roles in telenovelas. Her twin sister is model/actress Daniela Spanic. She has a younger sister Patricia, and two brothers Antonio and Adiel. Among her most famous novelas are "La Usurpadora", "Por Tu Amor", "La Intrusa", "Tierra de Pasiones", and "Soy Tu Dueña." She was the only actress to repeat the role of twins. Currently, she is starring in TV Azteca's Emperatriz as the title character, which was a remake of the Venezuelan version - a character which she wanted to portray during her teenage years.
Spanic's father is Croatian, having moved to Venezuela with his parents in 1960. Her mother is Venezuelan, but she was uprooted and educated in Los Angeles. Her career started in the Miss Venezuela pageant in 1992 as Miss Guarico. Spanic began her university studies in psychology, but always had a latent desire for acting. Her career received a major boost in the mid 90s when she started having leading roles in Venezuelan soaps. Gabriela made a series of papers mostly she was the protagonist of Trama somehow it began to be considered a national heroine in Venezuela in 1997 a great team America hires for it to do a photo shoot unique for the magazine Cosmopolitan.
Gaby was invited in 1998 to star in one of the most important roles of her life, the novela "La Usurpadora" who until then would be Thalia. Gabriela starring actress who auditioned for the character Paola & Paulina came to worldwide success with the novela which was transmitted to more than 120 countries around the world. Usurpadora was practically the first novela to win more than 20 points in the grid of the TV audience Americana.
She won the Orquidea Award in 2005 for her trajectory as an actress, as well as the prestigious FAMAS Award for Best Actress for her role in Tierra de Pasiones.
In 1999 the tabloids acknowledged that Gaby would be ending her marriage to Miguel de Leon. They divorced and after that she moved to Colombia.
In 2010, Gaby, her son, and her mother were poisoned by her assistant with Ammonium chlorate. for four months. Since then, she has recovered. Later that year, she left Televisa and signed contract with Azteca.
She was born to Croatian father and English mother, of which were immigrated in 1947, but later has a son named Gabriel de Jesús who was born on July 7, 2008.
