A Celebration of Licence to Kill actress Talisa Soto

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2021-03-27

Birthday for Talisa Soto, gorgeous actress and model who portrayed "Lupe Lamora" in the 16th James Bond film, Licence to Kill (1989).

With this dedicated page, we would like to send our personal wishes to Ms. Soto on her birthday.

"Dear Talisa, happy birthday and much love from Sweden."

About Talisa Soto:
Talisa Soto was born in Brooklyn, New York as the youngest of four children born to an Italian mother and a Canadian father of Puerto Rican descent. Her parents later relocated to Northampton, Massachusetts where Soto and her siblings were raised and educated.

At the age of 15, Soto signed with Click Models and began modelling during summer vacations. Weeks after being signed, she travelled to Paris where she appeared in a layout for Vogue shot by Bruce Weber. She returned to Northampton after the summer to resume her schooling and would continue to model on occasion until she graduated from high school. She later appeared on the covers of American and British Vogue, British Elle, Mademoiselle, Glamour and Self magazines.

She also appeared in her first music video with former boyfriend Nick Kamen, Madonna's "Each Time You Break My Heart", directed by Tony Viramontes. Soto and Kamen were often used as models by Ray Petri: the late fashion stylist and creator of the 80's London "Buffalo Boy" look.

In 1988, when Soto returned to the United States, she auditioned and landed the role of "India" in her feature debut, Spike of Bensonhurst, a comedy which starred Sasha Mitchell and Ernest Borgnine. In 1989, she was cast as Lupe Lamora, in the James Bond film Licence to Kill starring Timothy Dalton and as Maria Rivera in The Mambo Kings.

Soto has appeared in more than 20 films including Mortal Kombat (1995) as Kitana; Island of the Dead (2000) as Melissa O'Keefe; Piñero (2001) as Sugar, starring Benjamin Bratt; and Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002) as Ryne alongside Lucy Liu and Antonio Banderas. Soto also made two guest appearances on the television series C-16: FBI. She played the role of Doña Julia, one of Johnny Depp's many love interests in the tongue-in-cheek romantic comedy Don Juan DeMarco (1994), Depp playing the title role. She also made an appearance in Marc Anthony's music video for "I Need to Know". In 1996, Soto played the title role in the campy film Vampirella based on the comic book character.

In 1990, Soto was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In 1995, she was featured in the Sports Illustrated "Swimsuit Issue". She was ranked #58 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2002.

Editor's note:
Our dear friend, the lovely Charlotte Lewis (famed British actress after her starring role in The Golden Child opposite Eddie Murphy) was considered for the role as "Lupe Lamora" in Licence to Kill (1989) and the resemblance to Talisa Soto is obvious.

Photo above:
Talisa Soto with Timothy Dalton and Caroline Bliss at a press call for LTK, June 9, 1989.
Photo © Roger Allen

For more information about Talisa Soto's film career, check out her profile on IMDB:

www.imdb.com/name/nm0000650/

Tags:

#birthdays

#bond_girls

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A Celebration of Licence to Kill actress Talisa Soto

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