Name at birth: Thalía Ariadna Sodi Miranda

Thalia is a superstar in her native Mexico, where she appeared in a famous trilogy of 1990s soaps: Maria Mercedes (first broadcast in 1992), Marimar (1994) and Maria la del barrio (1995). The shows were distributed on Spanish-language channels around the world, giving Thalia a global fan base. (Her own website calls her "the queen of soap operas" and "the eternal innocent damsel.") Her TV fame helped boost her pop music career, which included provocative music videos and the platinum-selling album En Extasis in 1995. Her album Arrasando was released in April of 2002; it featured the single "Tu y Yo." Her next album, El Sexto Sentido, was released in 2005. Thalia married Tommy Mottola, head of Sony Music and the former husband of Mariah Carey, in December of 2000.