Few have accomplished what Marcos Valdés (Bojalil) has accomplished in his young lifetime.

He sings in several music genres, dances, is a comedian, television show host, a telenovela star, a film actor, has done voice-over dubbing for several Disney films; is producing a show for ESPN and is now an acting coach and the publisher of his own magazine thus making him the most complete, and then some, entertainer.

His story, which has a San Antonio connection, has enough drama to easily translate into a full-length film. And for someone who has suffered rejection, humiliation, set-backs, felt so much emotional pain and struggled to become his own person and succeed, he possesses one of the most beautiful, positive personalities; and perhaps that is why he has semi-adopted one of his uncles biggest hits a recurring theme.

That song is Lloyd Price’s “Personality,” which Germán “Tin Tan” Valdés “El Pachuco de México” re-recorded in Spanish. In 1956, Tin Tan also performed the Freddy Fender (r.n. Baldemar Huerta) penned “No Está Aqui” in “Pilotos de la Muerte” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB8YVZ6sbEs) when the San Benito, Texas-native was known as Eddie Medina y Los Shades.

Marcos was into a family of famous celebrities, yet never rode their coat-tails to fame instead opting to do it on his own merit.

MARCOS’ MATERNAL ROOTS

The Alamo City connection is actress-singer Eva Garza, who was born and raised in the Apache Alazan Courts. After making a name for herself here, in 1939 she joined Sally Rand’s troupe and left S.A. to tour all over the United States and Canada.

On December 31, 1939, she married Felipe Bojalil Gil of El Charro Gil y sus Caporales, which included  Jesús “Chucho” Navarro and Álvaro Ancona, and they settled in New York City where she went on to record for Columbia Records.

When Álvaro quit in 1940, Felipe had convinced his brother Alfredo “El Güero” Gil to move to New York and joined his Caporales.

They disbanded in 1944 when his brother Alfredo and Chucho left to form Los Panchos with Hernando Avilés.

In 1949, Felipe and Eva moved to Mexico City where Eva’s star continued to shine. Meanwhile their marriage was blessed with two beautiful children, Rosa María “Rosemary” and Felipe Bojalil Gil Garza, and they were both born in San Antonio.

Unfortunately, divorce terminated this union in 1953 and Eva’s sister Tina became her manager and children’s caretaker.

In the early 1960s, Rosemary became a popular recording artist under the stage name of Corinna while her brother Felipe Jr. sang under the moniker of Fabricio; and they were both exclusive RCA Victor artists.

MARCO’S PATERNAL ROOTS

His father is Manuel “El Loco” Gómez Valdés Castillo, whose brothers are television comedian and supporting actor “Don” Ramón Valdés in “Chavo del Ocho” and comedian-singer-actor Germán Valdés, best known as Tin Tan, “El Pachuco de México.”

In 1964 Marcos’ 17-year-old mother was at the height of her singing career as Corinna and her album, “Sola y Un Amor,” was riding high when she gave birth to the love child of El Loco Valdés. Hence, the names of his father and mother. And as can be seen, Marcos hails from a family of world-class international entertainers.

I grew up as an only child and I had a sad childhood because I did not have a complete family and the only constant in my life was loneliness. My mother married a man who gave me his last name and for a long time I thought my real name was Marcos Edmundo Voguera Bojalil. Now I had a father, but was still raised by a mean nanny.

His baby half-brother Cristian Castro was born in December 1974 from his father’s union with actress-singer Verónica Castro.

“I didn’t find out who my father was until an aunt intentionally told me of my famous biological father when I was 14,” Marcos told a Mexican newspaper reporter in 1992.

As a consequence, he didn’t know Tin Tan was his uncle nor did he get to meet him since Tin Tan passed on when Marcos was nine.

“The sad part is that my father had twelve sons and he had to hide me from his wives and sons.”

Besides Verónica, his father had two other women, Yolanda and Aracelia, so Marcos’ presence caused him much nervous tension because El Loco did not want them to know that Marcos was his son. The bottom line is that Marcos did not ride his father, his mother, or his grandparent’s coattails to break into show business.

Marcos left home at 15, lived under different roofs and waited on tables, worked as a busboy and sold furniture to save the necessary funds to pay for acting lessons. In the process he did six years of theater with Manolo Fábregas, not to mention honing his skills as a singer, dancer and emcee with other maestros. After working as an assistant director in a theatrical production that took him all over the Mexican republic, he earned the $10,000 he needed to finish paying off his studies. In that interim Marcos also placed 7^th out of 14,000 contestants in a talent show.

MARCOS MAKES HIS MARK

Thanks to Raúl Velasco of “Siempre En Domingo,” in 1986 he was hired to host “Estrellas de Los ‘80s.” During his 30-year career he also emceed “Mi Barrio,” “Rola La Rola,” “Que Locura,” “Estudio 2” and numerous other television shows.

Since then the six-foot tall, muscular, slim, limber blonde-haired entertainer has gone on to act in over twenty movies included “Mi Verdad,” now on DVD, and in the process earned a coveted “Premio La Diosa de Plata” for “Best Actor” in “Me Importas Tú … Y Tú.”

His telenovelas, which number over 20 include “Alcanzar Un Estrella I and II” for which he won El Premio TV y Novelas; “Marisol” in which he played Dr. Salvador Saldivar, “Romántica Obsesión” and “Ladrón de Corazónes” opposite Lorena Rojas in the role of Ramiro Barrientos, to name a few.

He was recognized and honored as a stage actor with Premio El Sol de México. Other awards were Las Damas de La Víctoria, Premio Calendario Azteca de Oro, Premio Mala Noche No and the list goes on and one, but we only have so much space.

As a singer he has recorded over 20 albums in which he interprets norteño, música ranchera, rock and bop tunes. Added to that doing voice-over dubbing for Disney’ Spanish-language releases of “Hercules,” “Jungle Book II” and other American animated productions.

Hence it is needless to say that his handsome face has appeared on countless farandula magazine covers in Mexico.

Marcos’ latest television stint was that of hosting “Alegre Despertar” for Univision 48 in McAllen, Texas, a gig that end in a tearful farewell program on May 1 of this year and which can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb33tF_IEYI.

Marcos has been a crusader in strongly promoting tourism in Mexico since 2009 because as he says,” Mexico and the border have suffered from bad publicity in movies and bad press; and I want people to see how beautiful the Republic of Mexico is and we are presently working on that very hard,” Marcos said during a telephone follow-up to our initial interview at the KVDA Telemundo studios on Mother’s Day.

Not one to rest on his laurels, he next became host of “Hoy Tamaulipas,” at a Matamoros-based television station. And if that wasn’t enough, he recently launched Metropolitan Life Magazine, a free slick our-color publication that he says represents the metropolitan life that people in the Rio Grande Valley and Valle de Tamaulipas are enjoying. A copy of the magazine and its topics can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP_XCBAuI_o.

“And as we speak, I am preparing a reality show on martial arts that will hopefully make the fall schedule on ESPN.”

On the personal side, Marcos Eduardo Valdés, his 25-year-old son, fathered Julian, who is Marcos’ four-year-old grandson and source of great pride and joy. As for women, Marcos said, “the woman I love most in my life is my mother.

When this writer met Marcos in his dressing room, he turned the tables around by bombarding me with questions. He had me as they say in Mexico between the sword and the wall as a slew of questions that I was unable to answer. This made me realize how little I knew about Mexico’s singers and actors, about my own culture, my own raza and my own roots. It was a wake-up call to expand my coverage of entertainment celebrities and I thank Marcos for that rude awakening.

A highlight that evening was when I gave Marcos a copy of StreetTalk and when he reached the page featuring the Eva Garza exhibit, he excitedly exclaimed, “That’s my grandmother!” and that’s before I knew about their relationship.

For those not familiar with Marcos, there are 920 videos of him on YouTube, but start out with his excellent video resume at www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qWrxVl8OAQ. This one features snippets from his numerous works of art. The second one is a 5-minute and 22-second bio at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq3n0lX-VA0.

Asked to describe himself, the famous 49-year-old artist humbly said, “I am very tender, sympathetic, intense, impulsive, emotional and above all, sincere and transparent. That’s why I wish more people had a more sincere and honest soul.” Add to that talented, energetic and driven in his goals.

Those readers that want to see the ultimate, also rare, documentary on his uncle, Tin Tan, check out the extremely educational at www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkwmkgzjsE4 where you will learn of his Texas connection, which also spurned the wearing of his zoot-suit clad pachuco image.

In closing, let it be known that Marcos owns and runs ValPro Entertainment, a talent coordination/event promotions company and if you want private acting lesson from the maestro, call his office at (956) 278-2381 or (956) 309-6963.