The beautiful and multi-talented Marabina Jaimes exemplifies the working Latina actress in Hollywood these days: she goes where the work is. And now her musical talent is on display as well.
An actress, a host, an interviewer, a voice on video games and cartoons, a musician–Marabina’s been working her way up the industry ladder for a decade now…and she’s made an impression wherever she’s gone. Sure, she’s been an on-camera actress, appearing in TV programs that run the gamut, from Resurrection Boulevard to 90210, and her theatrical movies include Steel, Gas Food Lodging, and the infamous Revenge of the Bimbot Zombie Killers. But she hasn’t stopped there.
Marabina was the host of the Emmy Award-winning PBS show, Storytime; she served as one of the on-camera hosts of the internet talk show Let’s Talk, which earned an Imagen Award nomination in 2010; she appeared on Ruth Livier’s internet series Ylse–another award nominee—and whether you knew it or not, you’ve heard her voice on animated series that range from Rugrats to The Wild Thornberrys. She even starred, along with Tony Plana in the first Latino-centered cartoon by Klasky-Csupo called Santo Bugito (she was the wonderfully named “Carmen de la Antchez”). And Marabina’s been highly active in voicing video games as well, from Uncharted 3 to the wildly popular Marvel Alliance (She was Clea, Dr. Strange’s girlfriend, among others). Then, just to round things out, Marabina served as the voice of Mary Alice Young in the Spanish version of Desperate Housewives AND the first Spanish-language voice for the talking version of Barbie. Yes, the doll. (You can see a great set of clips from her work here.
And that doesn’t begin to tell her story.
Like so many other multi-talented Latinos, from Jon Huertas to Seychelle Gabriel, Marabina is an accomplished musician as well. She composed the theme for Let’s Talk, she’s worked as a vocalist and songwriter for the Tijade Latin Jazz Ensemble. And now she has a terrific new music video to accompany her newest song, Te Extraño, that you can see right here:
Somehow, you can’t help thinking we haven’t heard the last of Marabina Jaimes. In fact, it seems she’s barely getting started…