Amigos del español

Kindly given by America Reads Spanish

Robert Duvall

ROBERT DUVALL

Actor

The newspaper "The New York Times" labeled him as the "Laurence Olivier of Hollywood" but Robert Duvall would like to be remembered as a master of the tango, love and passion that he reflected in his latest film as director, "Assassination Tango.” Accompanied since 1996 by the Argentine horse rider Luciana Pedraza, Duvall considers Argentina his second home and also the source of his second language, at least when the music does not leave this veteran of 75 years wordless. He is the recipient of six Oscar nominations and a win. The golden statuette sits at his home in the Andes.

Nora Comstock

NORA DE HOYOS COMSTOCK

President and CEO of Las Comadres Para Las Americas

Las Comadres is a nationally known Latina organization empowering women to be actively engaged in the growing Latino/Hispanic communities through online and face to face networks. Nora transformed the informal in-home gathering into the national and international Las Comadres network.

Francis Ford Coppola

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA

Movie Director

An American by birth and Italian at heart, Francis Ford Coppola now has his sights set on Latin America and is learning Spanish. This cinematic giant, best known for directing “The Godfather” trilogy and “Apocalypse Now,” will find that the language comes in handy now that he has a production firm in Argentina and hotels in Guatemala and Belize and is preparing to start shooting “Tetro,” a film about an Argentine family in which Spaniards Javier Bardem and Maribel Verdú have starring roles.

Maria Marin

MARIA MARIN

Business woman

Puerto Rican motivational speaker, businesswoman and columnist Maria Marin has devoted her energies to the subjects of personal improvement and the “art of negotiation” through her company Voice of Empowerment. Marin is known at the workshops and conferences she gives for her persuasive and enthusiastic style and that ability to inspire combined with her expertise have led her to become the only Hispanic woman to teach negotiation skills worldwide.

Emma Thompson

EMMA THOMPSON

Actress

Born in London in 1959, Emma Thompson could not be more British. This is underlined in her work as an actress and screenwriter, as Thompson won an Oscar for her adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, Sense and Sensibility. However, her passion is Spanish, a language that she learned in order to develop a screenplay about the life of Victor Jara.

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