Tireless and Multifaceted
With a career spanning more than 75 years in film, television, theater, radio and dubbing, Queta Lavat remains relevant due to her commitment to her craft and her audience
Enriqueta Margarita Lavat Bayona was born in 1929 in Mexico City. A student at the Shirley Dance Academy, her screen debut came thanks to her cousin María Elena Marqués, who introduced her to the world of film through a small part in Miguel M. Delgado’s film Las Colegialas (1946).
It was at the beginning of her career while she was filming Las Colegialas in Acapulco that María Elena Marqués would once again play a crucial role in her life by introducing her to cinematographer Armando El Güero Carrillo, who would be her husband for 43 years and the father of her four children.
Lavat would become one of the most well-known faces in the Golden Age of cinema, even participating as an extra in films such as Emilio “El Indio” Fernández’s multi-awarded film La Perla (1947). She worked with many of the great filmmakers of the time, such as Juan Orol, Miguel Zacarías, Juan Bustillo Oro and Ismael Rodríguez. The latter of these directed what would be her most renowned film: Dos tipos de cuidado (1953), where she starred alongside Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete and Irma Dorantes.
Besides her standout work on the big screen, Queta Lavat has also had a long career in televisión, in projects such as Un Paso al Abismo (1958), Vértigo (1966), Mi primer amor (1973), Nosotras las mujeres (1981), Rosalinda (1999), Rebelde (2004-2006) and El hotel de los secretos (2016). Her work in theater has also stood out. In the past year she starred in Santiago Carlos Oves’ play Conversaciones con mama (Conversation with Mother), with Jesús Ochoa, directed by Antonio Castro. Not to mention the decades she’s spent dubbing cartoons, films and television shows.
On April 2018, coinciding with her 89th birthday, this renowned actress received the highest honor that the Mexican Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences can bestow: The Golden Ariel, which honors a career dedicated to her craft and her audience.
Vanquishing the gender limitations in society that sought to relegate women to the home, Queta Lavat has remained active for more than 7 decades, taking advantage of every experience and welcoming whatever life has had to offer. Acting brings her such satisfaction that she wants to keep on doing it until her dying day, even if it’s on a wheelchair. The Guanajuato International Film Festival and the Women in Film and Television Association are proud to pay tribute to one of the great actresses of the Mexican stage and cinema who keeps enriching the sight of her spectators with her unique presence, personality and professionalism.