Talisa Soto

Talisa Soto (born March 27, 1967) is an American model and actress. --- Born Miriam Soto in Brooklyn, New York, she is the youngest of four children born to parents of Puerto Rican descent. During her early childhood, her parents moved to Northampton, Massachusetts where Soto and her siblings were raised and educated. At the age of 15, Soto signed with Click Model Management and began modeling during summer vacations. Weeks after being signed, she traveled to Paris where she appeared in a layout for Vogue shot by Bruce Weber. She returned to Northampton after the summer to resume her schooling and would continue to model on occasion until she graduated from high school. She later appeared on the covers of American and British Vogue, British Elle, Mademoiselle, Glamour and Self magazines. She also appeared in her first music video with former boyfriend Nick Kamen, Madonna's "Each Time You Break My Heart", directed by Tony Viramontes. Soto and Kamen were often used as models by Ray Petri: the late fashion stylist and creator of the 80's London "Buffalo Boy" look. In 1988, when Soto returned to the United States, she auditioned and landed the role of "India" in her feature debut, Spike of Bensonhurst, a comedy which starred Sasha Mitchell and Ernest Borgnine. In 1989, she was cast as Lupe Lamora, in the James Bond film Licence to Kill starring Timothy Dalton and as Maria Rivera in The Mambo Kings. Soto has participated in more than twenty films, among which are: Mortal Kombat (1995) as Kitana; Island of the Dead as Melissa O'Keefe; Piñero (2001) as Sugar, starring Benjamin Bratt; and Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever(2002) as Ryne alongside Lucy Liu and Antonio Banderas. --- In 1990, Soto was chosen by People as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. In 1995, she was featured in the Sports Illustrated "Swimsuit Issue". She was ranked #58 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2002. --- In 1997, Soto married Costas Mandylor and they were divorced in 2000. She married Benjamin Bratt on April 13, 2002, in San Francisco. Talisa was pregnant with his child. The two met ten years earlier during the casting audition of Blood In Blood Out and afterwards they saw each other on and off. It was not until the filming of Piñero that they began to develop a relationship. The couple have two children, a daughter Sophia Rosalinda Bratt (born 6 December 2002) and a son, Mateo Bravery Bratt (born 3 October 2005) in Los Angeles.