Rosa Carmina

Rosa Carmina
Rosa Carmina (1951)
Born	Rosa Carmina Riverón Jiménez (1929-11-19)November 19, 1929 La Habana, Cuba
Nationality	Mexican Cuban
Occupation	Actress, dancer and singer
Years active	1946–1992
Spouse(s)	Francisco Morales Llanes Juan Orol (1949-1954) Ramón de Florez

Rosa Carmina Riverón Jiménez, better known as Rosa Carmina (born November 19, 1929 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban-born Mexican dancer, singer, rumbera, vedette and film and television actress.

She was discovered in Cuba by the Spanish filmmaker Juan Orol, and made her debut in Mexican cinema in Orol's film A Woman from the East in 1946. She quickly achieved great popularity in the Mexico thanks to her talent, demeanor, and unconventional stature (being very tall for an actresses of the time). For several years, she was part of the film crew of Juan Orol in his best Gangster films. Among these are the classic Gangsters Versus Cowboys (1948), considered one of the best Mexican films and considered a Cult film in several film clubs around the world. Additionally, Rosa Carmina was one of the principal stars of the Rumberas film of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. Among her principal Rumberas films are Tania, the Beautiful Wild Girl (1947), Wild Love (1949), In the Flesh (1951), Voyager (1952) and Sandra, the Woman of Fire (1954), among others. In her versatile career, Rosa Carmina has worked in various film genres, as well as theater and television. In the 1980s and 1990s she appeared in some Mexican telenovelas. Thanks to her film collaboration with Orol, she was known as The Queen of the Gangsters of Mexican cinema. She is also known under the name Her Majesty The Rumba.

Rosa Carmina Riverón Jimenez was born in Havana, Cuba on November 19, 1929. Daughter of Juán Bruno Riverón and Encarnacion Jimenez and the youngest of four brothers. From an early age she showed interest in dancing, and studied at the School of Dance in Cuba. In 1946 the famous Spanish producer, director and film actor Juan Orol divorced the Cuban rumbera María Antonieta Pons, ending their film collaboration in the Mexican Cinema. Orol then traveled to Cuba to search for a new star for his films. He launched a competition in Havana where about five hundred girls attended (among the contestants were the future stars Ninón Sevilla and Mary Esquivel). He was unable to find an actress to play the character of a Japanese spy in the film A Woman from the East, so he decided to return to Mexico. However, Orol unexpectedly received a call from Enrique Brion, his agent in Cuba. Brion had come by invitation to the graduation celebration of Juanita Riverón, Rosa's sister, where he heard Rosa Carmina sing. Brion told Orol about his discovery. Upon meeting Rosa the next day, Orol claimed to have felt a great emotion, and thought to himself: She is the Woman from the East.