María Fernanda Ríos

María Fernanda Ríos Villalta (born February 20, 1982), also known as Mafer Ríos, is an Ecuadorian actress, singer, model, and fashion designer. She is known for performing in the tecnocumbia groups Leche y Chocolate and Kandela & Son, for acting in TV series such as El Combo Amarillo and Los Hijos de Don Juan, and for being a juror on . In 2018, she played entertainer Sharon la Hechicera in an .

Career Beginnings and music María Fernanda Ríos was born in Guayaquil on February 20, 1982. She studied ballet and attended the Danzas Jazz academy.

She studied medicine for three years at the Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, after which she left to dedicate herself to the arts.

She began as a singer and dancer in technocumbia groups such as Leche y Chocolate (created by Sharon la Hechicera), Las Musas, and most famously Kandela & Son, which she joined with Jasú Montero, Jordana Doylet, Malena Fernández-Madrid, Carla Ramírez, and Diana Guerrero.

She also appeared on Teleamazonas shows such as Historias Personales, Súper Espías, , and . She was also a juror for the second, third, and fourth seasons of .

She played Juana Francisca Silva on the TC Televisión comedy series Los Hijos de Don Juan.

From 2018 to 2019, she starred in the biographical telenovela , playing the late singer in her adulthood until her death. In real life, Ríos had been very close to Hechicera since her time in the group Leche y Chocolate, recalling "I worked with Sharon. And then she was my boss and I learned things with her. Then I belonged to another group, then we were friends, and now I am the one who is playing her."

In 2021, she was a juror on the fifth season of Soy el mejor.

Fashion designer Ríos made her debut as a fashion designer at Salinas Fashion Week 2014.

Controversies As a juror on the fourth season of Ecuador's Got Talent in 2015, Ríos rebuked a 16-year-old contestant for being an atheist, advising that she would never be successful if she did not believe in God. The criticisms that emerged from various atheist associations had wide repercussions in the domestic and international press. Following comments made toward her via social networks, she answered her critics directly, which the program's producers considered to be inappropriate. She was dismissed from the jury, leaving her companions Wendy Vera, Paola Farías, and Fernando Villarroel to judge the semifinals.

Personal life María Fernanda Ríos had a romantic relationship with , her coworker at El Combo Amarillo, and later with the comic actor .

In July 2019, through her official Instagram account, she announced that she had married Colombian model Miguel Ángel Álvarez. However, approximately four months later she announced their separation.

Filmography TV series and telenovelas

TV programs