Lali Espósito

1998–2006: Early work; Rincón de Luz, Floricienta and Chiquititas

Espósito made her television debut on the children's program Caramelito y vos (English: Caramelito And You) in 1998, when she was 6 years old. She made her acting debut in Rincón de luz (Corner of Light), a children's television series created by Cris Morena, in which she played one of the main supporting characters Malena "Coco" Cabrera. A year later, Espósito appeared as Roberta in Floricienta, another successful series by Cris Morena. In 2006, she portrayed Agustina Ross in a new rendition of Cris Morena's highly successful children's series Chiquititas (Tiny Girls). She also participated in stage adaptations of these three series.

Espósito debuted as a singer on soundtrack albums for Rincón de luz, Floricienta and Chiquititas. These albums were a commercial success in Argentina and numerous other countries, most notably Israel.

2007–2010: Success with Casi Ángeles and Teen Angels

In 2007, Espósito landed her first leading role on television, as Marianella "Mar" Rinaldi in Casi Ángeles (Almost Angels), also created by Morena and produced by Cris Morena Group. It became one of the most popular adolescent television programs in Argentina, Latin America and Israel. The series lasted from 2007 to 2010 and held high viewer ratings and earning four Martín Fierro Awards for Best Juvenile Program.

While acting in Casi Ángeles, Espósito became one of five members of successful pop band Teen Angels, signed to Sony BMG, along with Gastón Dalmau, Juan Pedro Lanzani, Nicolás Riera and María Eugenia Suárez. Teen Angels reached success in countries such as Argentina, Israel, Chile, Peru, Spain and Uruguay. Although Casi Ángeles ended in 2010, the band members announced they would continue working together, with Rochi Igarzábal replacing María Eugenia Suárez.

From 2007 to 2012, Teen Angels released six studio albums, of which five were certified platinum and one was certified gold by the Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers. They were also spokespersons for numerous brands, such as Coca-Cola. The band won a Clarín Award, a Kids' Choice Award Argentina, two Los 40 Principales Awards, and a Quiero Award, and three nominations for Carlos Gardel Awards.

Teen Angels disbanded in 2012, and held its last concert on 11 October 2012 in Córdoba. Teen Angels, el adiós, a 3D concert film about Teen Angels, was released in 2013 and marked the end of the group.

2011–2013: Cuando me sonreis, The Crucible, Solamente vos and A Bailar (single)

After the end of Casi Ángeles, Espósito adopted her nickname Lali, by which she had been known to her friends and family, as her stage name.

In 2011, Espósito starred on Cuando me sonreís (When you smile at me), a new television series by Tomás Yankelevich, opposite Facundo Arana, Julieta Díaz and Benjamín Rojas. The following year, Espósito portrayed Abigail Williams in the Buenos Aires production of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and made her film debut with La pelea de mi vida (The Fight of My Life), which also starred Mariano Martínez and Federico Amador.

Since January 2013, Espósito had starred the Pol-ka series Solamente vos (Only You), along with Adrián Suar and Natalia Oreiro, as Daniela, one of its leading characters. In 2013, Espósito announced she would release her first album as a solo artist, titled A Bailar. When asked about the album's genre, she described it as mainly dance with hip hop influences. The album's lead single, "A Bailar", was released for digital download on her website on 5 August, causing the website to crash because of a spike in traffic. On 2 September, Espósito presented the music video for "A Bailar" at the prominent La Trastienda Club. "A Bailar" received 100,000 YouTube views on its release day, and the single entered the top 20 on iTunes Latin and iTunes Israel. It also was popular in music charts and radio channels in Latin America, Italy and Israel.

2014–2015: A Bailar, A los 40 and Esperanza mía

Previous to the release of her debut album, Espósito released A Bailar EP, which included the tracks "A Bailar", "Asesina" and "Del Otro Lado". The music video for "Asesina", the second single, was uploaded to the singer's official YouTube account on March 10, 2014. The ten-track album A Bailar (English: Let's Dance) was released on March 21, 2014.

In support of the album, Espósito embarked on the A Bailar Tour of Argentina, with several later stops in Uruguay, Chile, Spain, Italy and Israel. The tour earned $2.5 million in the first five shows at Teatro Opera Allianz and was later named the highest grossing tour of 2015 in Argentina. Following the tour's success, more dates were added, and the tour concluded in April 25, 2016 at Menora Mivtachim Arena, Tel Aviv, after a total of 74 dates.

In May 2014, Espósito starred in the Peruvian film A los 40, directed by Bruno Ascenzo.

In May 2014 she starred in the Peruvian film "A los 40" (At 40), directed by Bruno Ascenzo. In the same year, she became the first ever Argentine artist to win a Kids' Choice Award in the United States for Best Latin Artist.

In later 2014, the singer signed an exclusive publishing contract with Sony Music Entertainment Argentina and released "Mil Años Luz" as the third single from A Bailar. To celebrate her incorporation to Sony Music, Espósito released a deluxe edition of A Bailar, which contained a unpublished material including a new song, a remix, severeal video clips and a documentary of the tour. The album peaked at No. 3 in Uruguay and at No. 5 in Argentina, where it was certified gold a few days after its release.

In 2015, Espósito starred in the Pol-ka telenovela Esperanza mía (My lovely hope) alongside Mariano Martinez as Julia "Esperanza" Albarrazin, a young woman who settles in a convent by posing as a novice.

The A Bailar Tour, continued to 2016 across national cities like Buenos Aires, Rosario, Mar del Plata and Córdoba and included international stops in Uruguay, Italy, Spain and Israel. In 2014, the singer performed as the opening act for Ricky Martin show, held in Buenos Aires and in 2015 for Katy Perry's The Prismatic World Tour.

2016–present: Soy, Permitidos and collaborations

Espósito released her second studio album Soy on May 20, 2016, with El País newspaper writing that "she takes one more step with this album, she experiments, shows herself as she is, and that is always valuable". In an interview with Intrusos, the singer referred to the album's title (Soy, English: I Am) saying that "it is called Soy because I am sharing the truth about what I think and feel. It is super personal". It sold more than 20,000 copies in Argentina in just three hours, being certified gold by the Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers (CAPIF). The album debuted at No. 1 in Argentina, Uruguay and Israel, and at No. 5 and No. 6 in Italy and Spain, respectively. Its lead single, "Soy", was released on May 5 and peaked at No. 10 on the Monitor Latino Top 20 chart (Argentina) and at No. 15 on the Pop Songs chart (Ecuador). The second single, "Boomerang", was released on September 5, 2016. As of November 2016, its music video has been viewed more than 5 million times. Soy was listed as one of the best albums of 2016 by Billboard Brasil along with Beyoncé's Lemonade, Lady Gaga's Joanne, J Balvin's Energía and others. In the same year, Espósito was featured on Abraham Mateo's remix of the song "Mueve" from the re-issue of his album Are You Ready?, on Brian Cross song "Firestarter" from his second studio album Darkness to Life and on Baby K's spanish version of the international hit "Roma-Bangkok".

In August, Espósito starred in the romantic comedy film Permitidos as Camila Boecchi alongside Martín Piroyansky. The film, which was directed by Ariel Winograd, has eventually grossed $1.9 million and has been viewed more than 370,000 times. The review aggregator website Todas Las Críticas assigned the film a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The singer embarked on the Soy Tour of Latin America on September 8, with plans to extend it to Europe and Asia. Reviews of the tour performances generally praised Espósito's vocals and the show's staging, which is said that "fullfills the expectations of a nowadays international pop show."

Espósito's 2016 most notable accolades include Favorite Artist and Favorite Song for "Soy" at the 2016 Argentine Kids' Choice Awards, Best Latin America South Act at the 2016 MTV Europe Music Awards, Argentine Artist of the Year at the 2016 MTV Millennial Awards, and nominations for Best Actress at both the 2016 Seoul International Drama Awards and the 2016 Martín Fierro Awards, where she won Best Theme Song for "Tengo Esperanza". The singer became the first ever Argentine artist to enter the Billboard Social 50 and Artist 100 charts, peaking at No. 2 and No. 69, respectively.

Modeling

Espósito has been a spokesperson for numerous brands, either independently or with her Teen Angels bandmates. Her first commercial was for the children's fashion label MCbody Jeans. In 2007, she signed an exclusive contract with the Argentine lingerie brand Promesse, and she has done most of her photo sessions with Luisana Lopilato. In 2009, Espósito and Peter Lanzani did a special promotion for KEFF body spray for the Israeli market. Since 2011, she has been the spokesperson for the lingerie brand Lara Teens. In 2014 she starred in a commercial for hair conditioner Biokur in Uruguay and a commercial for feminine wipes company Carefree in Argentina.

Throughout her career Espósito has been the cover model for several magazines such as Caras, OnMag, Las Rosas, Twees, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, Luz, Viva, Watt, Nueva, Upss and Fack, among others.

Entrepreneurship

On 21 September 2013, Espósito launched her own line of perfumes that carries her name, Lali. Among her recent projects, she also plans to launch her own line of female cosmetics and another perfume.

Philanthropy

In May 2010, Espósito and her Teen Angels bandmates participated in an action organized by the Biodiversity Foundation on the occasion of the World Biodiversity Day and raised awareness of the importance of preserving biodiversity.

In 2013, Espósito supported Best Buddies International, a non-governmental organization that promotes social inclusion and employment of people with intellectual disabilities.

In 2014 she participated in the concert at Teatro Opera by the Guest Foundation that marked the 25th anniversary of the fight against HIV. In 2015 she starred in the solidarity campaign "Flood, what are we doing?" for the foundation to help flood victims in the city of Córdoba.

Personal life

Lali is the daughter of María José Riera, who road-manages her tour, and Carlos Espósito, a football coach. She has two siblings, Patricio Espósito and Ana Laura Espósito. She was born in Parque Patricios, and she later moved to Banfield. She currently resides in Palermo, Buenos Aires.

From 2006 to 2010, Espósito dated her Chiquititas and Casi Ángeles co-star Peter Lanzani, but she ended the relationship in 2010.

She was ranked third sexiest Argentine woman in The Ranking's 25 Sexiest Women of Argentina.

In 2014 she was ranked the 27th-most influential Spanish-speaking celebrity on Twitter.

Film

Television

Discography

Concert tours

Headlining

Opening act

Awards and nominations

As of November 2016, Espósito has won 31 awards from 62 nominations, including two Gardel Awards, one MTV Europe Music Award, one Kids' Choice Award, nine Argentine Kids' Choice Awards, four MTV Millennial Awards, one Tato Award and three Quiero Awards, between the most notable.