William Levy Biography

William Levy (born William Levy Gutiérrez; August 29, 1980) is a Cuban-American actor and former model.

Early life and education

Levy was born in Cojimar, Cuba. His maternal grandfather was Jewish. He was raised by his single mother, Barbara. Levy emigrated to Miami, Florida, when he was fourteen. He attended high school, after which he studied business administration on a baseball scholarship at St. Thomas University. He later went to Los Angeles to study acting and continued his acting studies in Miami and Mexico City.

Career

Levy worked as a model for the Next Models agency, and was featured in two reality shows broadcast by Telemundo: Isla de la Tentación and Protagonistas de Novela 2. In 2005 he performed at the Centro de Bellas Artes in San Juan, Puerto Rico, starring in the play La Nena Tiene Tumbao.

His debut on the Spanish-language channel Univision was in the Venevision International production of Olvidarte Jamás. He later appeared in Mi Vida Eres Tu and Acorralada. In 2008, he appeared in his first film, Retazos de Vida, directed by Viviana Cordero. He was invited by television producer Carla Estrada to star in Pasión, his breakthrough in Mexican soap operas. Televisa cast him as the lead in Cuidado con el Angel with actress and ex-RBD singer Maite Perroni. The show was first broadcast in Mexico in June 2008, and began airing in the United States in September 2008 on Univision. It averaged 5 million viewers per evening.

Levy starred alongside Jacqueline Bracamontes on Sortilegio in 2009 Sortilegio aired on Univision, and the finale drew 6.6 million viewers, beating ABC and CBS for viewers in that time slot. In November 2009, the actor lent his voice to the Spanish version of the animated movie Planet 51. The movie opened on November 27 in Mexico and won an award for best animated Spanish-language film of 2009 (Premios Goya). From November 2009 to February 2010, Levy toured several Mexican cities with the play Un Amante a la Medida, which toured in the United States in June 2010.

Levy participated in the Mexican telenovela Triunfo del Amor, a remake of the Venezuelan classic Cristal, again with Maite Perroni. The telenovela aired on October 25, 2010, in El Canal de las Estrellas. Pedro Torres, executive producer of Mujeres Asesinas, confirmed Levy's role in the third season of the popular Mexican series. Levy starred as Jennifer Lopez's love interest in the music video "I'm Into You", from her album Love?. It aired on the NBC Today Show on May 2, 2011.

In January 2012, it was announced that Levy will appear in two episodes of the VH1 television series Single Ladies, with Denise Vasi. He was a participant in the 14th season of Dancing with the Stars, with two-time mirror ball champion Cheryl Burke as his dance-pro partner; they finished in third place. In December 2012 Levy was cast as Captain Damian Fabre for the remake of La Tormenta titled La Tempestad which is currently in production and is set to air in 2013. Levy is set to star in Addicted an erotic drama based on the novel of the same name by Zane. Levy is attached to Tyler Perry's Single Moms Club set for release in 2014.

Personal life

In 2003 he began a relationship with Mexican-American actress Elizabeth Gutiérrez. They met during their participation on Protagonistas de Novela 2. In 2006, they had a son, Christopher. On March 6, 2010, Gutierrez gave birth to a daughter, Kailey. On July 11, 2009, Levy converted to Catholicism. Levy appeared on the cover of People en Español for its special issue on the sexiest men of the year for 2011. In press releases issued in May 2011, Levy and Gutierrez announced they had ended their 8-year relationship.

On August 17, 2010, a female minor filed a lawsuit against Levy in Los Angeles alleging that Levy had sexually abused her. Levy has denied the allegations and countersued for $10 million alleging extortion and defamation.

Dancing with the Stars performances

Levy was announced to be a contestant on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, partnering with two-time champion Cheryl Burke.

Week #	Dance/Song	Judges' score			Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Tonioli
1	Cha-Cha-Cha/ "International Love"	8	8	8	No Elimination
2	Quickstep/ "Nice Work If You Can Get It"	9	7	9	Safe
3	Salsa/ "La Vida es un Carnaval"	9	9	10	Safe
4	Jive/ "We're Not Gonna Take It"	7	7	8	Safe
5	Argentine Tango/ "Buttons"	10	9	10	Safe
6	Rumba/ "Being with You" Motown Marathon	9 Awarded	8 9	10 Points	Safe
7	Viennese Waltz/ "Ave Maria" Team Paso Doble/ "O Fortuna"	9 9	9 8	9 9	Safe
8	Foxtrot/ "Stray Cat Strut" Paso Doble (Trio Challenge)/ "Diablo Rojo"	10 9	10 9	10 9	Safe
9 Semi-finals	Tango/ "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" Samba/ "Magalenha"	9 10	9 10	10 10	Safe
10 Finals	Cha-Cha-Cha/ "Raise Your Glass" Freestyle/ "Objection (Tango)" Salsa (24-hour Challenge)/ Juventud de Presente	10 10 10	10 9 10	10 10 10	Third Place

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Retazos de Vida	Thiago
2009	Planet 51	Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker	Voice role (Spanish dubbing)
2014	Addicted	Quentin Matthews	post-production
2014	Single Moms Club	Manny	pre-production

Soap Operas

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005-06	Olvidarte Jamas	German
2006	Mi Vida Eres Tu	Federico
2007	Acorralada	Larry Irazabal	187 episodes
2007-08	Pasión	Vasco Darién	95 episodes
2008-09	Cuidado con el Angel	Juan Miguel San Roman	Lead Role
2009	Sortilegio	Alejandro Lombardo	Lead Role
2010-11	Triunfo del Amor	Maximiliano Sandoval	Lead Role
2013	La Tempestad	Captain Damian Fabre / Michel Fabre	Lead Role

Television appearances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	La Isla de la Tentacion	Himself	Contestant
2003	Protagonistas de Novela 2	Himself	Contestant
2010	Mujeres Asesinas	Conde Fonsi	"Annette y Ana, nobles" (Season 3, episode 7)
2012	Dancing with the Stars	Himself	Contestant (Season 14); 20 episodes
2012	Single Ladies	Antonio	"Still in Love with You" (Season 2, episode 13) "Finally" (Season 2, episode 14)

Music videos

• "I'm Into You" with Jennifer Lopez

Theater

• Un Amante a la Medida/Un Amante Perfecto (2009-2010)

Lists

• 2011: He appeared in People en Españols list of the 50 handsomest men.
• 2009: People en Español named him as one of "Los 25 hombres más guapos".
• 2009: People en Español named him as one of "Los 50 más bellos".
• 2008: Quién named him as one of "Los 12 hombres más sexys".
• 2008: People en Español named him as one of "Los 50 más bellos".
• 2006: People en Español named him as one of "Los 20 solteros más sexys".