Rosa de Castilla is a celebrated Mexican actress and ranchera vocalist, known for singing folk songs in many of her films. Born as "María Victoria Ledesma Cuevas" on May, 30, 1931, she was raised in Encarnación de Díaz, Jalisco, and made her acting debut in the 1952 film Los tres alegres compadres. Appearing onscreen under the stage name Rosa de Castilla, she starred in several additional films — including the western trilogy El lobo solitario, La justicia del lobo, and Vuelve el lobo — before 1952 was over, launching a prolific career that often found her performing in multiple movies a year. Her role in 1953's Tal para cual earned her Ariel Award nomination for "Best Actress in a Minor Role," while her musical performances in each of her films allowed her to launch a concurrent career as a singer. The Sounds of Old Mexico, her debut album, was released in by Capitol Records in 1956. Rosa de Castilla remained one of the most popular female actors during the final years Mexican cinema's golden age, appearing in more than 20 films during the 1960s and performing ranchera songs in nearly all of them. Those vocal performances were released throughout the subsequent decades on a number of compilations, including Beso Chiquito, Los Ojos que Cantan, and Tus Ojitos.
