A little about María del Pilar ...

María del Pilar was born in Bogotá.

After a long life in Colombia, she began a new and vital chapter of her life in Canada, where she currently resides.

The path of creation and art began at a very early age.  When she was in primary school she wrote and directed her first plays. In high school she met the history, philosophy, and literature teachers who would mark her future.

She was compelled to study law at the Universidad de los Andes, but by good fortune and destiny, she was accepted into the theater group, where she participated in several plays including “Y qué si nos enamoramos?” (“What if we fall in love?”) in 1986, “El-Ella” (“He-She”) in 1987, “Lisístrata” in 1987. In her sixth semester, to the agony of her parents, she abandoned law for the stage.

She entered the theater school of the Teatro Libre in Bogotá to train as an actress. She took part in “La Dama Boba” (“Silly Lady”) (1988), “La Gaviota” (“The Seagull”) (1988), and “Jardín de los Cerezos” (“Cherry Orchard”) (1989). 

In mid-1989, her first son, Pablo, was born. He is currently a lyrical singer living in Spain. At the end of 1989, she was chosen as the protagonist of the soap opera “Puerto Amor” (“Port Love”). Originally intended for 30 episodes, but after its success ended up airing 250 episodes. From then on, she alternated her life between theater and television.

In 1991, she was part of the cast of the soap opera “Ana de Negro”, which finished airing in 1992, and she also starred in the play “El Zoológico de Cristal” (“The Glass Menagerie”). In 1993, 1994 and 1995 she starred in the plays “Verano y Humo” (“Summer and Smoke”), “Sueño de una Noche de Verano” (“A Midsummer Night's Dream”), “Monólogo de Susana Sanjuán” (Pedro Páramo), and “El Campo” (Monólogo).

From a very young age María del Pilar was concerned about what was happening in the world and her country. She has always been a fervent critic of injustice.  In 1996 one of the most important moments of the author's life occurred, when she began studying journalism. Her dreams came true when a well-known journalist invited her to produce, investigate and present the television program called “Tome Nota” (“Take Note”). 

She quickly absorbed her vocation, and audaciously assumed the responsibility of exposing what many wanted to hide. Her courage led her to win the most coveted award for a journalist, the CPB Award, in 1998, the same year that her second beautiful child, Laura, was born. Laura is currently studying Mathematics, and alternates her days between singing and acting. 

In 1997 María del Pilar starred in “Arrebato de Mujeres” (“Women’s Rapture”), a collective theatrical production directed by Edy Armando at the Teatro La Mama.

In 2001 she received her degree in Social Communication and Journalism from the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University of Bogotá. In this same time, her beautiful third child, Julián, was born. He is currently studying Experimental Animation and Film, combining his creativity with music.

In 2002, a doctor friend invited María del Pilar to be his assistant on a program called “Qué importante es vivir” (“How important is Living”), which was broadcast on Cadena Súper in Colombia. 

From 2004 untli 2005, she was part of the cast of the soap opera “La Saga, Negocio de Familia” (The Saga, Family Business). 

Although she took full advantage of these opportunities, she decided to launch into her own projects. She directed, adapted and acted in the play “El Enfermo Imaginario” (“The Imaginary Patient”), and directed, produced and presented the television programs “ARKÉ, el mundo fue y será siempre” (“ARKÉ, the world was and will always be”) in 2005, and “Niños X Niños” (“Children X Children”) in 2006.

At the end of 2006, she decided to take a break in the mountains near her hometown, in the town of La Calera. She rented a cabin where she lived connected to nature and to God. The author and her children had a bucolic moment that allowed them, each in their own way, to discover the fascination of a world built only by hands and mind, without internet or cell phones. A young seminarian from the area invited her to be part of the community, and together they worked with rural children. The author discovered one of her greatest loves, teaching, and dedicated herself to training young actors, who bring her the greatest satisfaction, changing destinies through art.

Although the fulfillment she was feeling far from the noise kept her in permanent ecstasy, she had to accept, at the end of 2007, a part in the cast of the soap opera, “Montecristo”, because the bills, unfortunately, are not paid with love alone. 

In this same year she became part of the group of scriptwriters of “Padres e Hijos” (“Parents and Children”), and acted in some episodes, working until 2009. 

In 2010 she began her career as a television scriptwriter on the program “Mujeres al Límite” (“Women on the Edge”), where she stayed until 2016, writing more than 200 episodes. 

In 2011, in partnership with a great musician, she produced and directed “Grease, the Musical”, with more than 30 actors on stage.

In 2013, she was part of the cast of the television series “Mamá también” (“Mom Too”), and became part of the group of professors at the Music Faculty of the Juan N. Corpas University Foundation, as a teacher in Performing Arts, where she worked until 2016.

In 2013, she produced and directed her first opera: “Accidental Death of an Anarchist.”

In 2015, she met an extraordinary priest who invited her to work with young people in vulnerable situations in Filadelfia, Caldas, Colombia. Once again, she felt her heart renewed and she gained renewal to continue her career.

In 2015, she produced and directed two operas, “Señor Dilusso” and “Gosse Girl.” In 2016, she wrote her first opera, inspired by “The Happy Prince,” which she also produced and directed.

In 2017, she was a journalist following the implementation, verification and endorsement processes in the Rural Spaces for Normalization of the Peace Process with the FARC, another experience of disillusionment in the troubled history of Colombia. This is when she decided to leave the country, and said goodbye with her last play on Colombian stage, “Pareja Abierta” (“Open Couple”).

In 2018, she traveled to Canada seeking refuge, and found it. 

Her first job was directing a theater group formed at the Western University of Ontario, from 2019 until the unfortunate events of 2020, when we were forced to isolate from each other. 

That silence in the streets, that lack of contact, that absence of people, of family, gave María del Pilar the precise conditions to begin her most cherished dream, to write a book – and she achieved it. She wrote a novel that has just been published in August 2024, entitled Todas las Almas son Mías (All Souls Are Mine), a book that represents the convergence of the most heartbreaking events to which she was witness as a journalist in Colombia.

This same year, she wrote the play “Dados de Baja”, a surrealist piece told from the horrible truth of war, which premieres this  coming February. And she is writing her second novel, which she hopes will be published very soon. 

There are still many chapters pending in the life of this author, who feels that she is beginning the other half of her wonderful life.