Sofia Vergara does a great job of bringing Griselda Blanco’s life story to life in Griselda, but there’s a surprising age difference between the two women. Released in January 2024, Griselda is a Netflix miniseries that follows the story of a savvy and ambitious Columbian businesswoman who managed to build one of the most profitable cartels in all of history. Through the series’ six episodes, audiences have the chance to see Blanco become the woman known as the “Godmother” of Miami’s drug empire and how the other Griselda characters played a role in her journey.
Vergara is best known for her comedic performances in Modern Family, so Griselda allows for this idea of who she is an actor to be challenged. She displays incredible range throughout the series and was ultimately able to break her Rotten Tomatoes record after Griselda‘s success. Her ability to fully embody the complicated character is made even more impressive when taking into consideration the age difference between her and Blanco.
The True Story Of Drug Lord Griselda Blanco
Netflix’s Griselda will depict the life of Colombian drug trader Griselda Blanco. However, her real life story is even crazier than some might think.
Griselda Blanco Is 24-Years Younger Than Sofia Vergara In The Show
Griselda takes place across the ’70s and ’80s, so Griselda Blanco is depicted between the ages of 27 and 37. In contrast, Sofia Vergara is 51 years old at the time of the show’s release. This means that Vergara is between 14 and 24 years older than the character she portrays. Though there is a stark age difference between Blanco and Vegara’s ages, Netflix pulled out all the stops when it came to Vergara’s physical transformation which makes it hard to discern they were in such different points of life.
According to Tudum by Netflix, Vergara’s physical transformation ended up being one of the toughest parts to get right on the show. The crew decided that the character needed to be different from Vergara but not like an imitation of Griselda Blanco. That required Vergara to sit in the makeup chair every day for hours. She ended up wearing five different wigs for the various time jumps, prosthetic eyebrow covers, and false eyebrows. She also had a prosthetic nose and a plate of teeth that were slightly bucked and yellow, in order to capture the fact that Blanco was a heavy smoker.
How Old Griselda Blanco Was When She Died
Griselda Blanco died in September 2012 in the same brutal style that she was credited with. She was gunned down in the street by a killer on a motorcycle. Though she had retired in Columbia by that point, she still had a lineup of enemies who wanted to see her downfall. She was 69 years old at the time of her death and was buried in the Jardines de Montesacro cemetery Columbia. This is the same cemetery that the drug lord Pablo Emilio Escobar was buried in.
Griselda
Griselda is a Netflix mini-series inspired by the savvy and ambitious Colombian businesswoman Griselda Blanco, who created one of the most profitable cartels in history. A devoted mother, Blanco’s lethal blend of charm and unsuspected savagery helped her expertly navigate between family and business, leading her to become widely known as the “Godmother.”
- Release Date
- January 25, 2024
- Cast
- Alberto Ammann , Paulina Davila , Alberto Guerra , Martin Rodriguez , Sofia Vergara , Diego Trujillo , Juliana Aidén Martinez , Christian Tappan , Gabriel Sloyer , Vanessa Ferlito , José Zúñiga
