Editing Iris Chacón

{{short description|Puerto Rican dancer, actress and singer}}
{{family name hatnote|Chacón|Tapia|lang=Spanish}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Iris Chacón
| image         = Iris Chacon Rumbera.gif
| alt           =
| caption       = Chacón in 1982
| birth_name    = Iris Belia Chacón Tapia
| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1950|3|7}}
| birth_place   = [[San Juan, Puerto Rico|San Juan]], Puerto Rico
| death_date    = 
| death_place   = 
| nationality   = Puerto Rican
| occupation    = {{flatlist|
* Dancer
* singer
* actor}}
| years_active  = 
| known_for     = 
| notable_works = 
| nickname      = *La Bomba de Puerto Rico
*La Vedette de América
| spouse        = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Elín Ortiz]]|1968|1973|reason=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Junno Faria|1977}}
}}
| children      = 1
}}
'''Iris Belia Chacón Tapia''' (born March 7, 1950) is a Puerto Rican dancer, singer, actress, and entertainer.<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/our-conversation-beloved-latina-legend-iris-chac-n-n584926 ''Our Conversation with Beloved Latina Legend Iris Chacón'']</ref>

Known as "La Bomba de Puerto Rico" and "La Vedette de América," Chacón is a prominent figure in Latin America, the United States, Europe, and Japan during the 1970s and early 1980s. She starred in films, telenovelas, and appeared in one of Puerto Rico's most famous TV commercials.

==Career==
Chacón has been known by various nicknames, such as "La Bomba de Puerto Rico" (The Puerto Rican Bombshell),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/salsa-great-gilberto-santa-rosa-grand-marshall-nyc-111147506.html|title=Salsa Great Gilberto Santa Rosa to be Grand Marshall of NYC Puerto Rican Day Parade|website=Yahoo}}</ref> and "La [[Vedette (entertainer)|Vedette]] de América" (America's Showgirl). During her heyday in the 1970s and early 1980s,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/our-conversation-beloved-latina-legend-iris-chac-n-n584926|title=Our Conversation with Beloved Latina Legend Iris Chacón|date=June 10, 2016 |publisher=NBC News}}</ref> she toured most of Latin America, the United States, Europe and Japan. She also starred in two movies and many [[telenovela]]s, such as ''[[Yo Sé Que Mentía]]''.

===Amalie Oíl commercial===

In 1982, AMCAR, Inc. hired her for a television commercial about [[Amalie Oil Company]] automobile [[coolant]] products, which became one of the most famous television commercials in [[Puerto Rico]]'s history. The publicity surrounding the commercial landed her in a front-page article in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' in June 1983 entitled "A Onetime Choirgirl Rules as Sex Goddess On Puerto Rican TV". The ad employed a play on words between the English word ''coolant'' and Spanish ''culón'', which means large derrière ([[buttocks]]).<ref name="Febles 2009 p. 197">{{cite book | last=Febles | first=J. | title=Into the Mainstream: Essays on Spanish American and Latino Literature and Culture | publisher=Cambridge Scholars Press | series=EBSCO ebook academic collection | year=2009 | isbn=978-1-4438-0665-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LqwYBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA197 | access-date=August 29, 2019 | page=197}}</ref>

===Mid-1980s to present===
From 1984 through the early 1990s, Iris Chacón appeared on such American TV shows as ''America Onstage'', ''[[The Joan Rivers Show]]'', ''[[The Merv Griffin Show]]'', ''[[Geraldo Rivera Show]]'', and [[Late Night with David Letterman|''David Letterman'']]. Letterman described her as the [[Dolly Parton]] and [[Loni Anderson]] of Puerto Rico and joked about proposing to her. Griffin said of her that "she was the answer to '[[Where's the beef?]]'", a reference to the [[Wendy's]] commercial of that time period. However, by 1984, Chacón reached her peak, and not being able to reach an "Anglo" market, ended her show in Puerto Rico by mid-1985 at the age of 35. Her show aired in syndication until the end of the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/iris-chacon-on-her-career-why-shes-part-of-entertainments-revival-mode|title=Iris Chacón on her career & why she's part of entertainment's revival mode|first=Daniel|last=Rivera|date=December 1, 2016|publisher=Fox News Channel}}</ref>

Outside of the U.S., Chacón appeared on various Spanish-language programs, including ''[[Anabel (1988 TV series)|Anabel]]'', ''[[Siempre en Domingo]],'' ''Mala Noche No'', and ''Al Ritmo de la Noche'' which were all [[Televisa]] productions.

==Personal life==
Chacón has been married to Puerto Rican musician Junno Faria since 1977. They are the parents of a daughter, Katiria.  Chacón divides her time between residences in Orlando and Puerto Rico.

==In popular culture==
[[George Pérez]], co-creator of The New [[Teen Titans]], along with writer [[Marv Wolfman]], has cited Chacón as an inspiration (along with [[Red Sonja]]) for the creation of [[Starfire (Teen Titans)|Starfire]], as told by George himself during an interview to Vu Nguyen during the 2019 Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

In June 2023, Puerto Rican drag queen [[Jessica Wild]] impersonated Iris during the "Snatch Game of Love" challenge on the fifth episode of the [[RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 8)|eight season]] of the reality competition series  [[RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars]].

Iris is the subject of two songs written about her:  "Iris Chacon" that appears on Buster Pointdexter's (the alter ego of actor/singer [[David Johansen]]) 1997 album "[[Buster's Spanish Rocketship]]"  and "Iris Chacon" a [[Latin trap]] single released by Puerto Rican rapper [[Jon Z]] in 2020.

==See also==
*[[List of Puerto Ricans]]
*[[Denissa Lopp]]

==References==
{{Reflist|35em}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|0149415}}
*{{Discogs artist|Iris Chacon}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chacon, Iris}}
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century Puerto Rican actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century Puerto Rican singers]]
[[Category:20th-century Puerto Rican women singers]]
[[Category:21st-century Puerto Rican actresses]]
[[Category:Actresses from San Juan, Puerto Rico]]
[[Category:Puerto Rican dancers]]
[[Category:Puerto Rican female dancers]]
[[Category:Puerto Rican film actresses]]
[[Category:Puerto Rican telenovela actresses]]
[[Category:Puerto Rican television personalities]]
[[Category:Singers from San Juan, Puerto Rico]]