Lucía Méndez (born Lucía Leticia Méndez Pérez) began her career in 1972 when a very important newspaper from Mexico City "El Heraldo" launched her as "El Rostro" meaning "the face", she won this title; she also appeared in an uncredited role in a film named Vuelven los campeones justicieros also known in the USA as The Champion Five Return. While she would appear in a handful of films throughout the seventies, including The Children of Sanchez (1978), Mendez truly came into her own in Mexican television starting with a small part in Muchacha Italiana Viene a Casarse (1971). More supporting parts followed on Cartas sin Destino (1973), La Tierra (1974), Mundos Opuestos (1975). By 1978, she was a well known superstar throughout México and the rest of Latin America thanks to her successful telenovela Viviana. This soap opera took Méndez directly around the world, among the most successful run of her series would be Spain, Italy and France. Méndez playing the underdog in the story with a strong charismatic character. The huge impact she followed with equally-successful, Colorina (1980), which was a textbook example of a well-written Cinderella story in the tradition of Joan Crawford movies, most notably Mildred Pierce and Flamingo Road, in which a woman fights against the odds, rises into her own power at a great cost, and is rewarded with happiness at the end. This was the telenovela which virtually "made" Mendez a mega-star.

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