Ileanna Simancas
Ileanna Simancas was born in Caracas-Venezuela. As the daughter of two Latin America film and TV stars, Jean Carlo Simancas and Martha Mijares, Ileanna began her career in the entertainment business before she could walk, with her debut as an actress in her first Novela Valentina (RCTV). She continued to work in television until age seven when her film career began in the Venezuelan film ‘La Gata Borracha,’ directed by Roma Chalbaud.
Her passion for the exotic and love for culture, education and travel inspired her to pursue higher education abroad. After studying English in Georgia, she returned to South America continuing her education in Journalism in Bogotá, Colombia with the aspirations to be a War Reporter, while also pursuing a second major in Dramatic Arts and History.
During the earliest year of her career, Ileanna focused her passion for the arts through acting. Working in Venezuela, Colombia, Miami and Los Angeles, she has under her belt a plethora of professional experience in front of the camera, in film as well as TV, and a brilliant commercial career, leading numerous USA national campaigns of important clients, some of which are Revlon, Longines Watches, Miller Light, AT&T, Nissan, Visa, Mc Donald, Sprite and Wal-mart.
She has had lead roles in international Novelas as: Ser Bonita no Basta (RCTV), La Mujer de Mi Vida (Univision), Maria Celina (Univison), Caribe (RCTV) and Oky Doky (RCN), to name few, roles honored by the Caracas Governor’s Award as an Emerging National Talent.
During her years in Los Angeles Ileanna made her debut in the big screen once more in a smaller role in ‘Any Giving Sunday’ by Oliver Stone, followed it with the teenage comedy, ’Who's your Daddy?’ staring Ali Landry, Christine Lakin and Lin Shaye (released by Universal). Then came the Lead role of Christina in the feature film 'El Padrino: The Latin GoodFather' where she was the head of an amazing cast of Oscar winners that included Faye Dunaway, Gary Busey, Roger Wagner, Kathelin Quinlan, Stacy Keach, Jennifer Tilli, Rachel Hunt, Joanna Pacula and Ralf Moeller. Followed it up with the films ‘Spin’ next to Fernando Carrillo y Shalim Ortiz and ‘South of the Border’ leading it with Treva Etienne (Pirates of the Caribbian). At the ‘DigiFest Southwest Film Festival,’ Ileanna was awarded Best Actress for her performance as Scarlet in the short film ‘Scarlet Momentum’; a short that she also produced and took through the runs of the International Film Festival’s Circuit, winning 5 awards including best short. Ileanna also had her own TV show for home improvement, ‘Asi se Hace’ in Telemundo/NBC. Before leaving USA again, she produced her second short film ‘La Noche Buena de Paco y Manolo,’ which made it into many national and international film festivals.
For few years Ileanna moved to Madrid in hopes to savor the real world of Spanish Theater, and so she did writing, producing and acting in her theater’s Opera Prima, ‘De Par en Par,’ which includes monologues of her country mate Indira Páez, premiered in the Figaro Theater in Madrid, and which counts with a fantastic cast of Spanish actors like Julia Trujillo, Cuca Escribano (La Reina del Sur), Ana Ruiz, Esperanza Elipe, y Fabu Hernandez, Directed by Dario Facal.
A year ago Ileanna moved once again to USA, this time to Miami to take her first challenge in the city as a the Director Producer of the Travel and Beauty TV Show “Latin Angels Special,” (second season) where Ileanna not only has revealed her talent for producing but also once again for writing, directing and hosting, positioning the shown within a USA TV Station (La Mega), as well as Fox Traveler, and many other TV stations around the world. The show is televised in Panama on Canal Mas 23 and Directv. As the season of Latin Angels came to an end, Ileanna moved into the world of fashion as the Executive Creative Producer of Miami Fashion Week, while being an activist for Venezuela’s difficult political turmoil by Producing and Directing the social media initiative ‘Efecto Eco’. This coming April Ileanna will face yet a new challenge when her new position as Multi-Platform Original Content Producer begins at Telemundo-NBC Network.