Born:
September 05, 1940
in
Chicago
Best Known For:
Being an international sex symbol.
Early-life:
Born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago on September 5, 1940 to Carlos and Josephine. She moved with her family to San Diego, California, when she was two. She studied ballet from the age of seven until she was 17 and went on to take drama classes at San Diego State College. She quit her studies after landing a job as a weather forecaster for a San Diego TV station. In 1961, after separating from her first husband, she moved with her two children to Dallas, where she worked as a model and a cocktail waitress. She returned to Southern California in 1963 to try to find acting work.
Career:
Welch's first major acting role was in the film A Swingin' Summer (1965). Her big break came a year later when she played the lead in popular sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage (1966). In the same year, she created a stir by wearing only a two-piece deer skin bikini in One Million Years BC (1966). A publicity still of her in the bikini became a best-selling poster and she has been regarded as an international sex symbol ever since. She later starred in Bedazzled (1967), 100 Rifles (1969) and The Three Musketeers (1973), for which she won a Golden Globe. In 1970, she joined forces with Tom Jones for a TV song-and-dance special. She struggled to capture her early success on the big screen and made a number of flops. She continued to act in TV movies and made guest appearances in a number of shows. More recently, she starred in American Family, Welcome to the Captain and CSI: Miami. In 2001, she had a supporting role in popular film comedy Legally Blonde.
Quote:
"Once you get rid of the idea that you must please other people before you please yourself, and you begin to follow your own instincts - only then can you be successful."
Trivia:
Welch won a number of local teen beauty titles. In 2007, she became the face of MAC Cosmetics Beauty Icon series.