The worlds of Walt Disney Animation and opera have lost a beloved soprano. Lourdes Ambriz Márquez, the Spanish-language voice actress who portrayed Belle in Beauty and the Beast (1991) for Latin American audiences, has passed away after a battle with cancer. She was 67 years old.
Márquez is best known internationally for lending her operatic soprano to Disney’s animated musical film, Beauty and the Beast. While Diana Santos voiced Belle’s speaking lines, Márquez’s singing voice gave life to the character in the Latin American Spanish-language version of the Disney Princess classic. She starred alongside Arturo Mercado, who voiced the Beast, and Walterio Pesqueira, who sang for the Beast.
Her operatic career was extensive, spanning decades and making her one of the most admired figures in Mexico’s lyric scene. She made her professional debut in 1982 as Olympia in “The Tales of Hoffman” at the National Opera Company of the National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA). “From that moment, her crystalline soprano made her one of the most admired figures of the Mexican lyric stage,” The Latin Times wrote.
Throughout her remarkable career, Márquez performed with some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Dallas and San Francisco symphonies, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Symphony, and the German Chamber Academy.
Márquez earned several prestigious awards throughout her life, including the National Youth Award in 1987, the Mozart Medal in 2006, and the Alfonso Ortiz Tirado Medal in 2023. In 2024, she was awarded the Bellas Artes Medal, one of Mexico’s highest artistic honors.
Beyond her work as an opera singer and Disney voice actress, Márquez gave back to the arts as the Artistic Deputy Director of the National Opera Company of INBA beginning in 2014. From 2015 to 2017, she also served as the Artistic Director of the Ópera de Bellas Artes.
Lourdes Ambriz Márquez passed away on August 28, 2025, at a hospital in Mexico City. She was 67.
Have you ever watched the Spanish version of Beauty and the Beast starring Lourdes Ambriz Márquez? Share your favorite moments with us in the comments.
