Ximena Sariñana is no stranger to the spotlight. The twenty five year old daughter of a screenwriting mother and director/producer father became a household name in Mexico after appearing in prominent films and telenovelas. After a successful childhood acting career, Sariñana set off to pursue her true passion of writing and performing songs. Her Latin music career quickly catalyzed, earning her placement on the Billboard Latin Album Chart and three Latin Grammy Nominations for Best New Artist, Best Alternative Song, and Producer of the Year. She was also the only Latin artist to appear on the iTunes Best 10 Albums of 2008 Chart.
Sariñana’s latest endeavor is her self-titled English solo debut, a record that has earned her the title of VH1’s “Latest You Oughta Know Artist.” SPIN Magazine included her in their list of “Best Albums of 2011…So Far,” and she’s been nominated for MTV Iggy’s 2011 Best New “Bands in The World Award.”
ChinaShop sat down with Sariñana prior to her Culture Collide Festival performance to discuss how badly Americans have been butchering the pronunciation of her name (Her official bio provides a vowel by vowel description: hi-MEN-a sa-rin-YAH-na). We also talked about her first band being called “Happy Un Birthday” as well as how her latest adventures in cooking have left her with several battle wounds.
