Lyn May

Lilia Mendiola de Chi (born in Acapulco, Guerrero), better known by her stage name Lyn May, is a Mexican actress, vedette and acrobat. She was very well known in the 1970s and 1980s, when she was a central figure in the Mexican exploitation genre known as "cine de ficheras".

Early years

Lyn May is of partial Chinese and Japanese descent. At six years old, she sold necklaces, suntan oil, and other products on the beaches of Acapulco with her mother. Unable to attend school since she needed to make money for her family, she taught herself to read. According to interviews, she was sexually abused during her childhood by the partner of her grandmother.

At age 14, she ran away from home with an older boyfriend and was subsequently sexually assaulted by him. May reported the rape to police, however after he was caught, May's father forced the perpetrator to marry her to "rectify" the wrong. May suffered from physical abuse during the marriage, including during pregnancy when her husband attempted to induce an abortion. Two daughters resulted from the marriage. Shortly after becoming pregnant for the second time and being assaulted, she left. Back in Acapulco, May became a go-go dancer in order to support her daughters.

After she was discovered and taken to Mexico City, she was introduced to television presenter Raúl Velasco, who signed her as a dancer for Siempre en Domingo. In 1969, she began working at a cabaret show in the Teatro Esperanza Iris, where she adopted the name "Lyn May". She became an exotic dancer with an unusual act that consisted of her singing on a pedestal, then holding her right leg straight up tight to her body and pivoting around the pedestal on the other foot, never losing her balance. Later she starred at The Capri night club located in the Hotel Regis that was destroyed after the 1985 Mexico City earthquake.

Acting

The Iris Theater was frequented by many celebrities, and she was romantically involved with several, resulting in her appearance on the cover of gossip magazines. She was noticed by movie director Alberto Isaac, who hired her for a role in his 1975 movie Tívoli, which went on to become a success. In her own words, she "didn't act much, but mostly danced well and looked sexy."

After the success of Tívoli, she became synonymous with the Mexican exploitation subgenre "cine de ficheras", which was widely popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She went on to appear in Bellas de noche 2 (1976), Noches de Cabaret (1978), The Loving Ones (1979), Las Cabareteras (1980), Las Braceras (1981), Las Perfumadas (1983), Spicy Chile (1983) and Las Nenas del Amor, among other movies.

May sent her children to live at a private boarding school in the United States after they were bullied as a result of their mother's profession, She made tours throughout Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries. She invested in real estate both in Mexico and the United States.

Later career

In 1998 she appeared in a music video for Mr. P. Mosh by Plastilina Mosh, the song became popular and helped launch the group. While not having acted since the 1990s, she remains a popular and well-known figure in Mexico, appearing frequently in interviews and gossip magazines. She is a favorite of Raúl "El Gordo" De Molina the cohost of the talk show El Gordo y La Flaca.

Personal life

During the peak of her career, she was involved with important politicians and business leaders. May has said she had an affair with a former President of Mexico, but did not name him. The President is speculated to be José López Portillo, who also had an affair with, and later married, ficheras actress Sasha Montenegro. May was in a ten year relationship with film producer Guillermo Calderón.

Shortly after ending things with Calderón, May married businessman Antonio Chi Su. The couple opened a Chinese restaurant on Avenida Bucareli in Mexico City. Chi Su was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2004 and died in 2008.

Plastic surgery

Various media outlets made a point of the significant changes May's facial features underwent through her career. May has said that she received shots of what she later learned was baby oil from a woman who claimed it would help her keep a youthful appearance. No negative side effects were felt in the short term, but the procedure eventually resulted in serious abscess in her face. May had to go through multiple surgeries to remove the foreign material. At one point, she contemplated suicide as a result of the physical pain and what she felt were excessive tabloids on her condition.

Selected filmography

• Carnival Nights (1978)
• The Loving Ones (1979)
• Spicy Chile (1983)

References

• Spanish-language interview with biographical information
• Spanish-language interview where she describes being abused as a child, and being a prostitute

External links

• Lyn May at the Internet Movie Database