When José Alberto Sainz Castro was very young, his older sister, Verónica, was already beginning to stand out in TV and cinema, professionally, although she was still very attached to the family headed by her mother, Dona Socorro, who had raised his eldest children, Veronica, Fausto and Beatriz, with a lot of effort. Being the youngest of the four, José Alberto, who was nicknamed “Güero” affectionately from a very young age, she soon began to accompany her sisters to Televicentro (which would eventually become Televisa Chapultepec) while Verónica made her steps to fame as a host, presenter and actress and Betty learned the trade of costume designer and occasionally participated with a small role in a program.
It is natural, then, that the forums became what he would properly identify as his second home., since he was seven or eight years old, although what really fascinated him was the work behind the cameras, what happened in the set, in the production booths, in the sets and in the camera area: Soon the technicians already knew him and took a liking to him, as did the set designers and makeup artists., all the technical staff who had watched him grow, and he got along perfectly with them, more like a member of the troop than a visitor to the company.
It was thus that, when he was 16 years old, and encouraged by Vero, when the recordings of the now mythical telenovela ‘The rich also cry’ began, he went to ask Valentín Pimstein for part-time work, the producer of the soap opera, who at first, according to legend, thought that José Alberto also wanted to be an actor and for a moment he entertained the idea that he could be ideal to embody the son of the couple formed by Verónica and Rogelio Guerra, since the adolescent, with clear eyes and good looks, bore a remarkable resemblance to both, and could function as “Beto ” (which was eventually played by and made a star of Guillermo Capetillo).
What would not be the surprise of the “Magician” when the boy said no, that he did not want to act -They were offering him one of the most famous characters on television of his time, and who knows what would have happened if he had said yes- but his desire was to learn to do what he did, with his team. They say that Pimstein’s laugh resounded in his office and that he said to Castro, as he accompanied him to the door, “okay: if you want to learn, learn everything from pulling cables! ” and indeed, that happened.
With the promise made to his mother that he would not neglect his studies – she saw that her four children had college degrees– started working in the so-called evening soap operas, as a production assistant or “IBM”, which, is explained like this: “And see me bring this, see me bring the other”, something the boy did with pleasure, from literally carrying cables, calling actors on stage, helping to adjust lights and even going to buy cigarettes from whoever asked for them.; all this was opening the panorama to Castro to learn the trade of production, involving him in all aspects.
Later and in a more professional capacity, Ernesto Alonso made him a production assistant in the recordings in forum and location (in the port of Veracruz) of the version of ‘The right to be born’, which starred Veronica (and in which Betty also acted). From there, while studying communication sciences, José Alberto he was acquiring the credentials to establish what his career is.
For several years, between 1988 and 1996, José Alberto was the production manager of the projects that Verónica produced (She was one of the few actresses to graduate to production, equaled only by Silvia Pinal and Julissa) from the nocturnal daily of varieties ‘Bad night No!’ (which made an epoch) and its derivatives, as well as the soap operas ‘My little loneliness’, ‘Valentina’ and ‘Pueblo chico, infierno grande’; It was as a result of that production that he already had the title of executive producer that he holds until now.
On the other hand, while making increasingly successful productions such as ‘Rubí’, with Bárbara Mori or ‘Teresa’ with Angelique Boyer (with whom he would be romantically related), Castro kept (still does) a low profile regarding his personal life.
In 1990 he began a romantic relationship with Angélica Rivera, which lasted until 2008 – they married in 2001, after a decade of life together – and they have three daughters: Sofía, Regina and Fernanda, and after their separation, the only high-profile relationship he’s had was with Boyer. Lately the media speculates if she was having an affair with Cecilia Galiano, who, ironically, is the ex-partner of Sebastián Rulli, Angelique’s current boyfriendBut, as is his custom, Castro has neither affirmed nor denied anything.
Some of his soap operas have been more successful than others – ‘Angela’ and ‘Zip Code’, for example, did not hit the same as ‘Distilling love’, and ‘Sin sin conceiva’ was a failure (many blamed the total lack of chemistry between Rivera and Carlos Ponce) compared to ‘La desalmada’, which has been Televisa’s most successful telenovela in the last five years, breaking all kinds of records.
José Alberto “El Güero” Castro’s professional career has been impeccable over four decades and he has shown that he learned the best from his mentors, to be a producer with a defined identity and his own stamp, which has made him, very deservedly, the most influential producer of his generation.
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The story of “El Güero” Castro and how he became the most influential TV producer in Mexico