Andreina Yépez

Gladys Andreína Yépez, known professionally as Andreina Yépez, was a Venezuelan actress, comedian, model and dancer. She was born in Caracas on 30 November 1974 and died in Miami, Florida, on 25 August 2026, aged 51. Across more than three decades on Venezuelan television she became familiar to viewers as a sketch comedian, a telenovela supporting player, and, above all, as Melao in the Venevisión serial Cosita Rica.

English Wikipedia, citing a 3 September 2006 profile in El Nacional, says she was raised by her mother, Gladys Yépez, who worked as a secretary for the Venezuelan entertainers Alfredo Sadel and Renny Ottolina, and that she had two younger siblings. The same profile, as summarized there, says she entered show business at the age of 14 on El Show de Joselo, the long-running comedy programme of José "Joselo" Rodríguez Suárez, and that she had appeared on the show as a child in the 1980s. Spanish Wikipedia lists her work on El Show de Joselo from 1991 to 1993. She later became a model and dancer. Her first burst of popular fame came at the beginning of the 1990s, when she appeared as the dancer in the music video for "La Piernona," a hit by the Venezuelan singer Miguel Moly. The appearance earned her the nickname La Piernona, which followed her for the rest of her career.

She joined Venevisión in 1992 and made her telenovela debut the following year as Yurubi in Por amarte tanto. Through the rest of the 1990s she combined comedy and drama. She was a model and humorist on Cheverísimo, the sketch show associated with Carlos Cerutti and Francisco Martínez, and she appeared on Bienvenidos, the long-running comedy series created by Miguel Ángel Landa. Her early telenovela credits included Pecado de amor (as Bilma), Sol de tentación (as Robustiana), Enséñame a querer (as Laura Furia) and El país de las mujeres (as Yulessi). English Wikipedia, again citing El Nacional, also records a film appearance in Pandemonium, la capital del infierno (1997).

In the early 2000s she worked steadily for Venevisión in productions such as Toda mujer (as Chiquitrena), Hechizo de amor (as Lorena), Amantes de luna llena (as Tobago), Mambo y canela (as Zoraida) and Trapos íntimos (as Yubirix). The role that fixed her in the public memory was Melao in Cosita Rica (2003 to 2004), the Leonardo Padrón telenovela in which she shared the screen with, among others, Édgar Ramírez. Years later Ramírez would remember "your joy and your effervescence, that wonderful quality you had of brightening our day with a simple greeting," and would say goodbye with the words "Rest in peace, my Melao."

She continued to appear in Venevisión serials as Muñeca in El amor las vuelve locas (2005), as police officer Zulay Montiel Barranco in Ciudad Bendita (2006 to 2007), as Tesoro in La vida entera (2008 to 2009) and as Bambi Valladares in La mujer perfecta (2010 to 2011), another of her best-remembered parts. Spanish Wikipedia lists her last telenovela as Dulce amargo (2013), in which she played Ventura, a woman drawn into fraudulent dealings. In a 2013 interview with Rumberos she said she was glad the character was different from those she had played before and that it carried "a lovely message because it shows what one should not do." She also appeared as Capitán in the 2011 comedy film Er Conde Jones. Beyond scripted drama she was a recurring participant in the game show La Guerra de los Sexos from 2003 to 2012, godmother of Mega Match in 2005, a contestant on Bailando con los Abuelos in 2008, and a guest, alongside Sergio Novelli, on the hidden-camera programme ¡Qué Locura!.

In later years she expanded into presenting and entrepreneurship. La Nación reported that she hosted the entertainment segment Vente conmigo on the programme La Ciudad del Sol, talking about fashion, art and celebrities. A 2013 interview with Rumberos said she was producing events and planned to open a café-restaurant called Melaos Café, and that she was working with her then partner, Pedro Rodríguez, as an image and marketing adviser for a Venezuelan technology project. She later settled in Miami with her daughter, the filmmaker and singer Andrekza Yépez, and remained active on social media and in entertainment.

She kept her private life comparatively quiet. English Wikipedia, citing El Nacional, says her daughter was born in the mid 1990s. Public sources do not clearly identify a husband. In a farewell message after her mother's death, Andrekza wrote that it had always been "the two of us, and my father in heaven and in our hearts," without naming him. She described Andreina as her mother, her best friend, her companion, her guide and her number one fan, and as "the dreamer, the strong woman, the one who never accepted a no."

In July 2026, about a month before her death, she was diagnosed with cancer. Venezuelan journalist Ronald Sanoja reported that it was pancreatic cancer that later metastasized, and that she had been hospitalized in Miami for more than three weeks. The entertainment programme Zona i said she chose to go through the illness privately, "faithful to her protective, discreet and strong nature," surrounded only by her closest relatives. Some reports said she had told followers in July that she was facing a health situation while asking to keep the process out of the public eye. She died in Miami on 25 August 2026. The news was confirmed that day by Sanoja and by television presenter Joseline Rodríguez (her first name also appears as Joselyn in some reports) on Instagram, and it was widely reported the following day.

Colleagues and Venezuelan media paid tribute. Globovisión and Televen remembered her on air. Ramírez's message circulated through the regional press. In early September 2026 her daughter organized a seaside gathering rather than a conventional funeral. Rain interrupted the plans, and Andrekza wrote that her mother had loved the rain and that the messy, intense day felt like her: full of people, stories, orchids, music, and tears that turned into laughter. "Yesterday I obviously did not want to give you a funeral," she wrote. "I wanted to celebrate that you existed." A public resting place has not been made public.

Andreina Yépez is remembered as a versatile presence in Venezuelan popular television: the dancer who became La Piernona, the comedian of Bienvenidos and Cheverísimo, and the actress whose Melao and Bambi remain part of how a generation watched Venevisión.