Posted on Advocate.com August 23, 2011 06:00:00 AM ET

From Lesbian to Transgender Woman: Mexican Superstar Kate del Castillo 

By Diane Anderson-Minshall

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/08/22/From_Lesbian_to_Transgender_Woman_Mexican_Superstar_Kate_del_Castillo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium

To many U.S. viewers, Kate del Castillo may be best known for playing Pilar, the sexy and powerful Mexican crime boss who so vexed Nancy on Showtime's Weeds — and ended up on the receiving end of a mallet as season 5 closed. But her recent TV and film roles, including a turn as a lesbian opposite love interest Eva Longoria in Without Men, are changing all that. Based on the novel Tales From the Town of Widows by Colombian novelist James Canon, Without Men is a quirky comedy that asks how women would remake society if they didn't have to rely on masculine ideals. Longoria's character may have the brains, but all the brawn — and a healthy dose of sex appeal and lesbian empowerment — comes from del Castillo's character, Cleotild.