María Conchita Alonso was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba, on June 29, 1957 to Ricardo Alonso, and Conchita Bustillo, Her family moved to Venezuela when she was five years old, in 1962, after the Cuban Revolution. She had her first experience in show business when she was crowned Miss Teenager World in 1971, and was Miss World/Venezuela in 1975 where she became sixth runner-up in the Miss World pageant won by Puerto Rico’s Wilnelia Merced.

Alonso’s first gold album and number one song on the charts was Love Maniac, released in 1979 under the name Ámbar. After that followed her second number one with “The Witch” and soon after “Dangerous Rhythm”. For what is considered her best known song, she was asked by Giorgio Moroder to write the lyrics in Spanish and sing “Vamos a Bailar” which he had written for the soundtrack of the film Scarface. The song instantly became a classic amongst Spanish speakers despite failing to garner major attention outside of Cuba where it was recorded. Her two albums with Ámbar and her solo debut were recorded in English. It was her second album María Conchita from 1984 that made her a singing star in the Spanish-speaking market, receiving a Grammy Award nomination for “Best Latin Performance”.

She was one of the few Latin-born actresses to star in a Broadway show in 1995, playing Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman. She later acted in romantic comedies like Chasing Papi (2003) and The Last Guy on Earth (2006).

Alonso has often spoken in support of LGBT rights and in appreciation to her LGBT fans, stating that “I was very much supported by the community when I first came out with my music”. In a 2004 article, she compared herself to Cher in terms of her connection to LGBT culture.

Alonso was cast to play Lucía, the mother of Gabrielle Solis, on the ABC series Desperate Housewives. The episode was aired on February 19, 2006. She was in the Latin version Amas de Casa Desesperadas for Univision Network. She was a guest star in the live-action film of the comic book El Muerto and appeared in the film Material Girls (2006).

Alonso was an outspoken critic of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, whom she described as a “dictator”-like “Hitler,” and those who vote for and support him as “terrorists.” She appeared on Sean Hannity’s Hannity’s America on May 6, 2007, Hannity & Colmes on June 1, 2007 and Bill O’Reilly’s The O’Reilly Factor on August 13, 2007 and March 11, 2009.

Alonso hosted VH1’s ¡Viva Hollywood! on April 13, 2008 with Carlos Ponce. She portrayed Sam in the Werewolf horror film Wolf Moon, which was directed by Dana Mennie.

Alonso issued an “Open Letter to Sean Penn” online on March 29, 2010 regarding his support of Hugo Chávez. She used a point-by-point refrain of “WHY” in her letter questioning various issues occurring in Venezuela. In December 2011, she got into a heated exchange with Penn at a Los Angeles airport during which Penn called her a pig and she responded by calling Penn a communist (both played lovers in the 1988 movie Colors).

Alonso appeared in Rob Zombie’s The Lords of Salem, released in 2013. Her latest film, a fantasy short titled The Secret of Joy, features her alongside fellow Venezuelan actor Carlos Antonio León, Spanish actress Laura Bayonas and Brazilian actress Ana Carolina Da Fonseca in a story that aims to bring awareness about pediatric cancer.

In January 2014, Alonso resigned from a San Francisco production of The Vagina Monologues after appearing in an advertisement for Republican candidate for Governor Tim Donnelly.

On September 17, 2014, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro asked Interior Minister Miguel Rodríguez Torres to pursue legal actions to revoke Alonso’s Venezuelan citizenship. The reason was her public request on a radio interview for a military intervention against Venezuela: “In my opinion, (the US) must intervene, because the Cubans already invaded without firing a single bullet because they gave it (Venezuela) for free. So I would like that the US would invade using bullets to get all those communists out of Venezuela”.

In 2020, Alonso parroted conspiracy theories promoted by Donald Trump about election fraud and Covid-19 cases in many of her tweets. “Guys. Please. Think. There R more #COVID19 cases cause there R MORE testings. Is it hard to understand?”, she tweeted on November 2, 2020.