Born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1958, Rocío is the daughter of Cuban actor and director Rafael Banquells and the actress Dina de Marco. She is half-sister of the actress Sylvia Pasquel (daughter of Rafael Banquells and the well-known actress Silvia Pinal). Her other siblings are Jose Manuel, Janette, Mary Paz, Ariadne and Rafael Jr.

Rocio began her career as a special guest in the 1968 Banquells’s telenovela Gutierritoz. She moved to the stage in the early 1970s. In 1978 she starred in the musical Sound of Music along with the Mexican singer Lupita D’Alessio. Other notable stage performances of Rocío are in the Mexican versions of Grease, Evita, and Jesus Christ Superstar.

In 1979, Rocio starred in the Mexican telenovelas’s international success Los ricos tambien lloran, alongside Verónica Castro. Other memorable Banquells TV performances are Bianca Vidal (1983) and La fiera (1984). She realized memorable interpretations especially in playing evil characters. In 1985 she began her musical career with the album Rocío Banquells, that includes the 1980s superhits Este hombre no se toca, Luna Mágica and Abrazame.

Banquells continued her musical career during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1997 a legal conflict caused the Banquells retirement for over 10 years. In 2006, Banquells returned in the Televisa’s reality show Cantando por un sueño, and in 2007 returned with a new album named Nací para tí, recorded live in the Teatro de la Ciudad in Mexico City. In the same year, she returned to TV in the telenovela Pasión. In 2009-2010 Banquells starred in the Mexican version of the successful musical Mamma Mia! as Donna.

In 2012, Banquells returned with the show Noches de Cabaret, along with the Mexican singers Lucía Méndez and Manoella Torres. For her work in the recording industry, stage and television Banquells’ handprints and star have been embedded onto the Paseo de las Luminarias in Mexico City, alongside her half-sister Sylvia Pasquel.