Mexico’s influence on global culture has never been stronger. From a groundbreaking president making history to a 26-year-old musician who’s revolutionized Latin music worldwide, the country’s most famous figures are hitting career peaks just as Mexico prepares to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. These aren’t just celebrities, they’re powerhouses with influence in entertainment, sports, politics, and business on the world stage.
Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo
Born on June 24, 1962, in Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum made history on October 1, 2024, as Mexico’s first female president and first Jewish head of state. She’s not just breaking barriers, she’s shattering them. Sheinbaum won the presidency with 59.76% of the vote, the highest percentage in Mexican electoral history, carrying 31 of 32 states.
Her first year in office has been nothing short of extraordinary. Approval ratings consistently hover near 70-80%, making her one of the world’s most popular leaders. TIME named her to its 100 Most Influential People list for 2025, while Forbes ranked her the 5th most powerful woman globally. She’s been called a “Trump Whisperer” for her skillful navigation of U.S.-Mexico relations, managing tariff threats and cartel designations through measured diplomacy rather than confrontation.
Domestically, Sheinbaum’s achievements include a 25.3% reduction in national homicides, raising the minimum wage by 13% for 2026, and unveiling a massive MX$5.6 trillion investment plan spanning energy, transportation, healthcare, and education. As Mexico prepares to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup with 13 matches including the tournament opener on June 11, she’ll preside over one of the country’s most visible years on the international stage.
Carlos Slim Helú
At 86 years old, Carlos Slim commands a fortune estimated between $82.5 billion and $99.1 billion, making him Latin America’s richest person by an enormous margin. Born in Mexico City on January 28, 1940, Slim’s empire touches virtually every Mexican consumer through América Móvil, Grupo Carso, Telmex, and stakes in The New York Times.
What’s particularly noteworthy about Slim in 2026 is his massive pivot into oil and energy. He’s invested over $2.4 billion in Mexico’s hydrocarbon sector, becoming the most prominent private partner to state-owned Pemex when most others have retreated. In January 2026 alone, he acquired Fieldwood Mexico for $270 million and signed a nearly $2 billion contract with Pemex for drilling operations. Despite losing roughly 19% of his fortune in 2025 due to peso weakness, Slim remains the economic center of gravity in Mexican business.
Canelo Álvarez
Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán, known universally as Canelo, was born on July 18, 1990, near Guadalajara, Jalisco. He’s not just Mexico’s biggest boxing star, he’s one of sport’s highest earners worldwide. Sportico ranked him the 2nd highest-earning athlete in 2025 at $137 million, with career earnings exceeding $600 million pre-tax.
Canelo’s professional record stands at 63-2-2 with 39 knockouts. He became the first fighter to achieve undisputed champion status at super middleweight, winning world titles across four weight divisions. His 2025 included both triumph and setback: defeating William Scull in May before losing his undisputed titles to Terence Crawford in September. After elbow surgery, he announced a comeback fight on September 12, 2026, headlining a “Mexico Against the World” event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Beyond boxing, Canelo’s business empire includes approximately 100 Canelo Energy gas stations, Upper convenience stores, VMC tequila, and a real estate portfolio worth $20-30 million. He launched Canelo Promotions in January 2026, signaling his evolution from fighter to mogul. His estimated net worth sits at $300 million.
Sergio “Checo” Pérez
Born on January 26, 1990, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Sergio Pérez finished runner-up in the 2023 World Drivers’ Championship with 6 race wins, 39 podiums, and 3 pole positions across 14 seasons. After a difficult 2024 at Red Bull where his form collapsed, he and the team mutually parted ways in December 2024.
Pérez sat out the entire 2025 season, his first absence from the grid since his 2011 debut. Then in August 2025, Cadillac F1 announced Pérez as part of their driver lineup for the 2026 season alongside Valtteri Bottas. Mexican businessman Carlos Slim reportedly helped broker the deal. Pérez has described the Cadillac project as his “final big project” in F1, wanting to make it “the team of the Americas.” His net worth stands at approximately $50 million.
Guillermo del Toro
Born on October 9, 1964, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Guillermo del Toro is a two-time Academy Award winner who’s redefined fantasy cinema. He won Best Director and Best Picture for The Shape of Water, plus Best Animated Feature for Pinocchio. In 2025, he released his passion project Frankenstein, a lavish reimagining of Mary Shelley’s novel starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and Mia Goth.
The film premiered at TIFF, screened at Venice, London, Busan, and Morelia festivals, and launched globally on Netflix to an 85% Rotten Tomatoes score. In March 2026, del Toro receives the ASC Board of Governors Award, joining past recipients Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Christopher Nolan. He has two major projects in development: Fury, a violent thriller reuniting him with Oscar Isaac, and The Buried Giant, an epic stop-motion adaptation.
Alejandro González Iñárritu
Born on August 15, 1963, in Mexico City, Iñárritu holds 5 Academy Awards and was the only director since 1950 to win consecutive Best Director Oscars for Birdman in 2015 and The Revenant in 2016. In 2026, he sits at the center of one of the year’s most anticipated releases: Digger, starring Tom Cruise in a dark comedy described as “a comedy of catastrophic proportions.”
Shot on 35mm VistaVision by three-time Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki with a $125 million budget from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, Digger releases on October 2, 2026. Iñárritu presented Cruise with his Honorary Academy Award at the Governors Awards in November 2025, cementing his status as one of cinema’s most respected directors.
Alfonso Cuarón
Born on November 28, 1961, in Mexico City, Alfonso Cuarón’s 4 Academy Awards include two Best Director wins for Gravity in 2014 and Roma in 2019. He’s the only filmmaker to sweep Best Director at the Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and DGA Awards twice, and was the first Latin American to win the Academy Award for Best Director.
His filmography includes Y tu mamá también, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which earned $804 million worldwide, Children of Men, Gravity with $723 million and 7 Oscars, and Roma with 10 Oscar nominations. His most recent project, the Apple TV+ limited series Disclaimer starring Cate Blanchett, premiered at Venice Film Festival to a six-minute standing ovation. He has a multi-project deal with Apple TV+ and typically takes five-year gaps between projects.
Salma Hayek
Born on September 2, 1966, in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Salma Hayek became the first Mexican actress nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Frida in 2002. At 59, she remains a force across blockbusters, independent film, and producing.
In 2025, she appeared in Sacrifice, an action comedy alongside Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy that premiered at TIFF, and Without Blood, directed by Angelina Jolie. She received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2021 and holds Knight of the Legion of Honour status from France. Married to François-Henri Pinault, CEO of luxury conglomerate Kering, she bridges Mexican cultural identity and global celebrity at the highest level. Upcoming projects include Seesaw Monster and La Banda.
Diego Luna
Born on December 29, 1979, in Toluca, Mexico, Diego Luna reached the pinnacle of global recognition in 2025. The release of Andor Season 2, the critically acclaimed Star Wars series that earned 14 Emmy nominations and a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score, coincided with his inclusion on TIME’s 100 Most Influential People list.
His 2024 Hulu series La Máquina, co-starring Gael García Bernal, earned him a Golden Globe nomination. Luna co-founded Canana Films and the Ambulante Documentary Film Festival, making him equally influential behind the camera. Upcoming projects include The Boys: Mexico as executive producer with García Bernal and México 86. At 46, he’s become one of Mexico’s most versatile and respected artists.
Gael García Bernal
Born on November 30, 1978, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Gael García Bernal’s career spans from Amores Perros and Y tu mamá también to The Motorcycle Diaries, Babel, Coco, and his Golden Globe-winning role in Mozart in the Jungle. In 2025, his film Magellan premiered at Cannes and became the Philippines’ official Oscar submission.
He starred alongside Diego Luna in Hulu’s La Máquina in 2024, and the pair will reunite for The Boys: Mexico, expanding Amazon’s hit superhero franchise into Latin America. At 47, García Bernal continues running Canana Films and Ambulante with Luna, championing independent and documentary filmmaking across Mexico.
Peso Pluma
Born on June 15, 1999, in Zapopan, Jalisco, Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija, known as Peso Pluma, is arguably the most consequential Mexican musician of the 21st century so far. At just 26, he’s singlehandedly driven regional Mexican music onto the global mainstream by fusing traditional Sinaloa-style corridos with trap, hip-hop, and reggaeton.
His numbers are staggering: over 42 million monthly Spotify listeners, a Grammy Award for Best Música Mexicana Album for Génesis, and the inaugural Billboard Vanguard Award. He produced the first regional Mexican track to crack the Billboard Hot 100’s top 5 with “Ella Baila Sola,” which also became the first to reach number one on the Billboard Global 200 and surpass 1 billion Spotify streams.
In late 2025, he released the collaborative album DINASTÍA with cousin Tito Double P, which debuted at number one on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums and number six on the Billboard 200. His Éxodo Tour in 2024 grossed $71 million across 39 shows. In 2026, his Dinastía Tour hits 30 North American arenas from March through May, including Madison Square Garden. He runs his own label, Double P Records, and shows no signs of slowing down.
Natalia Lafourcade
Born on February 26, 1984, in Mexico City and raised in Coatepec, Veracruz, Natalia Lafourcade has surpassed Shakira to become the most decorated female Latin artist in Grammy and Latin Grammy history with 4 Grammy Awards and 18 Latin Grammys. Her 12th studio album, Cancionera, released in April 2025, was recorded entirely live on analog tape with 18 musicians in single takes.
The album won the 2026 Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album, beating Karol G and Rauw Alejandro, plus the 2025 Latin Grammy for Best Singer-Songwriter Album. Billboard named her one of the best female Latin pop artists of all time in 2025. In a personal milestone, she announced her first pregnancy in July 2025 while touring Europe, and her son was born on December 23, 2025. At 41, her artistry blends pop rock, jazz, folk, and traditional Mexican music with poetic Spanish-language lyrics.
Luis Miguel
Born on April 19, 1970, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and raised in Mexico, Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri remains, after four decades, the single biggest concert draw in Latin music history. His 2023-2024 world tour spanning 194 shows across 20 countries became the highest-grossing Latin tour of all time, earning approximately $318-356 million and selling 2.38 million tickets.
His career totals are monumental: over $633 million in touring revenue across 701 shows, approximately 60 million records sold worldwide, 6 Grammy Awards and 4 Latin Grammys, and a Hollywood Walk of Fame star received in 1996. His Netflix biographical series Luis Miguel: La Serie sparked a massive resurgence of interest among younger generations. Known for mastering bolero, mariachi, pop ballad, and big band styles, his 1991 album Romance is credited with reviving the bolero genre globally. His net worth is estimated between $45 million and $180 million.
Raúl Jiménez
Born on May 5, 1991, in Tepeji del Río, Hidalgo, Raúl Alonso Jiménez Rodríguez is one of sport’s great comeback stories. After suffering a life-threatening fractured skull in November 2020 during a Premier League match, he fought back to become Mexico’s best player of 2025 according to Sports Illustrated and the nation’s third all-time leading goalscorer with 44 international goals in 123 caps.
His 2025 was exceptional: 9 goals in 18 internationals, including braces in both the CONCACAF Nations League semifinal and final, leading Mexico to win both the Nations League and the Gold Cup in a single year. He surpassed Chicharito as the all-time top Mexican scorer in Premier League history. At Fulham, he contributed 14 goals and 3 assists in the 2024-25 season. Now 34, Jiménez will play in his fourth FIFA World Cup in 2026 on home soil.
Santiago Giménez
Born on April 18, 2001, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and raised in Mexico, Santiago Giménez chose to represent Mexico internationally and has rapidly become the country’s most exciting young striker. In February 2025, he transferred from Feyenoord to AC Milan for €32-37 million, the most expensive Mexican transfer in history, and scored on his Serie A debut.
At Feyenoord, he scored 65 goals in 105 appearances, set the record for most Eredivisie goals in a calendar year with 31 in 2023, surpassing Luis Suárez, and broke the record for most goals by a Mexican in a single Champions League season with 6 goals. He won the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup and Nations League with the national team. Still just 24 with a contract at AC Milan through 2029, Giménez represents the future of Mexican football heading into a home World Cup.
Wrap Up
Mexico’s cinematic dominance is extraordinary. No country of Mexico’s size can claim six individuals with comparable global influence in film. The music landscape is experiencing a generational shift, with Peso Pluma’s corridos tumbados challenging the traditional pop and ballad supremacy of artists like Luis Miguel and Lafourcade. In sports, the 2026 World Cup creates a once-in-a-generation convergence of national pride and global attention.
What unites all 15 is unmistakable confidence. These aren’t figures seeking international permission or validation. They’re shaping global culture, sport, and commerce on their own terms, and in 2026, the world is watching Mexico more closely than it has in decades.
