Natalia Valdebenito

Natalia Valdebenito (Santiago, 7 June 1979) is a Chilean actress, radio host and comedian. She gained prominence on television through her participation in the comedy program Cabra chica gritona, broadcast on the cable channel Vía X, and later in El club de la comedia, broadcast on Chilevisión. However, it was her presentation at the LVII Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar in 2016, with a stand-up comedy routine centered on feminist themes, that consolidated her presence in Chilean popular culture.

She was born in Santiago, daughter of Carlos Valdebenito, a merchant, and Ángela González, a social worker, and has two younger half-siblings, Gabriela and Giancarlo. She spent her childhood and adolescence in the Huemul neighborhood in Santiago, across from the Teatro Huemul. She completed her primary and secondary studies at the Colegio Santa Cruz, trained formally in theater at the Escuela Teatro Imagen under Gustavo Meza, and took a diploma in Pedagogía Teatral at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She began her television career as a child, as part of the last group of Chilean reporters in the "Clan Infantil" of Sábados gigantes. After working three years in theater pedagogy, she joined Cabra chica gritona, a cable program that premiered on 12 April 2004 on Vía X, which she co-starred with actress Jenny Cavallo and which ran until 22 December 2006. She then joined El club de la comedia on Chilevisión, a stand-up comedy format and a spin-off of Sociedad de Comediantes Anónimos (SCA). At the end of 2009, Valdebenito and Nathalie Nicloux decided not to renew their contracts with Chilevisión.

In 2010 she returned to television on the late show A/Z of TVN and formed the humorous duo "Las Natys" with Nicloux for the program Animal nocturno. In 2014 she took part in Comedy Central Presenta: Stand-up en Chile. On 13 November 2015 she performed at the New York Comedy Festival as part of the trio "SUR" with Argentine Ezequiel Campa and Colombian Diego Camargo, the only Spanish-language show of the festival. On 6 August 2015 she began her first one-woman show Gritona, written and directed by herself, which toured cities in Chile and abroad until 26 October 2016; on 10 November 2017 Netflix released the final performance of the Gritona tour. On 24 February 2016 she performed at the LVII Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar, becoming the first female comedian to take the stage of the Quinta Vergara in fourteen years, and her routine on feminist themes was a resounding success, earning her the audience's top prize, the "Gaviota de oro."