Gaspar Cara is the father of the late, famous American singer Irene Cara, who rose to fame for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1990 musical film “Fame”.
Irene is also well known for recording the “Fame” title song, which peaked at No. 1 in several countries.
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Table of Contents
Who is Gaspar Cara?
There is no accurate information about Gaspar Cara’s birth date.
He was born in Puerto Rico. While specifics regarding Gaspar’s early life, education, upbringing, and family are unknown, it is known that he migrated to the United States to grow up and raise his own family.
He is of black Puerto Rican and Hispanic descent.
Career
Gaspar Cara worked as a steel factory worker. Despite this labor-intensive profession, he was also a music lover, playing the saxophone.
Gaspar’s love for music can be said to be an influencing factor for his daughter Irene.
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Relationship
Gaspar Cara is married to Louise Escalera, a Cuban-American usher at a movie theater.
Together, they raised their five children in the Bronx, New York City. Information about how the couple met and how long they have been together hasn’t been shared with the media.
Among Gaspar and Louise’s five children is their daughter, Irene Cara, the youngest, who was born on March 18, 1959, and the most famous.
The couple recognized Irene’s unique talent from a young age and helped her pursue her passion for music, acting, and dance.
Gaspar Cara’s Influence on Daughter Irene Clara
Casper Cara played a vital role in his youngest daughter Irene’s career. His love for music and arts helped shape her artistic journey.
At the age of three, Irene was one of the finalists in the “Little Miss America” pageant.
At the age of five, she was taking piano, acting, and dancing lessons.
By the time Irene was nine, she had already debuted in theater and television.
She made her stage production debut in 1968 in “Maggie Flynn” and subsequently appeared in other productions like “The Me Nobody Knows” (1970), “Via Galactica” (1972), “The Wiz” (1980), and “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1993).
Irene’s musical career also began in the 1960s with the album “Esta Es Irene”, which was released under GEMA Records.
This was later followed by her album Anyone Can See, which peaked at No. 76 on the US Hot 100 chart. The next year, “What A Feelin” was released, peaking at No. 7 on the chart.
Subsequently, Irene released several top-charting albums, including “Carasmatic” and her most recent, “Irene Cara Presents: Hot Caramel”.
She also did quite well in her on-screen acting career.
Starting with her debut roles in the soap opera “Love of Life” and the children’s show “The Electric Company”, Irene has appeared in several films. In 1990, she voiced Snow White in ” Happily Ever After”.
Her last role was voicing Marilyn in the 1993 film “The Voyage”.
After a successful acting and singing career, Irene was honored with several prestigious awards, including an Academy Award for “Flashdance… What a Feeling” and a Grammy Award for the same film.
Subsequently, she was awarded an Image Award for Best Actress in a TV Movie.
All these achievements and more were possible thanks to Gaspar being a supportive father.
Unfortunately, he had to bury his daughter, Irene, who died on November 25, 2022, at the age of 63.
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Net Worth
Gaspar Cara has not released his net worth to the media, Little to nothing is known about his personal and business lives. However, he is in the spotlight as a result of his famous daughter, Irene Cara.