"Мен – Бетти, сұлу емес"

1999 Colombian telenovela

Yo soy Betty, la fea (English: I am Betty, the Ugly one), often referred to simply as Betty, la fea, is a Colombian telenovela created by Fernando Gaitán. It aired from 25 October 1999 to 8 May 2001 on RCN. Ana María Orozco stars as the titular character, alongside Jorge Enrique Abello, Natalia Ramírez, Lorna Cepeda, Luis Mesa and Julián Arango. Yo soy Betty, la fea is one of the world's most acclaimed and popular television shows and is considered the most famous Latin American telenovela in history. It is the first telenovela to have been remade worldwide and has been regarded as bringing the telenovela to new levels of success. The story appeals to global audiences because it is centered around the life of an unattractive character rather than that of a typical attractive character.

Taking place mainly in Bogotá, Colombia, Yo soy Betty, la fea is essentially a Cinderella comedy about the rise of poor, ugly 'Betty' Beatriz Pinzón Solano and the fall of rich, handsome Armando Mendoza. Armando is a very incompetent playboy with a scheme to turn a huge profit as the new president of Eco Moda, a famous clothing manufacturing company, alongside the new vice president Mario Calderon. However, his scheme is doomed for his faulty mathematics. This is as Betty, his secretary (and economics wizard), is in love with him despite his engagement to Marcela Valencia. She helps Armando deceive the board of directors as he loses money and brings the company to ruin. The story has three movements: 1) Armando's foolish destruction of Eco Moda, 2) Betty's flight from the disgrace and her temporary new job in Cartagena where she undergoes an emotional and physical transformation, and 3) Betty's return to Eco Moda, where she is installed as new president.

Ana María Orozco as Beatriz "Betty" Aurora Pinzón Solano; A rather uncouth woman but very skilled in economics with a good CV. Later becomes a CEO assistant and economist. She is the pride of her parents. She is in love with Armando Mendoza. Jorge Enrique Abello as Armando Mendoza Sáenz; Eco Moda's CEO. A somewhat irresponsible playboy with only basic knowledge in industrial engineering who presents a risky and ambitious proposal with which he wins the presidency of Eco Moda. When he manages it, it brings the company to the brink of bankruptcy, thus Betty steps in to help. Natalia Ramírez as Marcela Valencia; Armando's fiancée and Eco Moda's stockholder and retail manager. Despite her dislike of Betty, she is not actually a bad person, but a woman full of pride, classism and lacks dignity, and she loves Armando. She later willingly gives up on him as she discovers he actually loves Betty. Lorna Cepeda as Patricia Fernández; Marcela's best friend and secretary. A divorced woman, refined and superficial, as well as materialist, she is looking for a rich husband. Armando hates her because she is a dumb blonde and knows that Marcela wants her as Armando's secretary to watch over his infidelities. Luis Mesa as Daniel Valencia; Marcela's brother. Male chauvinist and arrogant, shareholder of Eco Moda. He rivals and dislikes Armando and unlike him, he is realistic and the only one worried about his company. He has an affair with Patricia. Julián Arango as Hugo Lombardi; Eco Moda's fashion designer. Openly gay and arrogant, who despises ugliness. He dislikes almost everyone at Eco Moda and especially hates Eco Moda's secretaries, whom he nicknames 'The Ugly Cartel', with the exception of Inesita who is perhaps the only person he actually cares for. Interesting, Arango was in real life married to Ana María Orozco. Ricardo Vélez as Mario Calderón; Armando's best friend and Eco Moda's commercial vice president. A staunch playboy, inveterate enemy of commitments and fatherhood, he is strangely enough a rather neutral figure. Mario Duarte as Nicolás Mora Cifuentes; Betty's best friend and economist. Like Betty, he is unattractive and highly intelligent. He is in love with Patricia and boasts of his position as president of Terramoda. Patricia softens to him but only because of his newfound wealth. Kepa Amuchastegui as Roberto Mendoza; Armando's father, founder of the company. Kind hearted and intelligent. Talú Quintero as Margarita Sáenz de Mendoza; Armando's mother. Adriana Franco as Julia Solano Galindo de Pinzón; Betty's mother. Loves her daughter dearly. Jorge Herrera as Hermes Pinzón Galarza; Betty's father and accountant. Pilar Uribe as María Beatriz Valencia; Marcela's and Daniel's sister. Carefree woman who loves opulence. Julio César Herrera as Freddy Stewart Contreras; messenger, infatuated with Aura Maria and also in love of Jenny. Flamboyant but not gay, he is a very happy man. Dora Cadavid as Inés "Inesita" Ramírez de Muriel; seamstress, member of the cartel. Kind and wise, she is the elderly assistant to Hugo Lombardi who loves her like a mother. She is the voice of reason and is as sane as Betty in the cartel. Estefanía Gómez as Aura María Fuentes Rico; receptionist, member of the cartel. Single mother looking for a husband and stepfather for her son. Beautiful and voluptuous, she is usually promiscuous but with a big heart. Paula Peña as Sofía López de Rodríguez; secretary, member of the cartel. Divorced woman who constantly fights with her ex husband Efraín over their children's pension. She has a feud with Jenny, the current romantic partner of her ex husband. Formerly Gustavo Olarte's secretary and after his dismissal, she temporarily becomes Betty's secretary. Luces Velásquez as Bertha Muñoz de González; Gutiérrez' secretary, somewhat gluttonous, member of the cartel. She is married with children and deeply loves her husband. She occasionally imitates Patricia's way of dressing. Marcela Posada as Sandra Patiño; Calderón's secretary, member of the cartel. Known for her height. She is usually aggressive with whoever is the enemy of the cartel. María Eugenía Arboleda as Mariana Valdés; Marcela's secretary, member of the cartel. Known for reading tarot, she is very optimistic and a lover of rumba. Celmira Luzardo as Catalina Ángel; Betty's "fairy godmother" and public relationist. A dignified, loquacious, eloquent and recognized woman. Alberto León Jaramillo as Saúl Gutiérrez; Eco Moda's Director of Human Resources. Pedantic and smug man who also despises ugliness and is known for his "Spanglish". He usually sides with whoever is in charge. Marta Isabel Bolaños as Jenny García; Efraín's younger girlfriend. Attractive but quite dimwitted and materialistic, she rivals Sofía for Efraín's money. She calls Efraín "pupuchurro". David Ramírez as Wilson Sastoque Mejía; Eco Moda's security guard and friend to Betty and her friends. Raúl Santa as Efraín Rodríguez Merchán "El Cheque"; Sofia's ex husband and Jenny's boyfriend. Patrick Delmas as Michel Doinel; Betty's handsome friend and suitor. He is in love with Betty, to whom he offers a stable relationship without caring that she is virtually ugly. Diego Cadavid as Román; a street rat.

Alberto Valdiri as "Gordito" González, Bertha's husband. Angeline Moncayo as Karina Larson. Formerly a model and Armando's ex mistress. Carlos Serrato as Gustavo Olarte, Eco Moda's ex financial vice president. Daniel's right hand. César Mora as Antonio Sánchez, Betty's lawyer. Claudia Becerra as Mónica Agudelo. Diego Vivanco as Rolando "el Chesito su mercé", Hugo's boyfriend. Is bisexual. Germán Tóvar as José Ambrosio Rosales; lawyer, Antonio's colleague. Hugo Perez as Rafael Muriel, Inesita's ex husband. Iván Piñeros as Jimmy Fuentes (Aura María's son). Lorena McAllister as Diana Medina. Luis Enrique Roldán as Juan Manuel Santamaría, penalist Eco Moda's lawyer. Miguel Ángel Báes as a 2nd systems engineer. Paulo Sánchez Neira as Miguel Ortíz, Eco Moda's ex systems engineer at the service of Olarte. Rubén Óliver as Miguel Robles, corrupt president of Rag Tela. Sebastián Sánchez as Miguel. (2001)
Scarlet Ortiz as Alejandra Zingg. Yesenia Valencia as Susi. Verónica Ocampo as Claudia Bosch, an attractive model obsessed with Armando since both had an affair. Vilma Vera as Maruja Bravo de Gutiérrez, Saul Gutiérrez's wife.

One year after being released as a private channel, RCN had disastrous results against Caracol TV, so Carlos Ardila Lulle took direct control of the channel. The usual director and writer Fernando Gaitán was used, who prepared the telenovela, which would be low budget; since it was shot in the industrial zone of Bogotá near the RCN studios where some scenes were also shot. The Pinzón Solano residence was filmed in a house in the Teusaquillo neighborhood of Bogotá. Natalia Ramírez originally cast for the lead role, but she lost to Ana María Orozco, but because of Ramírez's career she was given the role of Marcela Valencia.

In 2001, Yo soy Betty, la fea won the New York Latin ACE Award for the Best Scenic Program (Mejor programa escénico) and International Female Personality of the Year (Figura internacional femenina del año) to Ana María Orozco, and, also in 2002, the TP de Oro for Best Soap Opera (Mejor telenovela), and the INTE Award for Best Soap Opera and Actress of the Year (Actriz del año) to Ana María Orozco.

In the United States, the telenovela aired on Telemundo in 2000, and on TeleFutura nine years later. During its run on Telefutura, Yo Soy Betty, La Fea delivered impressive ratings for the network, attracting over one million viewers, more than half a million of which were adults aged 18–49. In addition, the premiere episode doubled and in some cases nearly tripled its prior audience among all key demographics.

The success of Yo soy Betty, la fea led to its first sequel titled Ecomoda. It premiered first on Univision on 2 December 2001, concluding on 2 June 2002. Some scenes from the first episode were filmed in Buenos Aires, and some scenes for the opening sequence were filmed in Miami, Florida. In Colombia, the series premiered on 21 May 2002.

Betty Toons is an animated television series that features Betty as a child with her friends. It aired on RCN Televisión between 2002 and 2003. In the U. S., Betty Toons previously aired Saturday mornings on most affiliates of Telefutura (now UniMás), as part of the Toonturama block from 2006 to 2008.

In July 2023, it was announced that Amazon Prime Video had ordered a second sequel series. The series, titled Betty, la fea: la historia continúa is set to premiere on 19 July 2024.