All we know about Sofía Vergara’s murdered brother, Rafael: the Modern Family star’s sibling was killed by a Colombian cartel in 1996, and she says his death informed her portrayal of Griselda Blanco
- In a recent interview, Sofía Vergara admitted the murder of her older brother Rafael helped inform her portrayal of the real-life Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco in this year’s Netflix hit
- Vergara’s older sibling was shot in 1996 when he was 28 years old and the actress has opened up about how it ‘destroyed’ her mum and ‘changed our lives completely’
Sofía Vergara’s role as the notorious drug lord Griselda Blanco in Netflix miniseries Griselda was more than just a job to her.
In a recent interview with Variety, Vergara talked about how the murder of her elder sibling helped inform her portrayal of the real-life Colombian criminal who died in 2012. Vergara’s brother Rafael was killed in 1996 by a Colombian cartel in a botched kidnapping attempt, as reported by the Independent.
The impact of her brother’s death was devastating. She said it “destroyed my mom. It changed our lives completely. We didn’t know what was happening, why he had been killed.”
Vergara said that after watching the documentary Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami in 2006, she learned about Blanco’s links between Colombia and Miami.
Where is Sofía Vergara from?
According to her IMDb profile, 52-year-old Vergara was born and raised in the lively city of Barranquilla, Colombia. Her mother, Margarita Vergara Dávila, is a housewife, while her father, Julio Enrique Vergara Robayo, works in the meat industry. Per the same bio, she went to private school, and went on to study dentistry until she was discovered by a photographer at a beach and began her modelling and acting career.