People

By Sara C. Medina

Maria Conchita Alonso puts an accent on ambition. Born in Cuba, raised in Venezuela, Alonso built a successful singing and acting career in Latin America. But "I didn't want only South and Central America," she says. "I want the whole world." With North America for a start. Her first major U.S. film role was as Robin Williams' Italian girlfriend in 1984's Moscow on the Hudson, for which she took lessons to speak with an Italian accent. Since then, she has made four more movies, including the current Touch and Go and Extreme Prejudice, a Christmas release in which she has her first dramatic role, as a Mexican singer. Alonso, 29, does not worry about being stereotyped as a fiery Latina. With predictable confidence she says, "I can play the roles Meryl Streep plays." Wonder how her Polish and Danish accents are coming along?