“Poncianito”, the child prodigy of the Golden Age who saw his career cut short

During the so-called Golden Age of Mexican cinema, some children made their acting debut, few of them managed to position themselves as Angelica María, who managed to make their career transcend beyond the golden years of the seventh art in Mexico, but that was not the case with Poncianito, an infant who had been predicted to be the “child prodigy” of the big screens.

Ismael Pérez, better known as Poncianito, was surrounded by movie stars in his childhood, as he made his debut as a histrion when he was five years old. He, at his young age, had no idea what his work was on the recording sets, because he only cared about doing what he was told to do or make people around him laugh.

He got his nickname from the first film in which he participated, Río Escondido. In this film he played Poncianito alongside Maria Felix and Jorge Negrete, directed by Emilio El Indio Fernández. Thanks to this first character, Ismael gained the support of almost all the actors he worked with, including, he assured that he was Fernández's protégé, as he called him to work for his most important films: Maclovia, Victims of Sin, The Beloved, Always Yours and The Hanged Rebellion and Pueblerina, which won the Ariel for Best Film in 1949.

For his good performance in three of the films he worked on for El Indio, he was nominated for the Ariel Award for Best Youth Performance. He did not win any awards at the time, but thanks to this he was called the “child prodigy of cinema”. It was very easy for Ismael to cry, laugh, get angry or express any of the emotions that were asked of him, so it was thought that his career would be successful for his entire life.

Pérez was one of the most coveted child actors of the Golden Age, because in the ten years he was active in the seventh art he was asked to participate in dozens of films, of which he only agreed to participate in about 30.

Poncianito confessed that he liked being an actor and tried to stay in the art scene, however, when he was young, no producer wanted to hire him for his projects, because Ismael's face had stayed in the audience as a child, not as a teenager, so he had to give up his career.

The actor stated on several occasions that despite his attempts, he was forced to give up acting forever, thwarting his hopes of living as a histrion. His last film, El camino de la vida, was made at the age of 15.

Pérez's family consisted of him, his eight brothers, father and mother, so he knows that his work in film helped his home economy improve, because, in fact, he could only study until the third year of primary school due to the precarious situation in which they lived.

When he stopped acting, he decided to follow the profession of his parents, who were engaged in communication. He became a journalist and worked in different media. After that, he no longer sought to integrate himself into the artistic medium. He currently owns a coffee shop.

Poncianito's career was honored in 2018 by the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District (ALDF). The actor was awarded recognition for not only being the child prodigy of the Golden Age, but for his large, but short career.

KEEP READING: