Como en el cine (2001)

In Como en el cine, a TV Azteca telenovela that premiered in 2001, Betty Monroe played Rubí, one of “las joyas,” the dancers at the bar where the story takes place.

The story

The story takes place mainly at the Bar-Vas. Isabel (Lorena Rojas) leads a double life: she says she’s a successful psychologist, but she works as a dancer at the bar, with her coworkers’ help, to pay for her younger sister Rocío’s education. Javier (Mauricio Ochmann), a young man from a well-off family, falls in love with the psychologist without knowing her secret, and Isabel will have to fight for her love.

The telenovela borrowed elements from the film Coyote Ugly, which is also set in a bar. It’s an original story by Verónica Suárez, produced and directed by Antulio Jiménez Pons. The cast also included Olivia Collins, Ana La Salvia, Ninel Conde, Daniela Garmendia, Alberto Mayagoitia, Úrsula Prats, Roberto Blandón, Ángela Fuste, Arturo Beristáin and Juan Alfonso Baptista, among others.

In August 2001 it was announced that it would get 40 more episodes and, in September, that because of its success recording would continue into early 2002.

Betty in Como en el cine

Betty Monroe played Rubí, whose real name in the story is Ángela. With Lorena Rojas, Ninel Conde, Ana La Salvia and Daniela Garmendia, she was one of “las joyas,” the bar’s dance troupe.

In TV Azteca’s official description, Rubí is a good friend to Isabel and Zafiro: “She generally takes life as a joke so she doesn’t have to face her sad reality” (translated from Spanish). In the story, she helps Isabel keep her secret from her sister. Later she agrees to be the girlfriend of Billy (Alberto Mayagoitia), nicknamed “Billy Billetes,” the nephew of the bar’s owner, who proposes to her, and in 2002 they marry.

In 2015, when TV Azteca adapted the story as UEPA! Un escenario para amar, Betty Monroe returned to it with another character: Zoila, the owner of the Pink bar. That year, in a phone interview with ¡hey! published by Milenio, she recalled:

“Como en el cine was a telenovela that was written as it aired, and the writers gave us the chance to explore the characters’ pasts” (translated from Spanish).

And about the new version:

“Bringing back characters from the start of a decade is wonderful, because they carry several messages, like friendship, personal growth and unity, this group of young people who come together to move forward” (translated from Spanish).

Videos

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In this clip from Imagen Televisión’s El minuto que cambió mi destino, Betty Monroe looks back on her part in the telenovela:

Betty Monroe looks back on Como en el cine — Imagen Entretenimiento, January 12, 2019

In the press

• El Universal, April 24, 2001: “Viven doble vida, como en el cine”, on the premiere and the cast, in Spanish.
• El Universal, April 29, 2001: “Llevan el cine a la televisión”, Lérida Cabello Maradiaga’s “Telenovelas” column, in Spanish.
• El Universal, August 5, 2001: the “Telenovelas” column announces 40 more episodes, in Spanish.
• El Universal, September 23, 2001: the “Telenovelas” column announces that recording will continue into 2002, in Spanish.
• El Universal, November 25, 2001: the “Telenovelas” column, where Rubí appears under her name, Ángela, in Spanish.
• El Universal, February 17, 2002: the “Telenovelas” column, on Rubí and Billy’s wedding, in Spanish.
• Milenio, April 25, 2015: “Revive Betty Monroe su pasado en melodrama”, in Spanish.
• TV Azteca, the telenovela’s official site in 2001 and 2002 (Internet Archive copies, in Spanish): synopsis, technical sheet and characters.
• TV Azteca, Betty Monroe’s profile in 2002 (Internet Archive copy, in Spanish): “Nuestro talento: Betty Monroe”.

Last updated: October 21, 2026.

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