Eleonora Pons Maronese, known professionally as Lele Pons, is a Venezuelan-American singer, internet celebrity, YouTuber, and actress.
Eleonora Pons Maronese was born on June 25, 1996, in Caracas, Venezuela, to Luis Guillermo Pons Mendoza, an architect, and Ana Maronese Pivetta, a pediatrician.
On her mother’s side, she has Italian ancestry. She moved to the United States at the age of five and was raised in Miami, Florida.
She graduated from Miami Country Day School in 2015 and moved to Los Angeles, California.
Pons began her career on the video platform Vine. She has said she used Vine to showcase the creative things she was already doing. Speaking to Teen Vogue, Pons said, “I started with my friends, and I started becoming bad. At first, it was just being really creative – it wasn’t even funny stuff.” Her follower base continued to grow, and Pons has said that it “got to the point where a lot of people depended on me to make them… just so they could get a laugh.” She became the first “Viner” to reach one billion loops
In 2016, she was signed with the entertainment company Shots Studios.
Pons has used her success in Internet comedy to launch a number of enterprises. In 2015, she launched a jewelry collection called UNO Magnetic.
In 2016, Pons co-authored a novel based on her own high school experiences, Surviving High School, co-authored with Melissa de la Cruz. Pons starred as Callie in the 2016 romantic comedy We Love You, released on YouTube Red. In the movie, characters played by Yousef Erakat and Justin Dobies both fall for Pons, who is “cool enough” to date both of them at the same time. The movie was produced by YouTube and AwesomenessTV.
Pons appeared in the first episode of MTV’s horror TV series, Scream, in which she was the season’s first victim.
She has starred in a number of music videos, including “Havana” by Camila Cabello and “Downtown” by Anitta and J Balvin.
In May 2018, Pons released her debut single, a Spanish-language duet with Matt Hunter titled “Dicen”. The YouTube music video amassed 10 million views in just four days. Pons has also had success in modelling. In February 2017, she became a brand ambassador for CoverGirl.
In August, Pons released her first single and music video for her song “Celoso”, which was directed by fellow creator Rudy Mancuso.
The song was certified 3× Platinum and earned a nomination for the Premios Lo Nuestro nomination for the video.
On March 29, 2019, Lele released her English-language debut and her first country song with the Jake Owen duet “Señorita” from his album Greetings from… Jake.
She presented the 19th Annual Latin Grammy Awards with Aitana.
On December 6, 2019, Pons released her new single and music video “Vete Pa La”. The music video was self-directed and edited by Pons and produced by Shots Studios.
On August 19, 2020, Pons released the first episode of Best Kept Secrets with Lele Pons, a podcast on Spotify in which anonymous callers share “eyebrow-raising experiences they don’t dare share with friends and family”.
Major Appearances
Movies
Airplane Mode (2019) – Lead role; stars as a version of herself.
The Space Between Us (2017) – Cameo role; appears as a high school classmate.
We Love You (2016) – Lead role; stars as Callie.
The American Meme (2018) – Major documentary feature.
13:14: The Challenge of Helping (2022) – Documentary feature focused on her philanthropy.
Television & Web Series
The Worst Trip Around the World (2025) – Travel series.
Scream: The TV Series (2016) – Guest role; appeared as Leah in the Season 2 premiere.
Escape the Night (2016) – Main cast; played “The Hustler” in Season 1.
The Secret Life of Lele Pons (2020) – Lead subject of her own docuseries.
Dance Monsters (2022) – Judge on the CGI dance competition.
La Voz… México (2018) – Main host for the competition series.
Dancing with the Stars (2023) – Competitor in Season 32.
Amigos (2018) – Lead role in this digital sitcom.
Awards
Streamy Award for Best Documentary (2020) – Won for her YouTube Originals docuseries, The Secret Life of Lele Pons.
Premio Juventud for Triple Threat (2019)
YouTube Diamond Creator Award (2018)
MTV Millennial Award (MIAW) for Global Instagrammer of the Year (2018)
Taiwo Ibrahim is a long-time entertainment & sports journalist. He is also the owner & news anchor of Sportivation Media, & a general & sports host at Rainbow FM 94.1 & WFM radio 91.7. He writes news articles, reads up on people & history, & has written many famous biographies through this. Taiwo also freely shares his wealth of experience as a volunteer in Superscreen TV & Unilag FM
