Look Out Oprah: Here Comes Cristina

July 5 -- Jennifer Lopez calls her somebody to "look up to." Antonio Banderas thinks she's "the most popular star in the Spanish community." Like her American counterparts — Rosie and Oprah — she's known on a first-name basis. She's Cristina.

For 12 years, this platinum-blond dynamo's talk show has been the hottest thing on the United States' largest Spanish-language network, Univision. She's captivated some of the most popular Latino stars, along with millions of viewers in the Spanish-speaking world.

Cristina is now famous around the world for doing in Spanish the same kind of provocative talk show Americans are addicted to. She gives her audience programs on cheating spouses, sexual abuse and of course interviews with big-name celebrities.

People have described her show as groundbreaking, empowering, raunchy, and soul-baring. Cristina says it as all of those things.

The ‘Spanish Oprah’

To Latino stars, the show is also hugely influential. Actress Salma Hayek says she landed a big break after an appearance on Cristina's show, and Lopez credits the show with boosting her singing career. "An appearance on her program … your album will go up. Everybody trusts Cristina," Lopez said.

Singer Gloria Estefan, a close friend of Cristina, agrees. "It's great to have someone like her in the Hispanic market that has the same commitment that Oprah does to her market," Estefan said.

Banderas even spilled the beans on his love life with Melanie Griffith on the Cristina show, before it became public knowledge. He said, "I've known very little interviewers on TV that have that capacity of making you feel so comfortable and so — you — yourself."

Latino stars aren't the only ones singing Cristina's praises. Rosie O'Donnell is a fan and a neighbor in South Florida.

O'Donnell said, "I go to Home Depot in Miami with the kids getting light fixtures and who walks in is Cristina and everybody says, 'Ahhhh … Cristina' and I'm like, 'I'm on TV. Does anybody know me?' "