Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo, real-life drug connection

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican actress Kate del Castillo has stepped out of the fictional drug-trafficker roles she played on TV and finds herself involved in the real world of drug capos.

She's credited by U.S. actor Sean Penn with setting up a secret meeting with the world's most-wanted drug lord.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman apparently wanted an entertainment-industry ally to help immortalize him on film, and turned to Del Castillo. One her most famous roles was as a drug kingpin in the Spanish-language TV series "The Queen of the South."

Castillo had written a public appeal to Guzman in 2012, urging him to do good works. She also said she believed "more in Chapo Guzman than in the government."