Telón was born on 12 October 1958 and grew up in Santa María de Jesús in a Maya community. She widowed young and had four small children, so she began looking for work as a domestic servant, even though she could neither read nor write. She met the actress Patricia Orantes, who suggested she work in a play in the role of a mother. Meanwhile Telón worked selling fruit at a market.[1][2]
Through that play, American director Julio Hernández Cordón met Telón and offered her a role in a film, but Telón initially turned it down. However, she eventually agreed to make her film debut in the movie Dust (2012) as Delfina. Success came with her role in the film Ixcanul (2015), where she played Juana. She won the Best Actress award at the Bratislava International Film Festival and accompanied the team to nominations at Berlin International Film Festival and Guadalajara International Film Festival.[1][3][2]
She later starred in Temblores (2018), La Justicia, La Llorona and Rita. She made the leap to Hollywood with her minor role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.[1][2][4] Telón appeared in Israeli soap opera Miguel in 2017.[5]
Telón speaks Spanish, Kaqchikel and Tzʼutujil.[5]
