Actress and filmmaker born in Seville in 1976. After starting her career in the sitcom ‘Siete vidas’, she made the leap to the big screen with ‘Sex and Lucía’ (Julio Medem, 2001), which earned her a number of accolades including a Goya award for best new actress, the Ondas award and the Chopard Trophy at the Cannes Festival. She worked with directors such as Pedro Almodóvar, Emilio Martínez-Lázaro, Jean-Pierre Limosin and Vicente Aranda before making the leap to Hollywood in 2006 with James L. Brooks’ ‘Spanglish’ in a role that earned her the award for best new actress from the Phoenix Film Critics Society. Since then,she has worked with directors such as Frank Miller, Danis Tanovic, Michelle Placido and the Taviani brothers, and has shared the screen with film stars like Scarlett Johansson, Andy McDowell, Eva Mendes, Adrien Brody, Colin Farrell, Christopher Lee, Christopher Walken, Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman and Nicole Kidman, among many others. ‘Rita’ (2024), which had its world premiere at the Locarno Festival, is her directorial debut.