Manuel Ríos Fernández (born 17 December 1998) is a Spanish actor and singer. He gained recognition for his role in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

teen drama series ''

Elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (, from , to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful or wealthy people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. Defined by the ...

'' (2021–2022). He has since appeared in the series '' Breathless'' (2024–2025), '' La edad de la ira'' (2022), and ''

Muted Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak. Mute, Mutes or the Mute may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart * ''Mute'' (2018 film), ...

'' (2023), and the short film ''

Strange Way of Life ''Strange Way of Life'' () is a 2023 Spanish Western drama short film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. It stars Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal as two gunslingers who reunite after 25 years. The film marks Almodóvar's second English-langu ...

'' (2023).

Early life

Manuel Ríos Fernández was born on 17 December 1998 in

Calzada de Calatrava Calzada de Calatrava is a municipality of Spain located in the province of Ciudad Real, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. It belongs to the Campo de Calatrava traditional '' comarca''. In 2024 it had 3,742 inhabitants. History Betwe ...

, a small town in the

province of Ciudad Real The province of Ciudad Real () is a province in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Jaén, Córdoba, Badajoz, and Toledo. It is partly located ...

. His mother is a hairdresser and his father is an

electrician An electrician is a tradesman, tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the ...

. He has an older brother.

Career

Ríos made his television debut at the age of nine on the music

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

''Cantando en familia,'' after being selected through a local talent search. The following year, in 2009, he appeared as a dancer on the Spanish

talent show A talent show or talent contest is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are p ...

''¡Tú sí que vales!.'' In 2010, Ríos joined the cast of the musical ''Les Misérables'' at the Lope de Vega Theatre in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, portraying the character

Gavroche Gavroche () is a fictional character in the 1862 novel ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo. He is a boy who lives on the streets of Paris. His name has become a synonym for an urchin or Street children, street child. Gavroche plays a short yet si ...

. He later appeared in the musical ''Don Pepito.'' In 2012, at the age of 13, he became a member of the relaunched children's musical group

Parchís Parchís is a Spanish board game of the original from the Cross and Circle family. It is an adaptation of the Indian game Pachisi. Parchís was a very popular game in Spain at one point as well as in Europe and north Morocco - specifically Ta ...

, with whom he released an album and toured across Spain. As a child, Ríos began uploading covers of popular songs to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, where he developed a growing online following. In 2013, he signed a 6-year contract with music producer

Richy Peña Richard Peña (born October 27, 1984) is a Dominican record producer and songwriter based in the United States. Life and career Peña was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In 2001, Peña formed his first group, a boy band called Alofoq ...

, and moved with his family to the United States to work with an American team. Although the release of his debut

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

(EP) was delayed due to acting commitments, he has stated that it will be released in the future. He has described his musical style as

alternative pop Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

with darker elements. Ríos plays the guitar and piano, and has cited artists such as

Lorde Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), known professionally as Lorde ( ), is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. She is known for her unconventional style of pop music and introspective songwriting, and has been referred to ...

and

Frank Ocean Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...

as influences. His 2016 cover of the song "

Riptide A rip tide, or riptide, is a strong offshore current that is caused by the tide pulling water through an inlet along a barrier beach, at a lagoon or inland marina where tide water flows steadily out to sea during ebb tide. It is a strong tidal fl ...

" has over 28 million streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

. Ríos began his acting career in 2014, playing Mauricio Martínez in the comedy drama television series '' Chiringuito de Pepe''. He gained international recognition in 2021 after joining the cast of the

teen drama ''

'' as Patrick Blanco, appearing in the fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons. In February 2023, he was nominated for Best TV Actor at the 2022

Fotogramas de Plata Fotogramas de Plata are a series of Spanish annual film, theatre and television awards awarded by ''Fotogramas'' film magazine since 1951. The Film Awards -foreign and national- are given by specialized critics and those awarded to the performer ...

for his performance in ''Elite''. Shortly after attending the 2022

Met Gala The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Benefit, is the annual haute couture fundraising festival held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in Manhattan. The Met Gala was and still is popularly rega ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, Ríos began filming the Netflix psychological thriller series ''

''. He also played the lead role of Marcos in '' La edad de la ira'', an adaptation of the novel by Nando López. He portrays an introverted teenager who is accused of murdering his father. In 2022, Ríos was cast as a balladeer in the short film ''

'', directed by

Pedro Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and author. His films are distinguished by Melodrama (film genre), melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular c ...

. The film premiered at the

2023 Cannes Film Festival The 76th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 27 May 2023. Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund served as jury president. With the French film ''Anatomy of a Fall'' winning the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, Justine Triet became ...

. In October 2023, Ríos and stylist Marc Forné founded the

unisex Unisex is an adjective indicating something is not sex-specific, i.e. is suitable for any type of sex. The term can also mean gender-blindness or gender neutrality. The term 'unisex' was coined in the 1960s and was used fairly informally. The co ...

fashion brand Carrer, with Ríos serving as its

creative director A creative director is a person who makes high-level creative decisions; oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos; and directs and translates the creative people who produce the end results. Creat ...

. In 2024, he was cast in the

medical drama A medical drama is a Television film, television movie or film in which events center upon a hospital, clinic, doctor's office, a paramedic, or any other medical topic or environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic progra ...

series '' Breathless'' for Netflix.

Personal life

Ríos resides in

, Spain.

Filmography

Film

Television

TV appearances

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rios, Manu Living people Male actors from Castilla–La Mancha Singers from Castilla–La Mancha Spanish television actors 21st-century Spanish male actors 21st-century Spanish male singers 21st-century Spanish singers 1998 births Spanish male models