Victoria Mérida Rojas (born 4 July 1959), better known as Victoria Abril, is a Spanish film actress and singer based in France. She is possibly best known to international audiences for her performance in the film ''
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
''Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'' ( es, link=no, ¡Átame!, , "Tie Me!") is a 1989 Spanish dark romantic comedy film co-written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Victoria Abril and Antonio Banderas alongside Loles Léon, Francisco Rabal, Juli ...
'' by director
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; (often known simply as Almodóvar) born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish filmmaker. His films are marked by melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narra ...
.
Life and career
Born in
Malaga, Abril became widely known in Spain in 1976 when she appeared in the show ''
Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez'' for two years. In addition to working in Spain, she has made films in France, Italy, and
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
. She has been nominated eight times for
Goya Awards
The Goya Awards ( es, Premios Goya) are Spain's main national annual film awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards of Spain.
The awards were established in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sc ...
in the Lead Actress category and has won once. She also won the
Silver Bear for Best Actress
The Silver Bear for Best Actress (german: Silberner Bär/Beste Darstellerin) was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance and was cho ...
at the
41st Berlin International Film Festival
The 41st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 15 to 26 February 1991. The festival opened with ''Uranus'' by Claude Berri. The Golden Bear was awarded to Italian film ''La casa del sorriso'' directed by Marco Ferreri. The ret ...
for her role in ''
Amantes''.
Two years later, she was awarded with the Berlinale Camera at the
43rd Berlin International Film Festival
The 43rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 February 1993. The Golden Bear was awarded to American-Taiwanese film '' The Wedding Banquet'' directed by Ang Lee and Chinese film '' Xiāng hún nǚ'' directed by Xi ...
.
Abril is also a singer. In 2005, she made her debut with a
bossanova-
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
album called ''PutchEros do Brasil''. She also tried to represent Spain in the
Eurovision Song Contest 1979
The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song " A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Organised by ...
with "Bang-Bang-Bang", but
Betty Missiego
Beatriz Teresa Missiego Campos (born 16 January 1938 in Lima, Peru) better known as Betty Missiego () is a Peruvian singer, who has held dual Spanish citizenship since 1972 and lives in Spain.
In her native Peru, Betty began her career as a da ...
was chosen instead.
Personal life
On 28 July 1977, Victoria Abril married Gustavo Laube, former footballer of the
Chile national football team
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. The couple separated in early 1982.
Victoria Abril has two sons with the French director
Gérard de Battista. She lives in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
, where she has resided since 1982.
Filmography
References
External links
Official Website of Victoria AbrilVictoria Abril at
Allmovie
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abril, Victoria
1959 births
Living people
Actresses from Madrid
Singers from Madrid
Spanish film actresses
Bossa nova singers
European Film Awards winners (people)
Best Actress Goya Award winners
Spanish women singers
Spanish jazz singers
Spanish expatriates in France
French-language singers of Spain
Portuguese-language singers of Spain
English-language singers from Spain
Italian-language singers of Spain
Silver Bear for Best Actress winners
20th-century Spanish actresses
21st-century Spanish actresses
Chicas Almodóvar