Belén Cuesta Llamas (born 24 January 1984) is a Spanish actress. She rose to prominence for her performance as Magüi in comedy series ''

Paquita Salas ''Paquita Salas'' is a Spanish comedy television series created by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi. It first premiered on the web platform Flooxer in July 2016. After unexpected success, the series eventually aired on television channel Neox. Ne ...

''. She won the

Goya Award for Best Actress The Goya Award for Best Actress (Spanish: ''Premio Goya a la mejor interpretación femenina protagonista'') is one of the Goya Awards, Spain's principal national film awards. Since its inception, the award has been given to 26 actresses. At the 1 ...

for her leading performance in drama film '' The Endless Trench'' (2019).

Early life

Belén Cuesta Llamas was born on 24 January 1984 in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, Spain. She moved to

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

and her childhood and adolescence was spent in

Fuengirola Fuengirola () is a city on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is located on the central coast of the province and integrated into the region of the Costa del Sol and the Com ...

, where she studied at the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático. She currently resides 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 ...

Career

Cuesta is mostly known as a theatre actress. She has participated in both film and television productions as well as television

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

. She made her television debut in ''Cazadores de hombres''. After featuring in minor roles in television series such as ', '' Ángel o demonio'', ''Palomitas'' and films such as ''Hierro'', ''Operación Malaya'' and ''Perro flaco'', she landed her first stable television role in 2012, when she joined period drama daily television series '' Bandolera'' to portray Elisa de Vega, a wealthy woman. She starred in comedy series ''

''. Her role as Magüi Moreno, assistant to the title character in the aforementioned series, earned her great popularity with some of her lines becoming viral. A

cisgender The word ''cisgender'' (often shortened to ''cis''; sometimes ''cissexual'') describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, i.e., someone who is not ''transgender''. The prefix '' cis-'' is Latin and ...

woman, Cuesta featured in ''

Money Heist ''Money Heist'' (, , ) is a Spanish heist crime drama television series created by Álex Pina. The series traces two long-prepared heists led by the Professor ( Álvaro Morte), one on the Royal Mint of Spain, and one on the Bank of Spain, ...

'' as Manila (a transgender woman and Denver's cousin), initially passing as a hostage in the

Bank of Spain The Bank of Spain (, ) is the national central bank for Spain within the Eurosystem. It was the Spanish central bank from 1874 to 1998, issuing the peseta. Since 2014, it has also been Spain's national competent authority within European Banki ...

, later disclosed to be a member of the band of robbers.

Personal life

From 2012 to early 2023, Cuesta was in a relationship with actor

Tamar Novas Tamar Novas Pita (born 3 October 1986) is a Spanish actor. Biography Tamar Novas Pita was born in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, on 3 October 1986. He was cast for a minor role in José Luis Cuerda's ''Butterfly's Tongue'' ...

, whom she met during the filming of '' Bandolera''. In early 2023 she started a new relationship and in December 2023 she gave birth to her first daughter.

Credits

Theater

Television

Movies

Television programs

Accolades

{, class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" , - ! Year ! Award ! Category ! Work ! Result ! , - , align = "center" , 2015 , 24th Actors and Actresses Union Awards , Best Stage Actress in a Minor Role , ''La llamada'' , , align = "center" , , - , rowspan = "2" align = "center" , 2017 , , , , Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series , , ''Paquita Salas'' , , , , align = "center" , , - , , , Best New Actress , , ''Kiki, Love to Love'' , , , , align = "center" , , - , rowspan = "3" align = "center" , 2018 , , , , Best Supporting Actress (film) , , rowspan = "3" , ''Holy Camp!'' , , , , align = "center" , , - , , , Best Supporting Actress , , , , align = "center" , , - , , , Best Film Actress in a Secondary Role , , , , align = "center" , , - , align = "center" , 2019 , , , , Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series , , ''Paquita Salas'' , , , , align = "center" , , - , align = "center" rowspan = "7" , 2020 , , , , Best Actress , , rowspan = "2" , ''The Endless Trench'' , , , , align = "center" , , - , rowspan = "2" , , , Best Actress in a Film , , , , align = "center" rowspan = "2" , , - , Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series , , ''Paquita Salas'' , , , - , , , Best Actress , , rowspan = "4" , ''The Endless Trench'' , , , , align = "center" , , - , , , Best Film Actress in a Leading Role , , , , align = "center" , , - , , , Best Actress , , , , align = "center" , , - , , , Best Film Actress , , , , align = "center" , , - , rowspan = "2" align = "center" , 2023 , , 2nd Carmen Awards , , Best Actress , , ''A Boyfriend for My Wife'' , , , , align = "center" , , - , 25th Iris Awards , , Best Actress , , ''Untameable'' , , , , {{center, , - , {{center, 2025 , 33rd Actors and Actresses Union Awards , , Best Television Actress in a Minor Role , , ''Cristóbal Balenciaga'' , , {{nom , , {{center, {{Cite web, website=Kinótico, url=https://kinotico.es/actualidad/2025-03-10/karla-sofia-gascon-se-redime-espana-premio-33-union-actores, title=Karla Sofía Gascón se redime en España con un premio en la 33 edición de la Unión de Actores, date=10 March 2025, first=Daniel, last=Mantilla

References

{{reflist

External links

* {{IMDb name, 3177382, Belén Cuesta {{Goya Award for Best Actress {{Feroz Award for Best Main Actress in a Film {{Actors and Actresses Union Award for Best Film Actress in a Leading Role {{authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Cuesta, Belén 1984 births Living people Actresses from Seville Spanish film actresses Spanish television actresses 21st-century Spanish actresses