María del Pilar Peña Sánchez (born 14 July 1973), professionally known as Candela Peña, is a Spanish actress. Since her film debut in the 1994 thriller '' Running Out of Time'', she has had a lengthy film career. She won the Goya Award for Best Actress for her performance in ''

Princesses Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...

'' (2005) whereas she won the

Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress The Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress (Spanish: ''Premio Goya a la mejor interpretación femenina de reparto'') is one of the Goya Awards, Spain's principal national film awards. Since its inception, the award has been given to 31 actresses. ...

for '' Take My Eyes'' (2003) and '' A Gun in Each Hand'' (2012).

Biography

María del Pilar Peña Sánchez (her real name; she took the artistic name of Candela reportedly upon joining the theatre school), was born on 14 July 1973 in Gavà,

province of Barcelona Barcelona (; ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is .Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

and a father from Lora del Río who had a bar in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. When she was four years old she started to learn

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

in the city and after finishing high-school she went to

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, ...

to begin

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

classes there and eventually 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 ...

. She made her first television appearance in the TV3 show ', making her film debut with a performance in the 1994 thriller '' Running Out of Time'', which earned her two Goya Award nominations ( New Actress and Supporting Actress). Encouraged 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 ...

, she published the novel ''Pérez Príncipe, María Dolores'' in 2001. She won the

Goya Award The Goya Awards () are Spain's main national annual film awards. They are presented by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain. The first ceremony was held in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Ar ...

in 2003 (for the movie '' Te doy mis ojos'') after being nominated several times previously.

Filmography

Film

Television

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pena, Candela Spanish film actresses Film actresses from Catalonia Living people 1973 births Best Actress Goya Award winners 20th-century Spanish actresses 21st-century Spanish actresses Spanish television actresses