Pilar López de Ayala Arroyo (born 18 September 1978) is a Spanish actress. She won a

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 performance playing

Joanna of Castile Joanna of Castile (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad (), was the nominal queen of Castile from 1504 and queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was the daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile ...

in 2001 film ''

Mad Love __NOTOC__ Mad Love may refer to: Books *''Mad Love'' (French ''L'amour fou''), collection of poems by André Breton *'' The Batman Adventures: Mad Love'', an Eisner and Harvey award-winning comic by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm * Mad Love (publisher), ...

''.

Life and career

Early life

Pilar López de Ayala Arroyo was born 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 ...

on 18 September 1978. Her parents are Rodrigo López de Ayala Sánchez-Arjona and Pilar Arroyo Gallego. On her father side she descends from the rural nobility of

Extremadura Extremadura ( ; ; ; ; Fala language, Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is a landlocked autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, Spain, Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central- ...

and is twice descendant of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

through

Diego Colón Diego Columbus (; ; ; 1479/1480 – February 23, 1526) was a navigator and explorer under the Kings of Castile and Aragón. He served as the 2nd Admiral of the Indies, 2nd Viceroy of the Indies and 4th Governor of the Indies as a vassal to the K ...

. She studied at the public school Francisco de Quevedo in

Majadahonda Majadahonda () is a municipality in Spain, situated northwest of Madrid, in the Community of Madrid. It lies alongside the motorway A6 Madrid- A Coruña. The Puerta de Hierro university (public) hospital was relocated to Majadahonda from the ...

Career beginnings

For her film debut as an actress, she appeared in a minor role in the children's film ' (1995), a promotional vehicle for the musical ensemble . From 1997 to 1999, she portrayed Carlota in 418 episodes of teen daily television series '' Al salir de clase''. Her film career continued with a performance in

Gracia Querejeta Gracia Querejeta Marín (; born 13 August 1962) is a Spanish filmmaker. Biography She was born in Madrid in 1962, daughter to film producer Elías Querejeta and costume designer María del Carmen Marín. She studied Ancient History in the Uni ...

's '' By My Side Again'' (1999). In '' Fill Me with Life'' (2000), she delivered her first leading performance in a film, portraying twentysomething María alongside Unax Ugalde in a tragic story about the descent into drugs and prostitution in Madrid. Also by the turn of the century, she appeared in the comedy films '' Living It Up'' and '' Kisses for Everyone''. For her performance in the latter film portraying Rocío, an "upper-class mommy's girl and husband-hunter", she earned a nomination for the

Goya Award for Best New Actress The Goya Award for Best New Actress () is one of the Goya Awards, Spain's principal national film awards. Since its inception, the award has been given to 30 actresses. At the 9th Goya Awards ceremony held in 1995, Ruth Gabriel was the first winn ...

Peak and first hiatus

She obtained critical acclaim for playing

Vicente Aranda Vicente Aranda Ezquerra (; 9 November 1926 – 26 May 2015) was a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer. Due to his refined and personal style, he was one of the most renowned Spanish filmmakers. He started as a founding member ...

's period drama ''

''. The film, an international co-production with Italy and Portugal, premiered in September 2001 at the 49th

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; , ) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spain, Spanish city of Donostia, Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Countr ...

, with López Ayala being awarded the Silver Shell for Best Actress. It also was a box office success in Spain. López de Ayala went on to win the

and an Actors Union Award for Best Leading Performance in Film. Despite the success she had massed with ''Mad Love'', López de Ayala did not meaningfully work in the Spanish film industry from 2001 to 2005. She did however play a role in the English-language in ''

The Bridge of San Luis Rey ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' is American author Thornton Wilder's second novel. It was first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and was the best-selling work of fiction that year. Premise ''The ...

'' (2004), a co-production with France and the United Kingdom.

Filmography

Film

Accolades

{, class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" ! Year ! Award ! Category ! Work ! Result ! scope="col" class="unsortable", , - , rowspan = "4" align = "center" , 2001 , , , , Best New Actress , , rowspan = "2" , ''Kisses for Everyone'' , , , , align = "center" , , - , , , Best Newcomer , , , , align = "center" , , - , , , Best Spanish Actress , , ''Fill Me with Life'' , , , , align = "center" , , - , {{Sort,

, , Silver Shell for Best Actress , , rowspan = "2" , ''Mad Love'' , , {{won , , align = "center" , , - , align = "center" , 2002 , , {{Sort, Goya 16,

16th Goya Awards The 16th Goya Awards was an awards ceremony that took place at the Palacio Municipal de Congresos in Madrid, Spain on 2 February 2002. '' The Others'' won the award for Best Film. Winners and nominees Major award nominees Other award nomine ...

, , Best Actress , , {{won , , align = "center" , , - , align = "center" , 2006 , , {{Sort, Goya 20, 20th Goya Awards , , Best Supporting Actress , , ''Obaba'' , , {{nom , , align = "center" , , - , align = "center" , 2011 , , {{Sort, Goya 25, 25th Goya Awards , , Best Supporting Actress , , ''Lope: The Outlaw'' , , {{nom , , align = "center" , , - , rowspan = "2" align = "center" , 2012 , , {{Sort, Forque 17, 17th Forqué Awards , , Best Actress , , ''Sidewalls'' , , {{nom , , align = "center" , , - , {{Sort, Goya 26, 26th Goya Awards , , Best Supporting Actress , , ''Intruders'' , , {{nom , , align = "center" , {{Cite web, url=https://www.premiosgoya.com/pelicula/intruders/, website= premiosgoya.com, title=Intruders, access-date=16 April 2023, publisher=

Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España The Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain () is a professional organisation dedicated to the promotion and development of Cinema of Spain, Spanish cinema. Founded in 1986, it is responsible for the annual Goya Awards, Spain's princ ...

References

{{reflist

External links

* {{IMDb name, id=0529813, name=Pilar López de Ayala {{Goya Award for Best Actress {{Silver Shell for Best Actress {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez De Ayala, Pilar Spanish film actresses 1978 births Living people Spanish untitled nobility Goya Award winners Actresses from Madrid 20th-century Spanish actresses 21st-century Spanish actresses