Victoria Abril

Raised by a nursing mother, Victoria Merida grew up in Malaga and then in Madrid. Her primary vocation is classical dance, which she practiced with ardor until adolescence. Encouraged by her teacher, she nevertheless accepts her first film role in Obsession (1975). The one who is now called Abril plays, at 16, Queen Isabelle alongside Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn in The Rose and the Arrow, then plays the perilous role of a man who becomes a woman in Cambio de sexo (1977) , the first step in a long collaboration with Vicente Aranda, filmmaker who will allow the actress to obtain an Interpretation Prize in Venice in 1991 for Amants.

Having come, for love, to settle in Paris at the beginning of the 80s, Victoria Abril turns in La Lune dans le gutter and L'Addition, earning for these two passionate woman compositions a nomination for the César of the Supporting role in 1984 and 1985. She gives the answer to David Carradine (On the line) and tours with Oshima (Max mon amour), but it is in her native country that she finds the most interesting roles, in particular thanks to Almodovar. After a missed date (What did I do to deserve this ?, which she refused) and a brief appearance in The Law of Desire, she is in 1990 the heroine of Tie me up! , a porn star kidnapped by Antonio Banderas. For the pope of the movida, she also plays the daughter of Marisa Paredes (the melody) Stiletto Heels (1992) then the formidable "Andréa la balafrée" (Kika).

Close to Balasko and Jugnot since she played in Nuit d'ivresse (a play written by the first and performed by the second), Victoria Abril does not take long to become, thanks to these two actor-directors, as popular on this side. here in the Pyrenees. These pillars of Splendid direct her in their successful comedies: Une epoque formidable ... (Jugnot, 1991) and Gazon maudit (Balasko, 1995), in which she plays a married woman who discovers her homosexual inclinations.

Appreciated for its blend of fantasy, energy and sex appeal, which can be found in 101 Reykjavik or Always Cause! by Jeanne Labrune, Victoria Abril turns in Spain in dark works (Nobody will speak about us when we are dead, which earned her a Goya in 1996, the thriller Between the legs or The 7th day of Saura). In France, in the 2000s, she multiplied the comic roles, most often written by women, from Charlotte De Turckheim to Florence Quentin (Leur morale ... et la nos, 2008).