María del Carmen García Maura (born 15 September 1945) is a Spanish actress. In a career that has spanned six decades, she has starred in films such as ''

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' ( es, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) is a 1988 Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas. The film brought Almodóvar to ...

'', ''

¡Ay Carmela! ''¡Ay Carmela! '' is a 1990 Spanish comedy-drama film directed by Carlos Saura and based on the eponymous play by José Sanchís Sinisterra. The film stars Carmen Maura, Andrés Pajares, and Gabino Diego as a trio of travelling players perfor ...

'', '' Common Wealth'', and ''

Volver ''Volver'' (, meaning "to go back") is a 2006 Spanish comedy-drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, and Chu ...

''. She holds the record for most Goya Awards for Best Leading Actress (with three). She also won a Cesar Award in 2013 and a Cannes Film Festival Award in 2006.

Early life

Maura was born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

to Salvador García Santa-Cruz and Carmen Maura Arenzana. Her great-grandfather was the Count of Fuente Nueva de Arenzana, who lived in the Palace of Arenzana in Madrid, currently the embassy of France. Her other great grandfather from her mother's side was the artist Bartolome Maura Montaner, brother of

Antonio Maura Antonio Maura Montaner (2 May 1853 – 13 December 1925) was Prime Minister of Spain on five separate occasions. Early life Maura was born in Palma, on the island of Mallorca, and studied law in Madrid. In 1878, Maura married Constanc ...

, a former prime minister of Spain on five occasions and a noted orator. Maura studied philosophy and literature at the ''École des Beaux-Arts'' in Paris. From 1964 to 1970, she was married to a lawyer, Francisco Forteza, with whom she has two children, Carmen and Pablo. Later she had a long relationship with Antonio Moreno Rubio, that ended in 1995 when she discovered he had defrauded her, causing bankruptcy.

Career

Maura began her career as a cabaret singer. Maura's film career was launched in 1970 with an appearance in the film ''The Man in Hiding''. This was followed by a major role in the 1977 film '' Tigres de papel''. Although Maura has played dramatic roles, she is often noted for her comedic roles in films like '' Sal gorda'' (1984), '' Sé infiel y no mires con quién'' (1985) or ''

Tata mía ''Dear Nanny'' ( es, Tata mía) is a 1986 Spanish drama film directed and written by José Luis Borau and starring Imperio Argentina, Alfredo Landa and Carmen Maura. It is scored by Jacobo Durán Loriga. José Luis Borau was nominated to a Goya ...

'' (1986). Maura appeared in the first film by

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 ...

, '' Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón'', in 1980. They went on to collaborate on five additional films in the 1980s, the last of which was ''

Women on The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' ( es, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) is a 1988 Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas. The film brought Almodóvar to ...

'' (1988), for which she was awarded the

European Film Award The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mo ...

"Felix" for best actress. Maura and Almodóvar appeared to have had a falling out after ''

''. They did not work together for over a decade, but joined forces again in 2006 for ''

''. 'Volver' means 'Return' in Spanish, and one of the many returns the title alludes to is Maura's return to Almodovar's movies. The female cast of "Volver" won a collective prize for Best Actress at the

2006 Cannes Film Festival The 59th Cannes Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 May 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official selection Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over t ...

. Maura also appeared in '' 800 Bullets'' where she played the mother of the boy who is the main character of the story. Kevin Severson is her son. Maura is cited as a

gay icon A gay icon is a public figure who is regarded as a cultural icon of some members of the LGBT community. The most widely recognized gay icons are often actresses and singers who garnered large LGBT fanbases, such as Judy Garland, Madonna, Diana Ros ...

for the role of a

transsexual Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (including sex reassignmen ...

she played in Almodóvar's ''

Law of Desire ''Law of Desire'' ( es, link=no, La ley del deseo) is a 1987 Spanish comedy thriller film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Starring Eusebio Poncela as Pablo, Carmen Maura as Tina and Antonio Banderas as Antonio. It was the first film A ...

'', strengthening her image as a strong woman who is never afraid to break through boundaries. Maura has won more

Goya Award 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 Sci ...

s for Best Leading Actress than any other actress in the history of Spanish film. She won the "Locarno Excellence Award" in 2007 for all her cinematographic career. Maura has worked under the orders of major directors like Almodovar, Ford Coppola, Amos Gitai, Yasmina Reza, Alejandro Agresti, Carlos Saura, Étienne Chatiliez and Álex de la Iglesia.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

César Award

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mo ...

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 Sci ...

Locarno Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; es, Festival Internacional de San Sebastián, eu, Donostia Zinemaldia) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in ...

Fotogramas de Plata Fotogramas de Plata are a series of Spanish annual film, theatre and television awards awarded by ''Fotogramas'' film magazine since 1951. On 5 February 1951, ''Fotogramas'' magazine awarded their first Placa de San Juan Bosco award to actor Jes� ...

* 2007-Nominated: Best Movie Actress for ''

'' (2006) * 2001-Won: Best Movie Actress for ''La comunidad'' (2000). * 1999-Won: Best TV Actress for'' A las once en casa'' (1998). * 1994-Nominated: Best Movie Actress for ''Sombras en una batalla'' (1993) * 1993-Nominated: Best Movie Actress for "La reina anónima" and also ''Entre el cielo y la tierra'' (1992) * 1991-Won: Best Movie Actress for ''¡Ay Carmela!'' (1990) * 1991-Nominated: Best TV Actress for ''La mujer de tu vida'' (1990) * 1989-Won: Best Movie Actress for'' Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios'' (1988) * 1988-Nominated: Best Movie Actress for ''La ley del deseo'' (1987) * 1987-Nominated: Best Movie Actress for ''Tata mía'' (1986) and also ''Matador'' (1986) * 1986-Nominated: Best Movie Actress for ''Sé infiel y no mires con quién'' (1985) and ''Extramuros'' (1985) * 1985-Won: Best Movie Actress for ''¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto?'' (1984) * 1982-Won: Best Performance in a Television series for ''Esta noche'' (1981)

Honours

* : Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (1996). * : Dame Grand Cross of the

Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise The Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise ( es, Orden Civil de Alfonso X el Sabio) is a Spanish civil order established in 1939, recognising activities in the fields of education, science, culture, higher education and research. The order was create ...

(09/10/2015).Boletín Oficial del Estado
/ref>

References

External links

*
Bilingual forum created by young fans
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maura, Carmen 1945 births Living people Actresses from Madrid Spanish television presenters Spanish film actresses European Film Award for Best Actress winners Best Actress Goya Award winners Best Supporting Actress Goya Award winners Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners Best Supporting Actress César Award winners 20th-century Spanish actresses 21st-century Spanish actresses Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Recipients of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise Spanish women television presenters Chicas Almodóvar