Verónica Forqué Vázquez-Vigo (; 1 December 1955 – 13 December 2021) was a Spanish stage, film and television actress. She was a four-time

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 ...

winner, the most award-winning actress alongside

Carmen Maura 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'', ''¡Ay Carmela!'', '' Common Wealth'', and ...

. She had a knack for characters "between ridiculous and tender, stunned and vehement".

Biography

Background

Forqué 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 ...

on 1 December 1955, to a family with an artistic background: her mother was the writer María del and her father was filmmaker

José María Forqué José María Forqué Galindo (8 March 1923 – 17 March 1995) was a Spanish screenwriter and film director. Biography He was the father of the actress Verónica Forqué and the director Álvaro Forqué. He died on 17 March 1995 in Madrid ...

. Her grandfather, , was a musician and composer. She had an older brother, film director Álvaro Forqué. She began to study for a degree in psychology, but at the age of 17, switched to drama.

Beginnings

Her first film appearances were in the movie '' My Dearest Senorita'', under the direction of

Jaime de Armiñán Jaime de Armiñán Oliver (born 9 March 1927) is a Spanish screenwriter and film director. His films have been nominated for Academy Awards in the Foreign language film category twice, in 1972 for '' Mi querida señorita'' and in 1980 for '' El ...

in 1972 and her second appearance was in ', a movie directed by her father. In the theater she debuted in 1975 with 19 years old with

Núria Espert Núria Espert Romero (born 11 June 1935 in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Catalonia, Spain) is a Spanish theatre and television actor, and theatre and opera director. When she was 19 years old, she married the actor Armando Moreno, who would late ...

in the play ''Divinas palabras''. Other early dramatic roles on stage include those of "Laura" in ''El zoo de cristal'' and "María" in ''María la mosca''. Stanley Kubrick selected Forqué for the European Spanish-language dub of

Shelley Duvall Shelley Alexis Duvall (born July 7, 1949) is an American actress and producer who is known for her portrayals of distinct, often eccentric characters. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Peab ...

(playing the role of " Wendy Torrance") in '' The Shining'' (1980). She married director in 1981; they had a daughter, María. In 1982, she featured in the television series ''Ramón y Cajal'' directed by her father; she played the wife of

Santiago Ramón y Cajal Santiago Ramón y Cajal (; 1 May 1852 – 17 October 1934) was a Spanish neuroscientist, pathologist, and histologist specializing in neuroanatomy and the central nervous system. He and Camillo Golgi received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Me ...

, Silveria Fañanás García.

Breakout

Her career took a leap forward with her breakout performance as Cristal, “a toothy heart-of-gold hooker” in

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 ...

's 1984 film, '' What Have I Done to Deserve This?'' She landed her first major television role in the 1985 sitcom ''Platos rotos'', earning a

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� ...

in 1986 for her performance as Loli. She won her first

with a supporting role in

Fernando Trueba Fernando Rodríguez Trueba (born 18 January 1955), known as Fernando Trueba, is a Spanish book editor, screenwriter, film director and producer. Between 1974 and 1979, he worked as a film critic for Spain's leading daily newspaper ''El País''. ...

's 1986 film ''

Year of Enlightment ''Year of Enlightment'' ( es, El año de las luces, and also released as ''The Year of the Awakening'') is a 1986 Spanish film directed by Fernando Trueba, starring Jorge Sanz and Maribel Verdú. The film is a coming of age story of a sixteen-year ...

''. In 1988, she won the Goya Awards for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, for her roles in '' La vida alegre'' and '' Moors and Christians'', respectively. She and

Emma Suárez Emma Suárez Bodelón (born 25 June 1964) is a Spanish actress. She has won twice the Goya Award for Best Actress, namely for her performances in '' The Dog in the Manger'' (1996) and '' Julieta'' (2016). Biography Emma Suárez Bodelón was born ...

are the only two to have won two Goyas in the same year. Of Forqué's performance as a doctor treating

sexually transmitted diseases Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral ...

in ''La vida alegre'', Paula Corroto wrote in ''

El Confidencial ''El Confidencial'' is a Spanish-language general-information digital newspaper located in Spain, specializing in economic, financial and political news. It was established as an online newspaper in 2001. Its target readership is professional ...

'', Forqué’s "smile (and laughter) were forever in the hearts of everyone who saw this film. A comedian from head to toe.” Forqué played the lead in Almodóvar's ''

Kika KiKA (contraction of ''Der KinderKAnal von ARD und ZDF'' ARD and ZDF">ARD_(broadcaster).html" ;"title="he Children's Channel of ARD (broadcaster)">ARD and ZDF]) is a German free-to-air television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is man ...

'' (1993). A review by

Stanley Kauffmann Stanley Kauffmann (April 24, 1916 – October 9, 2013) was an American writer, editor, and critic of film and theater. Career Kauffmann started with ''The New Republic'' in 1958 and contributed film criticism to that magazine for the next fifty ...

in ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'' said her part in the film was "a better role than her American debut in Jimmy Hollywood, but it doesn't make the most of this spirited comedienne."

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

, writing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', found Forqué’s performance “spirited and appealing, never in danger of being overpowered by ersurroundings." She starred in television series such as ''

Pepa y Pepe ''Pepa y Pepe'' is a Spanish sitcom television series with ''costumbrista'' themes, starring Tito Valverde, Verónica Forqué, María Adánez and Silvia Abascal. It aired in 1995 on TVE1. Premise The series consists of the comedic portrayal ...

'' (1995) and '' La vida de Rita'' (2003). The former series, loosely inspired by '' Roseanne'' and earning audience ratings breaking seven million viewers mark and 40% share, earned Forqué a great deal of popularity in Spain.

Late career

Forqué fell into a depression in the wake of her 2014 separation from Iborra, a situation aggravated by the death of her brother Álvaro some months later. In 2017, she won the Nacho Martínez award from the

Gijón International Film Festival The Gijón International Film Festival ( ast, Festival Internacional de Cine de Xixón or ''FICXixón'') is an annual film festival held in Gijón, a city in northwest Spain. History The festival's origins date back to 1963. In the beginning ...

. At the

5th Feroz Awards The 5th award ceremony of the Feroz Awards was held at Polideportivo Antonio Magariños, in Madrid, on January 22, 2018. It was hosted by Julián López and aired on #0. Winners and nominees The nominees were announced on December 5, 2017. The c ...

(2018), Forqué received the Honorary Award, which recognised her long career. One of Forqué's last starring roles was in the Ángeles Reiné's LGBTQ romantic comedy film ''So My Grandma's a Lesbian'', playing Sofía, the lesbian partner of the character

Rosa María Sardá Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: People *Rosa (given name) * Rosa (surname) *Santa Rosa (female given name from Latin-a latinized variant of Rose) Places *223 Rosa, an asteroid * Rosa, Alabama, a town, United States *Rosa, Germany, in Thuringia, G ...

played in her final role; the film was released in 2020 after Sardá's death. A participant in the sixth season of the competitive reality television cooking show '' MasterChef Celebrity'', she quit the show during the November 2021 semifinal, citing exhaustion.

Death

Forqué was found dead in her Madrid residence on 13 December 2021 at the age of 66, presumably a suicide. She left two posthumous performances in feature films: '' 1000 Miles from Christmas'' (to be released on 24 December 2021) and '' Espejo, espejo'' (tentative 2022 release). She was also providing the voice for Rose in the upcoming animation series ''Pobre diablo'', yet some scenes were still pending for recording; Buendía Estudios declined immediate comment on the show's future.

Filmography

;Film ;Television

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forque, Veronica 1955 births 2021 deaths 2021 suicides 20th-century Spanish actresses 21st-century Spanish actresses Actresses from Madrid Spanish Buddhists Best Supporting Actress Goya Award winners Spanish film actresses Spanish people of Argentine descent Spanish stage actresses Spanish television actresses