Victoria Mérida Rojas (born 4 July 1959), better known as Victoria Abril, is a Spanish film actress and singer based in France. She is possibly best known to international audiences for her performance in the film '' Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'' by director

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 ...

Life and career

Born in Malaga, Abril became widely known in Spain in 1976 when she appeared in the show '' Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez'' for two years. In addition to working in Spain, she has made films in France, Italy, and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. She has been nominated eight times for

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 ...

in the Lead Actress category and has won once. She also won the

Silver Bear for Best Actress The Silver Bear for Best Actress (german: Silberner Bär/Beste Darstellerin) was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chos ...

at the

41st Berlin International Film Festival The 41st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 15 to 26 February 1991. The festival opened with ''Uranus'' by Claude Berri. The Golden Bear was awarded to Italian film '' La casa del sorriso'' directed by Marco Ferreri. The ret ...

for her role in '' Amantes''. Two years later, she was awarded with the Berlinale Camera at the

43rd Berlin International Film Festival The 43rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 February 1993. The Golden Bear was awarded to American-Taiwanese film '' The Wedding Banquet'' directed by Ang Lee and Chinese film '' Xiāng hún nǚ'' directed by Xie ...

Abril is also a singer. In 2005, she made her debut with a bossanova-

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

album called ''PutchEros do Brasil''. She also tried to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 with "Bang-Bang-Bang", but Betty Missiego was chosen instead.

Personal life

On 28 July 1977, Victoria Abril married Gustavo Laube, former footballer of the

Chile national football team Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. The couple separated in early 1982. Victoria Abril has two sons with the French director Gérard de Battista. She lives in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, where she has resided since 1982.

Filmography

References

External links

Official Website of Victoria AbrilVictoria Abril
at Allmovie * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abril, Victoria 1959 births Living people Actresses from Madrid Singers from Madrid Spanish film actresses Bossa nova singers European Film Awards winners (people) Best Actress Goya Award winners Spanish women singers Spanish jazz singers Spanish expatriates in France French-language singers of Spain Portuguese-language singers of Spain English-language singers from Spain Italian-language singers of Spain Silver Bear for Best Actress winners 20th-century Spanish actresses 21st-century Spanish actresses Chicas Almodóvar