Rosa Elena García Echave (born 16 September 1964), known professionally as Rossy de Palma, is a Spanish actress and model. She is well known for her roles in films by

Pedro Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and author. His films are distinguished by Melodrama (film genre), melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular c ...

such as ''

Law of Desire ''The Law of Desire'' () 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 Almodóvar made independen ...

'', ''

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' () is a 1988 Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas and Julieta Serrano. The plot follows actress Pepa, who, after her lover Ivá ...

'', ''

Kika Kika may refer to: People * Kika de la Garza (1927–2017), American politician * Kika Edgar (born 1985), Mexican actress and singer * Kika Karadi (born 1975), American contemporary artist * Kika Markham (born 1940), English actress * Kika M ...

'', '' The Flower of My Secret'', '' Julieta'', and '' Parallel Mothers''.

Life and career

Born in

Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

, her parents are from

Avilés Avilés (Asturian and ;) is a town in Asturias, Spain. Avilés is, along with Oviedo and Gijón, one of the main cities in the Principality of Asturias. The town occupies the flattest land in the municipality, partially in a land that belonged ...

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

where she spent summers in her childhood. One of her nephews is TPA journalist Giuseppe Montoto. In the 1980s, during the Movida cultural movement, she moved to Madrid. In 1984, she founded the pop music group Peor Impossible, for which she was a singer and a dancer. In 1986, she met Pedro Almodóvar in a café in Madrid. He was impressed by her performance during one of the group's concerts. He proposed a role in his next film, ''

''. Rossy lent some of her personal dresses to

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'', an ...

, who was playing the lead trans female character of the film, Tina Quintero. Her first major role was in 1988, in Almodóvar's ''

,'' and she would go on to be one of Almodóvar's recurring cast. She modeled for designers Jean-Paul Gaultier,

Thierry Mugler Manfred Thierry Mugler (; 21 December 1948 – 23 January 2022) was a French fashion designer, creative director and creative adviser of Mugler. In the 1970s, Mugler launched his eponymous fashion house; and quickly rose to prominence in the fol ...

, and Sybilla. She then appeared in

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and sat ...

's 1994 satirical fashion film ''

Prêt-à-Porter Ready-to-wear (RTW)also called ''prêt-à-porter'', or off-the-rack or off-the-peg in casual useis the term for garments sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a parti ...

'', and in the music video of

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

's "

Too Funky "Too Funky" is a song written and performed by English singer and songwriter George Michael and released by Columbia Records in the United States and Epic Records elsewhere in 1992. The song was Michael's final single for his recording contract ...

" song. She has two children and currently lives in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where she acts and models. As of 2010, she is a theater actress, charity spokeswoman for the Ghanaian charity OrphanAid Africa, and the face of luxury ad campaigns. In 2007, she released a perfume line under her name with Etat libre d'Orange. In 2009, she posed nude in an information campaign on breast cancer for the magazine ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on women aro ...

''. She was selected to be on the jury for the main competition section of the

2015 Cannes Film Festival The 68th Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 2015. Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel Coen were the Co-Presidents of the Jury for the main competition, marking the first time that two people co-chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers ...

. In 2022, Rossy de Palma was appointed

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. UNESCO goodwill ambas ...

for

cultural diversity Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to Monoculturalism, monoculture. It has a variety of meanings in different contexts, sometimes applying to cultural products like art works in museums or entertainment ...

Other work

She is an ambassador for the charity OAfrica, which advocates for a family for every child in Ghana, West Africa, and the closure of illegal orphanages. In 2011, she was one of the contestants during the first season of ''

Danse avec les stars ''Danse avec les stars'' (''DALS''; ) is the French version of the British reality TV competition ''Strictly Come Dancing'' and is part of the ''Dancing with the Stars'' franchise. The show was first broadcast on TF1 on 12 February 2011, the parti ...

''. With her partner Christophe Licata, she finished in the 7th position (second-to-last). In 2018, she collaborated with singer

Rosalía Rosalia Vila Tobella (born 25 September 1992), known mononymously as Rosalía (, ), is a Spanish Pop music, pop and flamenco singer. She has been described as an "atypical pop star" due to her genre-bending musical styles. After being enthral ...

for her second studio album '' El mal querer'' writing the song "Preso" with her and Ferrán Echegaray. Her vocals were also used in the song.

Filmography

Cinema

Television

Music video

Theater

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Palma, Rossy De 1964 births Living people Spanish television actresses Spanish film actresses Spanish expatriates in France Actors from Palma de Mallorca 20th-century Spanish actresses 21st-century Spanish actresses