Unax Ugalde
| Unax Ugalde | |
|---|---|
 Ugalde at Premios Forqué 2011 |
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| Born | Unax Ugalde Gutiérrez 27 November 1978 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Partner | Ingrid Rubio (2007–2008) |
Unax Ugalde Gutiérrez (born November 27, 1978) is a Spanish actor born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Basque Country.
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[edit] Biography
Unax Ugalde, son of a worker at the Altos Hornos and a housewife, was born in 1978 in Vitoria-Gasteiz. While, as a student, he ambitioned to become a marine scientist, started taking classes of interpretation. In order to pay his studies he worked in a supermarket where he dressed up as a chocolate ball. He got his very first job in a TV series named Entre dos fuegos for ETB basque television.
In 1999 he left the Basque Country to start an acting career in Madrid. Thanks to series like A las once en casa (where he played Coyote, boyfriend of a girl named Lucia), El grupo or Periodistas he achieved certain notoriety in Spain. The Unión de Actores nominated him for the Best Actor Award for El grupo (2000)- in which a Unax played a drug addict who wanted to resume family ties- and Best Supporting Actor for Periodistas (2001), where he was also nominated for Fotogramas de Plata Awards. He completed his work on TV with an appearance in Compañeros, in which he played a robber who dies in a school while trying to flee police.
He made his debut in the cinema in Báilame el agua, for which he also wrote some words of script. His first main role came with Volverás (2002). In that film he played a good student who is about to leave home, when he met his criminal brother (Tristan Ulloa), thus leaving the "right way" and trying to help him to reach emotional maturity during a night. In that year, 2002, Ugalde had a supporting role in the film Bellas durmientes by Eloy Lozano. And year later, 2003, Ugalde starred in the controversial film Diario de una becaria by Josecho San Mateo, director of Ugalde's first film (Báilame el agua).
That year he was about to premiere Equus in theatre, playing same role for which Peter Firth was nominated for an Oscar: a young aggressive, on the brink of madness, with a great fear of the outside world (similar to the teenager who played in El grupo) who is overcome by shyness and emotional instability. Finally the work was suspended.
However, this failed attempt highlighted the fact that Unax Ugalde was specializing in violent youth with a good heart, as he did in the "Gorilla" of Hector (Gracia Querejeta, 2004). That year the director Paul Malo, with whom he had worked on a short film, offered him starring in Frío sol de invierno. Two months after the release of the latter, Unax Ugalde received a nomination for the Goya Awards for his performance in Hector as well as a new nomination in the Unión de Actores Awards.
In 2005 he premiered Queens, in which he went into the skin of a man about to marry his boyfriend (Daniel Hendler) in the Spanish first gay wedding and could not support his castrating mother, who will deliberately lose her dog in order to impossible disable a normal life for the couple. In his next film, Alatriste, he played the son of a fellow of Viggo Mortensen who died in Flanders. While recording he received the news that Daniel Brühl was to play Salvador Puig Antich in Salvador, to the detriment of his own candidacy.
When he completed his role in Alatriste, Unax Ugalde recorded his third international film, this time in English. Miloš Forman asked him to play the brother of Natalie Portman in Goya's Ghosts along with Javier Bardem, Randy Quaid, Stellan Skarsgård, Eusebio Lázaro, Blanca Portillo, José Luis Gómez, Andrés Gértrudix and Fernando Tielve.
He combined the filming of his last two works with the promotion of Shooting Star which led him, among other places, to the Berlin Film Festival and in 2005 to the Festival of Seville.
In 2006, before premiering Alatriste, he filmed with Julianne Moore Savage Grace. In 2007 he played a young Florentino Ariza in the film adaptation of the book Love in the Time of Cholera. Then he starred in La buena nueva, in which he plays a priest who spends the Spanish Civil War in the navarrese town of Alsasua and who will see horror the atrocities being committed in the name of religion. Movie stars with fellow basque actress Barbara Goenaga and Guillermo Toledo among others and is directed by Helena Taberna.
In 2008, Ugalde played the role of Roberto "El Vaquerito" Rodríguez in Che Part 1: The Argentine, the first part of the two-parts biopic about Ernesto "Che" Guevara film, Che. The film is an American superproduction inspired about Ernesto "Che" Guevara's life during Cuban Revolution and directed by Steven Soderbergh. In 2010, Ugalde filmed three movies: Cefalópodo directed by Rubén Imaz, a Mexican film about overcoming of break-up in a couple; Bon Appétit opera prima was directed by David Pinillos, the film was shot in Zurich (Switzerland) and filmed in English, in addition the film won Goya Award for Best New Director; and finally No controles directed by Borja Cobeaga, Pagafantas`s director.
In 2011, Ugalde premiered two films. The first film is There Be Dragons, the film was directed by Roland Joffé and it's based about Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer's life, catholic priest and founder of Opus Dei. The film has been the best second of Spanish cinema on its first week-end, the record goes to Torrente 4; the second film is Tequila: Historia de una pasión by Sergio Sánchez Suárez, Ugalde's second raid in Mexican cinema. A part, Ugalde has shot scenes for a play called Olaguílbe 1808 by Patxi Basabe, in this play there are scenes filmed because they want interaction between watchers and the play. In addition, Ugalde has pending of première of Baztan by Iñaki Elizalbe, Spanish film that's shooting in Basque.
In 2012, Ugalde is going to play in Dracula a horror film directed by Dario Argento, shooting in 3D and in English, Ugalde is going to be Jonathan Harker, one of the main protagonists.
[edit] Work
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Short films
| Year | Film | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Jardines deshabitados | Pablo Malo |
| 2003 | Tatuaje | Guillermo Ríos |
[edit] Television
- Periodistas
- A las once en casa
- El grupo
- 7 vidas
- Compañeros (1 episode)
- LEX (2008)
- Cuéntame cómo pasó
[edit] Play
- Olaguílbe 1808
[edit] Prizes
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Best Supporting Actor | Héctor | Runner-up |
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Best film actor in a leading role | Bon Appétit | Runner-up |
| 2004 | Best film supporting actor | Héctor | Runner-up |
| 2002 | Best TV supporting actor | Periodistas | Runner-up |
| 2000 | Best new actor | El grupo | Runner-up |
| Year | Award | Serie | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Best TV actor | Periodistas | Nominated |
| Year | Award | Serie | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Best actor | Bon Appetit | Winner |
| 2004 | Best supporting actor | Héctor | Nominated |
Ourense Film Festival
| Year | Award | Serie | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Best leading actor | Frío sol de invierno |
Viña del Mar Film Festival
| Year | Award | Serie | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Best leading actor | Frío sol de invierno |
Turia Prize
| Year | Award | Serie | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Best new actor | Bailame el agua |
Bogart Prize
- Best Basque actor (2001)
Gaztea Sariak
- Best actor (2000)
