Watling, Leonor

(1975- )

   After her roles for Pedro Almodovar, Bigas Luna, Isabel Coixet, and Vicente Aranda, Leonor Watling became one of the most indemand young actresses of recent times. She was the bilingual daughter of a British mother and an Andalusian father. Although dance was her first vocation, a knee injury prevented her from pursuing a career, and she went to London to train as an actress. On her return to Spain in the mid-1990s, she worked in television soaps and had her breakthrough as the protagonist of the Civil War drama La hora de los valientes (Time for the Brave, Antonio Mercero, 1998), a role for which she was nominated for a Goya. More remarkable parts followed, which played on her serene beauty and down to earth personality, including a dancer in Almodóvar's Hable con ella (Talk to Her, 2002) and a soulful waitress in Cesc Gay's ensemble comedy En la ciudad (In the City, 2003). Equally at home in comedy and drama, she was funny and touching in A mi madre le gustan las mujeres (My Mother Likes Women, Daniela Fejerman and Ines París, 2002), as a young woman who is shocked to discover her mother is a lesbian; and she displayed her sense of comic timing in Joaquín Oristrell's Inconscientes (Unconscious, 2005). She also played more serious parts in Manuel Huerga's Salvador (2006) and Ray Loriga's Teresa, cuerpo de cristo (Teresa, Body of Christ, 2007).

   Historical Dictionary of Spanish Cinema by Alberto Mira