Unax Ugalde

Perhaps the turning point in Unax’s career was the role of Iñigo Balboa inAlatriste , because he was certainly one of the best in the movie. And it is that, although he was already well known in Spain, that ‘revertian’ role helped him to be valued internationally. Then he would get more important roles, either because of his characters, or because they are foreign films with a greater impact.

Unax Ugalde was born in Vitoria on November 27, 1978. He is the son of a worker at the Altos Hornos and a housewife. When he was young he wanted to study Marine Sciences, but eventually the acting bug bit him too much and he decided to enroll in a drama school. They say that he himself paid for his studies by working in a supermarket dressed as a chocolate ball. And at the age of twenty he got his first role as an actor in the Basque television series Entre dos fuegos , directed by Josetxo San Mateo .

Immediately afterwards he decided to leave Vitoria and go to the capital to try his luck in larger-scale projects. He then worked on the seriesAt eleven o’clock at home , which was starring renowned actors such as Antonio Resines and Carmen Maura . Unax played Coyote, the boyfriend of a girl named Julia ( Beatriz Rico ). In 2000 he joined Héctor Alterio and Bárbara Goenaga to participate in the series El grupo , and that same year he returned to work with the director who had given him the alternative, Josetxo San Mateo, in the filmDance me the water Unax was for the first time the protagonist in this marginal drama about the fall into the world of drugs. The young actor from Vitoria did a splendid job as the boy who falls in love at first sight with the character played by Pilar López de Ayala . And little by little Unax’s face became more familiar thanks to his collaboration in the successful seriesColleagues and, above all, inJournalists .

His roles began to be more serious, because the boy began to stand out with performances of great intensity. that’s how they arrivedYou will return (2002), drama based on a novel by Francisco Casavella ,Diary of an intern (2003) and the horror filmCamera Obscura (2003). In 2004 she collaborated with Gracia Querejeta on the remarkableHéctor , a dramatic film in which Unax convinced with a secondary character, that of the protagonist’s best friend, Nilo Mur . The actor received a Goya Award nomination for his work and his career was clearly taking off. The same year he was the protagonist ofCold winter sun , a drama by newcomer Pablo Malo . Unax got into the skin of Adrián, a disturbing young man who returned to his house after spending time in a mental hospital.

As of 2005, his name began to swell projects of a higher magnitude, international productions or Spanish productions with a large budget. Although that’s not to say the movies were better. He was one of several actors inReinas , comedy directed by Manuel Gómez Pereira and accompanied the Colombian Flora Martínez inRosario Scissors . Then came his role as Íñigo in Alatriste and then he played Natalie Portman ‘s brotherin the failedGoya’s Ghosts . This role was followed by others in international projects of some renown, although in some cases the quality of the films left much to be desired, as in the case ofSavage Grace , opposite Julianne Moore . Better acceptance they hadLove in the Times of Cholera , where he played the protagonist in his early youth (later Javier Bardem ) andChe, the Argentine , in which Unax had a minor role. That is why perhaps he needed more recognition, the fact is that he returned to Spanish cinema with the protagonist ofThe good life , a drama set in the Civil War where he played a young priest who had to face difficult decisions. It may be that Unax misses some joy in his filmography and that is why he starred in the pleasant romantic comedy in 2010Bon appétit , debut in the direction of David Pinillos , and the funnyDon’t Control , by Borja Cobeaga (Pagafantas ). His latest work so far is that of Pedro, in the long-awaited film You will find dragons , written and directed by Roland Joffé (the mission ).