Paco León
León in 2018
Born
Francisco León Barrios

(1974-10-04) 4 October 1974
Seville, Andalusia, Spain
Occupations
  • Actor
  • film director
  • television director
  • screenwriter
Children1
Parent
  • Carmina Barrios (mother)
FamilyMaría León (sister)

Francisco León Barrios (born 4 October 1974), known as Paco León (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpako leˈon]) is a Spanish actor, producer, director, screenwriter and activist.

Born in Seville, León began his career in television comedy roles in Andalusian regional productions. Following appearances in sketch show Homo Zapping, he became popular in Spain for his performance from 2005 to 2014 in sitcom Aída, portraying Luisma, a good-natured rehabilitated drug addict.[1][2] In addition to his acting career, he has also pursued an activity as a filmmaker and show creator, starting with his debut feature Carmina or Blow Up (2012), for which he was nominated to the Goya Award for Best New Director.[3] He has since featured in series such as The House of Flowers and Arde Madrid (also show creator) and films such as Kiki, Love to Love (also director).

He is also a prominent campaigner for HIV/AIDS causes.

Career

León's first roles were in comedy television, on Mariquilla Ríe Perlas and Castillos en el aire in 1999.[4] These played on Canal Sur, the channel of Andalusia. León has had success in theatre throughout his career, first appearing on stage in 2001. He moved to Madrid in 2003 to continue his career, where his first big job was impersonating personalities on Homo Zapping, where he was noticed for popular imitations of women like Anne Igartiburu and Raquel Revuelta.[5] He is best known for playing Luisma, a recovering drug addict, on Aída,[6] a role he played for nine years and which garnered him many Best Actor awards.[5]

He has also had notable film roles, as an OCD patient in Toc Toc and a playboy in The Tribe.[6] As a voice and dubbing actor, he has had roles in Valiant and Madagascar, and as a film director, his debut was the 2012 Carmina or Blow Up, for which he was nominated for a Goya as Best Directorial Debut.[5] His mother and sister star in the film, and were both nominated for acting Goyas.[7] His third directorial feature was Kiki, Love to Love, in which he stars and was similarly multi-nominated.[5] For his 2014 film, Carmina and Amen, the El Confidencial writer Juan Manuel Fernández suggested that he was becoming "the new Pedro Almodóvar", particularly highlighting the funeral scene that opens Carmina y amén and saying it has "a poetry only comparable to" the opening scene of Volver.[8] Fernández also notes how both León and Almodóvar are influenced by the women in their lives, that they both often work with a sibling, and celebrate their mothers in their films.[8]

In 2018, he created Arde Madrid with his wife at the time, Anna R. Costa, a black and white miniseries about Ava Gardner, in which he also played Gardner's chauffeur. From 2018 to 2020, he portrayed trans woman María José Riquelme on The House of Flowers. Regarding working on The House of Flowers, León says working with Verónica Castro was an honour.[6]

In 2019, profiling the actor, Dann Dulin wrote that León's "persona and popularity are akin to a James Franco or Jake Gyllenhaal".[6]

Shooting of León's four feature (Rainbow) wrapped by October 2021.[9] Penned alongside Javier Gullón, it consists of a loose adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.[9] It is set for a 2022 release.[10]

Personal life

León's mother is Carmina Barrios. He has one sister, María León, who is also an actress. Both his mother and sister starred as characters based on themselves in the films Carmina or Blow Up (2012) and Carmina and Amen (2014), which Paco wrote and directed.[11] María and Paco also play siblings in The House of Flowers.[6] León met the Catalan playwright Anna Rodríguez Costa in 2006 in a play, going on to act in a short she directed later that year; she was also an acting teacher to María. León said that at the time they met, he had a boyfriend, but knew that he wanted to be with her.[12] The couple have been together since 2006 and wrote the screenplay for Arde Madrid together. They have a daughter (born 2010), and Costa's son Eloi (born c. 1994) is León's stepson.[6] Costa also appears in Carmina and Amen.[5]

In 2020, after 14 years together, the couple broke up.

He is openly bisexual,[13] and actively campaigns for HIV/AIDS causes. He has several friends living with the disease and has worked with organisations including Fundación Triángulo, Apoyo Positivo, StopSIDA, and the Fight Against AIDS Foundation since at least 2009, which largely offer support to the LGBT+ community in Spain, as well as fundraising for the work of eminent HIV researcher Bonaventura Clotet.[6] León has said that he became aware of the AIDS epidemic when Rock Hudson died, but has also had a scare personally.[6]

León became the subject of media attention when he promised to tweet a nude photo of himself after gaining one million Twitter followers, which he did in October 2013;[14] he posted a video running naked across a golf course to celebrate a million followers on Instagram in 2019,[15] following this up with more nudes.[16] He is a relatively private person and does not often give press interviews.[6]

Filmography

Acting roles

Film

Year Title Role Ref.
2001Amar y Morir en Sevilla, Don Juan Tenorio
2002Asalto informatico
2003La vida mancha
2004Recambios
2005Reinas (Queens)Narciso[17]
2006La dama boba (Lady Nitwit)Maestro de danza[18]
2006Los managersPipo[19]
2009Dieta mediterránea (Mediterranean Food)Toni[20]
20133 bodas de más (Three Many Weddings)Mikel[21]
2016Embarazados (We Are Pregnant)Fran[22]
Kiki, el amor se hace (Kiki, Love to Love)Paco[23]
7 AñosLuis[24]
2017Toc TocEmilio[25]
2018La tribu (The Tribe)Fidel[26]
2021Mama o papá (You Keep the Kids!)Víctor[27]
2022The Unbearable Weight of Massive TalentLucas[28]
No mires a los ojos (Staring at Strangers)Damián[29]
2023Mari(dos) (Co-husbands)Toni[30]

Short films

  • La grieta by Enrique López de Haro
  • Días rojos (2004)
  • Con lengua (2006) by Anna R. Costa
  • Espagueti western (2007) (Voice)

Television

As director

Film

Year Title Director Writer Producer
2012 Carmina or Blow Up Yes Yes Executive
2014 Carmina and Amen Yes Yes Yes
2016 Kiki, Love to Love Yes Yes No
2022 Rainbow Yes Yes Yes

Short film

Year Title Director Writer Notes
2013 La Vuelta a la Tortilla Yes Yes Content branded short film
2014 Vaca Paloma Yes Yes
2020 Vecinooo Yes Yes Content branded short film
Also cinematographer, art director, sound, lighting, camera operator and props

Television

Year Title Creator Director Writer Executive
Producer		 Notes
2006 Ácaros Yes Yes Yes No TV Series; 26 episodes
2018 Arde Madrid Yes Yes Yes Yes TV miniseries; 8 episodes
Also casting director

Music video

Year Title Artist
2020 Lo que te falta Soleá Morente
Ojos de serpiente Dora Postigo

Accolades

Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
200615th Actors and Actresses Union AwardsBest Television Actor in a Leading RoleAídaWon[33]
201327th Goya AwardsBest New DirectorCarmina or Blow UpNominated[34]
201731st Goya AwardsBest Adapted ScreenplayKiki, Love to LoveNominated[35]
201928th Actors and Actresses Union AwardsBest Actor in an International ProductionThe House of FlowersNominated[36][37]
202029th Actors and Actresses Union AwardsBest Actor in an International ProductionNominated[38][39]
20232nd Carmen AwardsBest ActorStaring at StrangersNominated[40][41]
Best Adapted ScreenplayRainbowNominated

References

  1. ↑ "El tuit de Paco León sobre los personajes de 'Aída' abre el debate". HuffPost. 30 October 2018.
  2. ↑ Ramírez, Ana (16 January 2022). "'Aída' cumple años... y envejece: "Un 'piso Netflix' sería impensable en Esperanza Sur"". El Confidencial.
  3. ↑ "Paco León sobre 'Carmina o Revienta': "Es un experimento bastante auténtico"". rtve.es. 25 March 2020.
  4. ↑ "Repertorio Español | SPAIN arts & culture". www.spainculture.us. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Paco León". Semana (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Dulin, Dann (1 October 2019). "Paco León: Advocate". A&U Magazine. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  7. ↑ "Candidatos Premios Goya 2014". 2014-07-11. Archived from the original on 2014-07-11. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  8. 1 2 Fernández, Juan Manuel (2014-04-27). "Paco León, el nuevo Pedro Almodóvar". El Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  9. 1 2 "Primeras imágenes de 'Rainbow'". Mediaset España. 6 October 2021.
  10. ↑ "'Rainbow': Netflix estrenará en cines 'El mago de Oz' de Paco León". Cinemanía. 1 June 2022 – via 20minutos.es.
  11. ↑ Pontes, Rafa (2 May 2014). "Paco León: "Trabajo desde el placer, tengo muy poco miedo"". elperiodico (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  12. ↑ "El homenaje de Paco León a su mujer, la "madraza" Anna R. Costa: "No sin mis hijos"". divinity (in European Spanish). 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  13. ↑ "Paco León habla abiertamente sobre su bisexualidad: "Cuando conocí a mi mujer yo tenía novio"". 20 minutos (in Spanish). 18 January 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  14. ↑ "Paco Leon Tweets Nude Picture To Celebrate 1 Million Twitter Followers". The Huffington Post. Oath Inc. 10 February 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  15. ↑ Campuzano, Ana (2018-05-17). "Paco León corre desnudo por un campo de golf para celebrar el millón de seguidores en Instagram". Semana (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  16. ↑ "Paco León: lo vuelve hacer, incendia las redes con su desnudo integral". Semana (in Spanish). 2019-03-15. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  17. ↑ "Reinas (Queens) (2005)". PopMatters. 30 August 2006.
  18. ↑ López López, Yolanda (2017). El Siglo de Oro en el cine y la ficción televisiva: Dirección artística, referentes culturales y reconstrucción histórica. Madrid: ACCI. p. 400. ISBN 978-84-16549-70-2.
  19. ↑ Linares, Mariana (7 July 2016). "'Los managers' mezcla la comedia, el musical y el 'road movie'". El País.
  20. ↑ "Paco León, Olivia Molina y Alfonso Bassave, a dieta". El Comercio. 5 February 2009.
  21. ↑ Vall, Pere (6 June 2013). "Inma Cuesta, una divertida y torpe invitada a '3 bodas de más'". Fotogramas.
  22. ↑ González, Rosario (27 January 2016). "Paco León: "Me parezco más a Fran que a 'El Luisma'"". Ideal.
  23. ↑ Holland, Jonathan (7 April 2016). "'Kiki, Love to Love' ('Kiki, El Amor Se Hace'): Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
  24. ↑ Zurbano, Janire (14 October 2016). "Paco León: "7 años' es una partida de ajedrez donde el peón puede hacer jaque al rey"". Cinemanía – via 20minutos.es.
  25. ↑ "El reparto de 'Toc Toc': "La risa tiene como primera consecuencia la empatía"". 20minutos.es. 3 October 2017.
  26. ↑ "Paco León y Carmen Machi formarán parte de 'La tribu' en Antena 3". El Periódico de Catalunya. 13 January 2022.
  27. ↑ "Paco León sobre 'Mamá o papá', la nueva comedia de Atresmedia Cine: "Se asemeja a la guerra de los Rose pero con niños"". Onda Cero. 13 December 2021.
  28. ↑ Wellisz, Olénka (28 April 2022). "'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' Ending Explained: Does Javi's Movie Get Made?". collider.com.
  29. ↑ Yuste, Javier (4 November 2022). "'No mires a los ojos', Paco León se encierra en tu armario". El Cultural – via El Español.
  30. ↑ "La valenciana Lucía Alemany dirige a Paco León y Ernesto Alterio en su nueva película". Valencia Plaza. 2 March 2022.
  31. ↑ Herruzo Martínez, Ignacio (25 February 2021). "'Besos al aire': el reparto completo de la primera serie española de Disney Plus". Diez Minutos.
  32. ↑ "Este domingo abrimos las puertas del werk room en la tercera edición de 'Drag Race España'". ATRESplayer Premium. 14 April 2023.
  33. ↑ Silió, Elisa (30 May 2006). "La gala subversiva de la Unión de Actores". El País.
  34. ↑ "Carmina o revienta". premiosgoya.com. Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  35. ↑ "KIKI, el amor se hace". premiosgoya.com. Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  36. ↑ "Listado completo de nominados a los Premios Unión de Actores y Actrices 2019". La Guía GO. 13 February 2019.
  37. ↑ Silvestre, Juan (12 March 2019). "'Arde Madrid' arrasa en los Premios de la Unión de Actores". Fotogramas.
  38. ↑ Silvestre, Juan (11 February 2020). "XXIX Premios de la Unión de Actores y Actrices: Lista completa de finalistas". Fotogramas.
  39. ↑ "Los repartos de 'Dolor y gloria' y 'Estoy vivo' triunfan en los 29º Premios de la Unión de Actores y Actrices". Audiovisual451. 10 March 2020.
  40. ↑ Martínez, Evaristo (14 December 2022). "'Controverso' opta a dos Carmen, que anuncian sus candidatos desde Almería". La Voz de Almería.
  41. ↑ "Modelo 77 triunfa en los Carmen: Así ha quedado el palmarés". Ideal. Grupo Vocento. 5 February 2023.
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