Biography

Icíar Bollaín Pérez-Mínguez (born June 12, 1967; Madrid) is a Spanish actress, director and writer. Her father was an aeronautical engineer and her mother was a music teacher. She made her début when she was 15 years old. She is a member of the Academia Española de Cinematografía. She began her work in cinema at the age of fourteen as part of the cast in Victor Erice's film El Sur (1983). Since then she has acted in fourteen films. Hola, estas sola? (Hi, are you alone? in English) (1995) was her first feature film as director, a story about two young girls who dream of finding an earthly paradise, and undertake a long trip towards the sea. Flores de otro mundo (Flowers from another world in English) (1999) was her second feature film, which she co-wrote with Julio Llamazares. It is the story of four women who travel to rural Spain with the hopes of finding love. Her latest film as writer and director is Te Doy Mis Ojos (I'll give you my eyes in English) (2003) which won seven Goya awards including Best Film. The movie is about the abusive marriage relationship between Pilar and Antonio. Her 2010 film Even the Rain was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards. In January 2011, the film made the final nine shortlist.