The Most Famous

ACTORS from Spain

This page contains a list of the greatest Spanish Actors. The pantheon dataset contains 13,578 Actors, 200 of which were born in Spain. This makes Spain the birth place of the 12th most number of Actors behind Russia, and Australia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Spanish Actors of all time. This list of famous Spanish Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Spanish Actors.

1. Antonio Banderas (b. 1960)

With an HPI of 73.61, Antonio Banderas is the most famous Spanish Actor. His biography has been translated into 86 different languages on wikipedia.

José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received numerous accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Goya Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award. Films in which he has appeared in have grossed over $7.7 billion worldwide. Banderas made his acting debut at a small theater in Málaga, where he caught the attention of director Pedro Almodóvar, who gave the actor his film debut in the screwball comedy Labyrinth of Passion (1982). They have since collaborated on many films, including Matador (1986), Law of Desire (1987), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989), The Skin I Live In (2011), and Pain and Glory (2019), the last of which earned him the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, the Goya Award for Best Actor as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. In 1992, Banderas made his American film debut with the musical drama The Mambo Kings (1992), followed by roles in Philadelphia (1993), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Assassins (1995), and Evita (1996). He took roles in franchises playing El Mariachi in Desperado (1995) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), Zorro in The Mask of Zorro (1998) and The Legend of Zorro (2005), the patriarch in the Spy Kids series (2001–2003) and voiced Puss in Boots in the Shrek films (2004–present). He made his directorial debut with the comedy film Crazy in Alabama (1999), followed by Summer Rain (2006). On stage, Banderas made his Broadway theatre debut playing an Italian film director in the musical revival Nine (2003), for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his roles as Pancho Villa in the HBO television film And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2004) and Pablo Picasso in the anthology series Genius (2018).

2. Carmen Amaya (1913 - 1963)

With an HPI of 71.50, Carmen Amaya is the 2nd most famous Spanish Actor. Her biography has been translated into 50 different languages.

Carmen Amaya Amaya (2 November 1918 – 19 November 1963), nicknamed La Capitana (English: The Captain) was a Spanish Romani flamenco dancer and singer, born in the Somorrostro district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She is often hailed as "the greatest Flamenco dancer ever" and "the most extraordinary personality of all time in flamenco dance." She was the first female flamenco dancer to master footwork previously reserved for the best male dancers, due to its speed and intensity. She sometimes danced in high-waisted trousers as a symbol of her strong character.

3. Marisa Paredes (1946 - 2024)

With an HPI of 71.12, Marisa Paredes is the 3rd most famous Spanish Actor. Her biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

María Luisa Paredes Bartolomé (3 April 1946 – 17 December 2024), known professionally as Marisa Paredes, was a Spanish actress with a long illustrious career. She acted in more than 75 films, 80 tv shows and 15 plays – with some of Europe's most important directors – and was the recipient of numerous awards.

4. Penélope Cruz (b. 1974)

With an HPI of 70.39, Penélope Cruz is the 4th most famous Spanish Actor. Her biography has been translated into 102 different languages.

Penélope Cruz Sánchez (born 28 April 1974) is a Spanish actress. Prolific in Spanish and English-language films, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, a David di Donatello and three Goya Awards. Cruz made her acting debut on television at age 16, and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón Jamón (1992). Her subsequent roles included Belle Époque (1992), Open Your Eyes (1997), Don Juan (1998), The Hi-Lo Country (1999), The Girl of Your Dreams (2000) and Woman on Top (2000). She is known for her frequent collaborations with Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar in Live Flesh (1997), All About My Mother (1999), Volver (2006), Broken Embraces (2009), I'm So Excited! (2013), Pain and Glory (2019), and Parallel Mothers (2021). For her role in Woody Allen's romantic drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Cruz won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her other Oscar-nominated roles are in Volver (2006), Nine (2009), and Parallel Mothers (2021). Other notable films include Vanilla Sky (2001), Blow (2001), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), The Counselor (2013), Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Everybody Knows (2018), Official Competition (2022), L'immensità (2022), and Ferrari (2023). For her role as Donatella Versace in the miniseries The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (2018), she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. She is the only Spanish actress to have won an Academy Award and to have received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007 she won the David di Donatello for the leading role in Don't Move. Cruz has also modelled for Mango, Ralph Lauren and L'Oréal, and designed clothing for Mango with her younger sister Mónica Cruz. She has been a house ambassador for Chanel since 2018. She volunteered in Uganda and India, where she spent one week working with Mother Teresa, and donated her salary from The Hi-Lo Country to help fund the late nun's mission.

5. Javier Bardem (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 69.97, Javier Bardem is the 5th most famous Spanish Actor. His biography has been translated into 74 different languages.

Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (born 1 March 1969) is a Spanish actor. In a career spanning over three decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and seven Goya Awards, in addition to Cannes Film Festival Award and two Volpi Cups. A son of actress Pilar Bardem, he first became known for such Spanish films as Jamón jamón (1992), Boca a boca (1995), Carne trémula (1997), Los lunes al sol (2002), and Mar adentro (2004). He received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing Reinaldo Arenas in Before Night Falls (2000), a criminal with cancer in Biutiful (2010), and Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos (2021). His portrayal of assassin Anton Chigurh in the Coen brothers' crime film No Country for Old Men (2007) won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Bardem has also starred in auteur driven films such as Woody Allen's romantic drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Terrence Malick's drama To the Wonder (2013), Darren Aronofsky's horror film mother! (2017), and Asghar Farhadi's mystery drama Everybody Knows (2018). He also acted in blockbuster films such as the James Bond film Skyfall (2012), Eat Pray Love (2010), the swashbuckler film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), the science fiction epic films Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024), Disney's live-action remake The Little Mermaid (2023), and F1 (2025). On television, he portrayed José Menendez in the Netflix crime anthology series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2024). Bardem married actress Penélope Cruz in 2010 and together they have two children. In January 2018, Bardem became the ambassador of Greenpeace for the protection of Antarctica.

6. Carmen Maura (b. 1945)

With an HPI of 69.66, Carmen Maura is the 6th most famous Spanish Actor. Her biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

María del Carmen García Maura (born 15 September 1945) is a Spanish actress. In a career that has spanned six decades, she has starred in films such as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, ¡Ay Carmela!, Common Wealth, and Volver. With three wins, she holds the record for most Goya Awards for Best Actress (for a total of four wins). She also won a Cesar Award in 2012 and a Cannes Film Festival Award in 2006.

7. Fernando Rey (1917 - 1994)

With an HPI of 69.32, Fernando Rey is the 7th most famous Spanish Actor. His biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Fernando Casado Arambillet (20 September 1917 – 9 March 1994), best known as Fernando Rey, was a Spanish film, theatre, and television actor, who worked in both Europe and the United States. A suave, international actor best known for his roles in the films of surrealist director Luis Buñuel (Viridiana, 1961; Tristana, 1970; Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, 1972; That Obscure Object of Desire, 1977) and as the drug lord Alain Charnier in The French Connection (1971) and French Connection II (1975), he appeared in more than 150 films over half a century. The debonair Rey was described by French Connection producer Philip D'Antoni as "the last of the Continental guys". He achieved his greatest fame after he turned 50: "Perhaps it is a pity that my success came so late in life", he told the Los Angeles Times. "It might have been better to have been successful while young, like El Cordobés in the bullring. Then your life is all before you to enjoy it."

8. María Casares (1922 - 1996)

With an HPI of 66.10, María Casares is the 8th most famous Spanish Actor. Her biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

María Victoria Casares y Pérez (21 November 1922 – 22 November 1996) was a Spanish-born French actress and one of the most distinguished stars of the French stage and cinema. She was credited in France as Maria Casarès.

9. Francisco Rabal (1926 - 2001)

With an HPI of 65.95, Francisco Rabal is the 9th most famous Spanish Actor. His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Francisco Rabal Valera (8 March 1926 – 29 August 2001), popularly known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor. His career spanned more than 200 film and television roles, between 1942 and 2001. He received numerous accolades both in Spain and abroad, the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actor Award and the Goya Award for Best Actor. Rabal was best known internationally for his collaborations with director Luis Buñuel, with Ronald Bergan writing "most of his other major roles he carried the heady, perverse whiff of the great surrealist director with him." He worked with many other notable directors, including Carlos Saura, Pedro Almodóvar, William Friedkin, Michelangelo Antonioni, Claude Chabrol, Luchino Visconti, and Gillo Pontecorvo. One of Spain's most-loved and acclaimed actors during his lifetime, he also was known for his commitment to human rights and other social causes.

10. Sara Montiel (1928 - 2013)

With an HPI of 65.43, Sara Montiel is the 10th most famous Spanish Actor. Her biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

María Antonia Abad Fernández MML (10 March 1928 – 8 April 2013), known professionally as Sara Montiel, also Sarita Montiel, was a Spanish actress and singer. She began her career in the 1940s and became the most internationally popular and highest paid star of Spanish cinema in the 1960s. She appeared in nearly fifty films and recorded around 500 songs in five different languages. Montiel was born in Campo de Criptana in the region of La Mancha in 1928. She began her acting career in Spain starring in films such as Don Quixote (1947) and Madness for Love (1948). She moved to Mexico where she starred in films such as Women's Prison (1951) and Red Fury (1951). She then moved to the United States and worked in three Hollywood English-language films Vera Cruz (1954), Serenade (1956) and Run of the Arrow (1957). She returned to Spain to star in the musical films The Last Torch Song (1957) and The Violet Seller (1958). These two films netted the highest gross revenues ever recorded internationally for films made in the Spanish-speaking movie industry during the 1950s/60s and made her immensely popular. She then established herself also as a singer thanks to the songs she performed in her films and combined filming new musical films, recording songs and performing live. Throughout her career, Montiel's personal life was the subject of constant media attention in the Spanish-speaking world. She was married four times and adopted two children.

People

Pantheon has 200 people classified as Spanish actors born between 1868 and 2005. Of these 200, 160 (80.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Spanish actors include Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz, and Javier Bardem. The most famous deceased Spanish actors include Carmen Amaya, Marisa Paredes, and Fernando Rey. As of April 2024, 200 new Spanish actors have been added to Pantheon including Antonio Banderas, Carmen Amaya, and Marisa Paredes.