Wikipedia

Eusebio Poncela

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Poncela and the second or maternal family name is Aprea.

Eusebio Poncela
Born
Eusebio Poncela Aprea

(1945-09-15)15 September 1945
Madrid, Spain
Died27 August 2025(2025-08-27) (aged 79)
El Escorial, Spain
EducationReal Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático
OccupationActor
Years active1967–2025

Eusebio Poncela Aprea (15 September 1945 – 27 August 2025) was a Spanish screen and stage actor. He developed his career in both his native country and Argentina,[1] featuring in films such as Rapture (1979), Law of Desire (1987), and Martín (Hache) (1997). His work in Intact (2001) earned him a nomination for a Goya Award for Best Actor.[2]

His television career included roles in Los gozos y las sombras, Las aventuras de Pepe Carvalho, Isabel, and Carlos, rey emperador, for which he won an Iris Award for Best Actor.

Early life and education

[edit]

Eusebio Poncela Aprea was born in Madrid on 15 September 1945, and was raised in Vallecas.[3][4][5] In his childhood, he was kicked out from eight schools.[6] He trained at the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático.[7] He graduated from the same class as Marisa Paredes and Juan Diego.[8]

Career

[edit]

Poncela made his theatre debut in a play of Mariana Pineda in 1967.[9][10] He earned clout on the Spanish stage scene, with ensuing roles in plays of Marat/Sade, Romeo and Juliet, and A Taste of Honey, after which he developed a screen career in film and television.[11] The latter play premiered in March 1971 at the Teatro Infanta Beatriz, and, starring Poncela as a young gay man alongside Ana Belén and Laly Soldevila, obtained great success.[12]

His film career took off in the 1970s. In the anthology horror film Pastel de sangre (1971), he played a part as the Monster in the segment directed by Jaime Chávarri dedicated to Victor Frankenstein.[13][14] He also featured in Eloy de la Iglesia's The Cannibal Man (1972), portraying a homosexual character.[7] The Spanish film cut was nonetheless mutilated by the Francoist censorship.[15] He also appeared in Pedro Olea's A House Without Boundaries (1972),[16] in Larga noche de julio (1974),[17] in La muerte del escorpión (1976),[18] and in In memoriam (1977), starring alongside Geraldine Chaplin and José Luis Gómez.[19] In 1978, he appeared in the television series Curro Jiménez.[20]

He starred as the lead of the cult film Rapture, directed by Iván Zulueta, a key instance of experimental film produced in Spain during the Transition.[21] In the film, which was not successful upon its release,[11] he portrayed a director of low-budget horror movies vampirised by the effect of addictions to cinema and heroin.[22] In Guillo Pontecorvo's Ogro, he portrayed one of the ETA members who carried out the magnicide of Carrero Blanco.[23] He attained mainstream recognition in 1982 with his work in the Televisión Española series Los gozos y las sombras.[24] He starred as the lead, a police inspector, in the crime film El arreglo [ca] (1983), in what Diego Galán [es] described as an "honest, effective" performance despite the character's lack of nuance.[25][22] He also continued his stage career, featuring in a play of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1984).[26] He played a police inspector again in Pedro Almodóvar's Matador (1986).[27] Also In 1986, he starred in Pilar Miró's Werther, a film adaptation of Goethe's novel selected for the 43rd Venice International Film Festival,[28] and starred as detective Pepe Carvalho in the crime television series Las aventuras de Pepe Carvalho.[20]

With Antonio Banderas, Poncela co-starred in Law of Desire (1987), playing a gay film and theatre director.[29] His character in the film has been read as placed within the framework of an intertextual relation with prior roles played by Poncela in La muerte del escorpión and Rapture.[30]

In the 1990s, he lived in Argentina, featuring in films such as A Shadow You Soon Will Be (1994),[31] Martín (Hache) (1997),[24] and La sonámbula [es].[32] He also garnered notoriety in the country for his participation in the music video for Los Fabulosos Cadillacs's "Matador" and for collaborations with his close Argentine acquaintance Fito Páez (Balada de Donna Helena and "Sasha, Sisí y el círculo de baba").[1] He portrayed the Devil in "Pacto", an Argentine television commercial for Renault Clio.[33]

In the 2000s, Poncela returned to Spain.[24] In the fantasy thriller Intact (2001), he played a man gifted with the ability to steal luck from others.[34] His performance in the film earned him his only Goya Award nomination.[35] He also appeared in Black Serenade (2001) and 800 Bullets (2002). At the 2004 Gijón International Film Festival, he received the Nacho Martínez Award.[9]

With the turn of the century, as the pace of his work in film slowed down, the weight of his career in television series increased.[35] He played the cardinal Casimiro Morcillo, president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, in the TVE miniseries Tarancón, el quinto mandamiento about the life of Cardinal Tarancón.[36][37] He portrayed another cleric, Cardinal Cisneros, in the third season of the historical series Isabel, reprising the role in the sequel series Carlos, Rey Emperador, in a crossover episode of El ministerio del tiempo, and in the feature film The Broken Crown.[20][38] His television work also included villain roles in Red Eagle and El accidente.[20] In advance of the 2017 Sant Jordi Awards ceremony, Poncela was announced as the recipient of the Sant Jordi Special Award for Lifetime Achievements.[9] Late television roles include his appearance in the season 2 of Merlí: Sapere Aude (2021) playing a mentor to the protagonist and his portrayal of a psychiatrist in the psychological thriller series Matices [es] (2025).[39][40]

In 2022, Poncela starred in a play of Manuel Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman directed by Carlota Ferrer.[41] He also received the LesGaiCineMad festival's honorary award at Cine Doré.[42]

The Last Rapture, a documentary film about Rapture featuring Poncela, is set to be released in September 2025 at the 73rd San Sebastián International Film Festival.[43]

Personal life and death

[edit]

Poncela was a recovering heroin addict.[44] In a 2022 interview to Vanity Fair, he described himself as "quite solitary and misanthropic".[45][11] He stated that he managed to kick his heroin habit after moving to Argentina.[45] Likewise, seeking to set a distance from his addictions, Poncela left the centre of Madrid for El Escorial.[46][n. 1] He self-defined as "trisexual" and gay.[47]

Poncela died at his residence in El Escorial, on 27 August 2025, at the age of 79.[46][48] The cause of his death was cancer, which he had been suffering from for over a year.[46] His wake was held at the funeral home of San Isidro in Madrid and was attended by colleagues such as Luis Tosar and Luisa Mayol.[49]

Filmography

[edit]

Film

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1971
 Pastel de sangre [es] El monstruo
[13]
1972
 La semana del asesino (The Cannibal Man) Néstor
[50]
Fuenteovejuna Frondoso
[51]
1979 Arrebato (Rapture) José Sirgado [52]
1979 Operación Ogro (Ogro) Txabi [53]
1983
 El arreglo [ca] Crisanto Perales
[54]
1986 Matador Comisario
[55]
1987 La ley del deseo (Law of Desire) Pablo Quintero [56]
1988
 El Dorado Fernando de Guzmán
[57]
Diario de invierno (Winter Diary) León
[58]
1990
 Continental [fr] Otálora
[59]
1991
 El invierno en Lisboa [ca] Floro Bloom
[60]
El rey pasmado (The Dumbfounded King) Conde de la Peña Andrada
[60]
1992
 El juego de los mensajes invisibles Jaime
[61]
El beso del sueño [es] Fernando Delgado
[62]
1993
 El laberinto griego (The Greek Labyrinth) Jacques Lebrun
[63]
1994
 Una sombra ya pronto serás (A Shadow You Soon Will Be) Lem
[64]
1997
 Martín (Hache) Dante
[65]
1998
 La sonámbula [es] Ariel Kluge
[32]
1999
 La sombra de Caín Esteban
[66]
2001
 Cabecita rubia [es] (Lost Horizon) Tulan
[67][68]
Sagitario Jaime
[69]
Tuno negro (Black Serenade) Don Justo
[70]
Intacto (Intact) Federico
[2]
2002
 800 balas (800 Bullets) Scott
[71]
2004
 Occhi di cristallo (Eyes of Crystal) Professor Civita
[72]
2005
 Hermanas (Sisters) Luis Morini
[73]
2006
 Los Borgia (The Borgia) Cardenal Giuliano della Rovere
[74]
Remake [es] Álex
[75]
2007
 Teresa, el cuerpo de Cristo (Theresa: The Body of Christ) Gaspar Daza
[76]
2009
 I Come with the Rain Vargas
[77]
2010
 La herencia Valdemar (The Valdemar Legacy) Maximilian
[78]
2011
 La herencia Valdemar II: La sombra prohibida [es] (The Valdemar Legacy II: The Forbidden Shadow) Maximilian Colvin
[79]
Querida, voy a comprar cigarrillos y vuelvo [es] Inmortal
[1]
2016
 La corona partida (The Broken Crown) Cardenal Cisneros
[80]

Television

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1982
 Los gozos y las sombras Carlos Deza
[20]
1986
 Las aventuras de Pepe Carvalho Pepe Carvalho
[20]
2011
 Tarancón, el quinto mandamiento [es] Casimiro Morcillo [es] TV movie released as a 2-episode miniseries
[36]
2013–14
 Isabel Cardenal Cisneros
[20]
2015
 El ministerio del tiempo Cardenal Cisneros Season 1; episode "Una negociación a tiempo"
[81]
2015–16
 Carlos, rey emperador Cardenal Cisneros
[82]
Águila Roja (Red Eagle) Malasangre
[20]
2017–18
 El accidente João Ferreira
[20]
2021
 Merlí: Sapere Aude Dino Season 2
[20]
2025
 Matices [es] Doctor Marlow
[20]

Accolades

[edit]
Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
1998
 46th Silver Condor Awards Best Supporting Actor Martín (Hache) Won
[83]
2002
 16th Goya Awards Best Actor Intact Nominated
[84]
2015
 24th Actors and Actresses Union Awards Best Television Actor in a Secondary Role Isabel Nominated
[85][86]
2016
 18th Iris Awards Best Actor Carlos, rey emperador Won
[87]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ "And regarding his addictions, he said that they had forced him to flee Madrid for El Escorial, where he died: 'I fled the city center. They wouldn't give me a break; when people get obsessed with drugs, they will not leave you alone. My house looked like Keith Richards'".[46]

References

[edit]
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  3. ^ Boix, Arnau (27 August 2025). "Mor als 79 anys l'actor madrileny Eusebio Poncela". El Punt Avui.
  4. ^ "Fallece el actor Eusebio Poncela a los 79 años". La Voz de Galicia. 27 August 2025.
  5. ^ Martínez, Beatriz (27 August 2025). "Muere el mítico actor Eusebio Poncela a los 79 años" [Legendary actor Eusebio Poncela dies at 79]. Infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 31 August 2025.
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