María Isabel Verdú Rollán (born 2 October 1970), better known as Maribel Verdú (), is a Spanish actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades throughout her career spanning nearly four decades, including two Goya Awards for Best Actress, an Ariel Award for Best Actress, the Gold Medal of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain in 2008 and the National Cinematography Award in 2009.
Verdú made her acting debut at thirteen in Captain Sánchez's Crime (1985). Some of her film credits include performances in Lovers (1991), Belle Époque (1992), Lucky Star (1997), Y tu mamá también (2001), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), The Blind Sunflowers (2008), Tetro (2009), Snow White (2012), and Abracadabra (2017). She also appeared as Nora Allen in the DC Extended Universe film The Flash (2023), her second superhero film credit after Superlópez (2018).
Early life
Verdú was born in Madrid, Spain. She began acting at 13, appearing in various commercials. She left school at the age of 15, so that she could fully devote herself to her acting career. Verdú has appeared in more than 60 movies, since 1984, the majority of them in Spanish. She has also been on numerous TV shows.
Career
Her first work experience was as a model in spots and fashion magazines for known commercial firms. Her first television opportunity was given to her at 13, featuring in the anthology series La huella del crimen, Shot in 1985, the film underwent a production hell, and was not released until 1991. Her first appearance in a theatrical release was thus in the 1986 film El orden cómico.
27 Hours, by Montxo Armendáriz, about a girl who is a drug addict, was one of the most powerful experiences in her life, up to that point. After this film, other more important films started coming her way, including Hostages in the Barrio by Eloy de la Iglesia and Year of Enlightment by Fernando Trueba.
Later, Verdú said that her role in Lovers marked a turning point in her screen career and has brought about maturity as a performer. Thereafter, she worked with such directors as José Luis Garci in Cradle Song; Bigas Luna in Golden Balls; again with Trueba in the Academy Award winner Belle Époque; Emilio Martínez-Lázaro in Backroads; Carlos Saura in Goya in Bordeaux; and Gonzalo Suárez in The Goalkeeper and Oviedo Express.
thumb|right|Verdú on set in 2005
Verdú's performance in drama Lucky Star (1997) earned her another goya award nomination; she played one-eyed pregnant Marina, in a love triangle with a gelded butcher and a handsome criminal.
She made her debut in an international work in Y tu mamá también (2001), portraying Luisa Cortés, an exotic madrileña who ends up accepting a trip offer across rural Mexico from a Mexican cousin-in-law and his friend. In 2002, she starred as the title character in comedy peplum Lisístrata, playing an Athenian woman setting up a sex strike. She was cast against type to portray maid and guerrilla informant Mercedes in Pan's Labyrinth (2006). Verdú was invited to membership in the AMPAS in 2007. Verdú's performance in Seven Billiard Tables (2007) earned Verdú her first Goya Award for Best Actress.
In 2010, Maribel starred in a music video for Alejandro Sanz's song "Lola Soledad".
Verdú's portrayal of Encarna (the evil stepmother) in black-and-white and silent drama film Snow White (2012) won her a second Goya Award.
In 2017, she appeared in Abracadabra, starring as Carmen, a housewife who sees her husband's personality transformed as a result of an informal hypnosis session.
thumb|left|upright=0.7|Verdú at the 2011 [[Valladolid International Film Festival]]
She made her theater debut in 1986, starring as the character of Julieta and has since then combined theater with cinema. She has also intertwined the two in television shows, such as Turno de oficio and Segunda enseñanza.
In 2018, she starred in comedy film Empowered, portraying Paz, an undervalued middle-aged woman who stops keeping quiet about things, and in black comedy Crime Wave as Leyre, a housewife covering the murder of her son's father, unleashing a wave of crimes. She also portrayed Agatha, a villainess from planet Chitón, in superhero comedy film Superlópez, based on the comic book character of the same name.
In 2020, she began shooting legal thriller television series ANA. all in, her first acting credit in television since her work in Código fuego (2003). She starred as Ana Tramel, a drug-addicted lawyer who turns in after her gambling brother is accused of murder in a casino.
In March 2021, she was cast as Barry Allen/The Flash's mother Nora Allen in the DC Extended Universe film The Flash, which was released in June 2023. She also appeared as eccentric millionaire Olivia Uriarte in whodunit film A Deadly Invitation. She also portrayed Carmen, a toxic mother and bon vivant, in season 7 of teen drama series Elite, and the girlfriend and advisor of Leo (Daniel Giménez Cacho) in Familia.
In 2024, she was reported to have joined the shooting of Max series When No One Sees Us, set to star as Lucía Gutiérrez (a Guardia Civil agent investigating a suicide case in Morón de la Frontera) alongside Dani Rovira, Mariela Garriga, Austin Amelio, and Ben Temple. In December 2024, she was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts.
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Awards
thumb|right|Maribel Verdú, Spanish actress, holding the Golden Spike of the 2011 Seminci.
Verdú has been nominated for the Goya Awards on eleven occasions, becoming the most nominated actress in the history of these awards. Her first nomination, for Best Actress, came with the 1991 film Lovers by Vicente Aranda, eventually losing to Sílvia Munt for her role in Butterfly Wings (Alas de Mariposa). Her second nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actress, came for La Celestina, a 1996 film by Gerardo Vera, but she lost to Mari Carrillo for Más Alla del Jardín. In The Lucky Star (La Buena Estrella), by Ricardo Franco in 1997, she achieved her third nomination, again for Best Actress, ultimately losing to Cecilia Roth in Martín (hache). In 2006, she received her fourth nomination, for Best Actress, with Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro, losing yet again to Penélope Cruz. Finally, on her fifth nomination, she won the Best Actress Award at the 22nd Goya Awards in 2008, for Seven Billiard Tables (Siete mesas de billar francés) by Gracia Querejeta. The sixth nomination came later in 2008, for Best Actress in The Blind Sunflowers by José Luis Cuerda. The following year, 2009, she would be nominated again for Best Actress in the film Tetro by Francis Ford Coppola. In 2011, she would be nominated as a supporting actress for Chrysalis (De tu ventana a la mía), by Paula Ortiz. In 2013, at the 27th Goya Awards, she received her second Best Actress Award, for Blancanieves, by Pablo Berger. In 2014, she was nominated as a supporting actress, for 15 Years and One Day (15 años y un día), from Gracia Querejeta, losing to Terele Pávez for Witching & Bitching (Las brujas de Zugarramurdi). She received her eleventh nomination in 2017, for Best Actress in Abracadabra, another film by Pablo Berger.
Apart from her Goya Award, Verdú possesses two Ondas Awards and two Silver Frame awards (between 7 nominations) as Best Television Actress for the series Canguros and as Best Actress for Los Girasoles Ciegos (The Blind Sunflowers). Maribel Verdú is also the only Spanish actress to win the Ariel Award in Mexico, as Best Actress for Pan's Labyrinth. Her film career has also been rewarded with the Gold Medal of the Spanish Film Academy and with the Spain National Cinematography Award, becoming the sixth actress to achieve it after Carmen Maura, Rafaela Aparicio, Maria Luisa Ponte, Marisa Paredes, and Mercedes Sampietro.
Verdú has also been close to awards in category A film festivals, such as the Berlin International Film Festival. In 1991, Verdú's casting partner, Victoria Abril, raised the Silver Bear for Best Actress in Lovers. In 2007, at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, another casting partner of Verdú's, Blanca Portillo, took the award for Best Actress in Seven Billiard Tables.
In 2006, at the Gijón International Film Festival, she received the Nacho Martinez award. She also received the Premi Máquina del Temps at the 2019 Sitges Film Festival, alongside Javier Botet.
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Personal life
Verdú married Pedro Larrañaga on 2 September 1999. He is the son of actors Carlos Larrañaga and María Luisa Merlo. Verdú is the stockholder of the clinic Premium in Estepona.
Accolades
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
!Year
!Award
!Category
!Work
!Result
!
|-
| align = "center" | 1992 ||
| Best Actress
|Lovers
|
| align = "center" |
|-
| align = "center" | 1997 ||
| Best Supporting Actress
|La Celestina
|
| align = "center" |
|-
| align = "center" | 1998 ||
| rowspan="2"|Best Actress
|The Lucky Star
|
|
|-
| align = "center" rowspan = "3" | 2007 ||
| rowspan = "3" | Pan's Labyrinth
|
|