Belén Cuesta

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

Belén Cuesta Llamas (born 24 January 1984) is a Spanish actress. She rose to prominence for her performance as Magüi in comedy series Paquita Salas.^[1] She won the Goya Award for Best Actress for her leading performance in drama film The Endless Trench (2019).^[2]

Belén Cuesta
Cuesta in 2025
Born	Belén Cuesta Llamas (1984-01-24) 24 January 1984 (age 41) Seville, Andalusia, Spain
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2004–present

Early life

Belén Cuesta Llamas was born on 24 January 1984 in Seville, Spain. She moved to Málaga and her childhood and adolescence was spent in Fuengirola, where she studied at the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático.^[3] She currently resides in Madrid.^[4]

Career

Cuesta is mostly known as a theatre actress. She has participated in both film and television productions as well as television commercials.^{[citation needed]}

She made her television debut in Cazadores de hombres.^[5] After featuring in minor roles in television series such as ¿Qué fue de Jorge Sanz? [es], Ángel o demonio, Palomitas and films such as Hierro, Operación Malaya and Perro flaco, she landed her first stable television role in 2012, when she joined period drama daily television series Bandolera to portray Elisa de Vega, a wealthy woman.^[6][5][7] She starred in comedy series Paquita Salas.^[5] Her role as Magüi Moreno, assistant to the title character in the aforementioned series, earned her great popularity with some of her lines becoming viral.^[1][8]

A cisgender woman, Cuesta featured in Money Heist as Manila (a transgender woman and Denver's cousin), initially passing as a hostage in the Bank of Spain, later disclosed to be a member of the band of robbers.^{[9][10][11][5]}

Personal life

From 2012 to early 2023, Cuesta was in a relationship with actor Tamar Novas, whom she met during the filming of Bandolera.^[12][13]

Credits

Theater

Year	Title	Character	Director
2004–05	Ifigenia en Táuride		Ignacio Ortiz
2006	Malditas sean por siempre Coronada y sus hijas		Pablo Mesa
2006	Enrico V
2007	Una mujer sin importancia		Hermanas Rico
2007	Me muero, me muero
2008	Acóplate
2008	Sonias
2009	Las fichas
2010	Labios		Alejandra Nogales
2011	El imaginario de Cervantes		Sonia Sebastián
2011	Te acuerdas
2011	Soy actriz
2011	Lo que da miedo es la muerte
2011	Papá se ha ido		Sonia Sebastián
2012	Presencias		Benja de la Rosa
2012	¿Quién es Teodoro?
2013–16	La llamada	Hermana Milagros	Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi
2016	Los tragos de la vida		Daniel Guzmán
2017	Universos Paralelos	Lucía	David Serrano
2019	Metamorfosis
2019	El hombre almohada	Katurian

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2008	Cazadores de hombres		2 episodes
2010	¿Qué fue de Jorge Sanz?	Nurse	1 episode
2011	Palomitas		9 episodes
2011	Ángel o demonio		1 episode
2012	Operación Malaya	Clara	TV movie
2012	Bandolera	Elisa de Vega		[5]
2013	El tiempo entre costuras (The Time in Between)	Parturient	1 episode
2015	Aquí Paz y después Gloria	Tere		[14]
2015	Vis a vis	Yolanda Montero Fernández	2 episodes
2016	Buscando el norte	Carolina		[15]
2016–19	Paquita Salas	Magüi "Malu" Moreno	14 episodes
2017–18	Ella es tu padre	Natalia	13 episodes
2018	BByC: Bodas, bautizos y comuniones	Beatriz	1 episode
2019	Mira lo que has hecho		4 episodes
2019–21	La casa de papel	Julia "Manila"	20 episodes
2023	Cristo y Rey (Untameable)	Bárbara Rey		[16]
	Romancero	Carmen		[17]
2024	Cristóbal Balenciaga	Fabiola de Mora y Aragón		[18]
	Las largas sombras (Past Lies)	Teresa		[19]

Movies

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2009	Hierro		Feature film debut	[20]
2011	Perro flaco	Natalia
2012	La montaña rusa	Pretty girl
2015	Ocho apellidos catalanes (Spanish Affair 2)	Judit		[21]
2016	Tenemos que hablar (We Need to Talk)	Yoli		[22]
2016	El pregón	Silvia		[23]
2016	Kiki, el amor se hace (Kiki, Love to Love)	Belén		[24]
2016	Storks	Tulip	Voice
2016	Villaviciosa de al lado (A Stroke of Luck)	Elisa		[25]
2017	La llamada (Holy Camp!)	Hermana Milagros		[26]
2017	Proyecto Tiempo. Parte I: La llave	Carla
2017	The Lego Ninjago Movie	Nya	Voice
2018	El aviso (The Warning)	Andrea		[27]
2019	A pesar de todo (Despite Everything)	Claudia		[28]
2019	Ventajas de viajar en tren (Advantages of Travelling by Train)	Amelia Urales de Úbeda		[29]
2019	Litus	Laia		[30]
2019	La frontera infinita (The Endless Trench)	Rosa		[31]
2019	Klaus	Teacher/Fish Saleswoman	Voice
2019	Parking	María		[32]
2020	Hasta que la boda nos separe (The Wedding Unplanner)	Marina		[33]
2020	Sentimental (The People Upstairs)	Laura		[34]
2022	Un novio para mi mujer (A Boyfriend for My Wife)	Lucía		[35]
2023	El cuco (The Cuckoo's Curse)	Anna		[36]

Television programs

Year	Program	Channel	Notes
2014	En el aire	La Sexta	Collaborator
2015–2019	Pasapalabra	Telecinco	Guest
2016	El Hormiguero	Antena 3	Guest
2016	Late Motiv	#0	Guest
2018	Operación Triunfo	La 1	Guest
2018	The Resistance	#0	Guest
2020	Late Motiv	#0	Guest

Accolades

Cuesta looking at her Goya Award for Best Actress for The Endless Trench

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2015	24th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Stage Actress in a Minor Role	La llamada	Nominated	[37][38]
2017	4th Feroz Awards	Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series	Paquita Salas	Won	[39]
	31st Goya Awards	Best New Actress	Kiki, Love to Love	Nominated	[40]
2018	5th Feroz Awards	Best Supporting Actress (film)	Holy Camp!	Nominated	[41]
	32nd Goya Awards	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated	[42]
	27th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actress in a Secondary Role		Nominated	[43][44]
2019	6th Feroz Awards	Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series	Paquita Salas	Nominated	[45]
2020	25th Forqué Awards	Best Actress	The Endless Trench	Nominated	[46][47]
	7th Feroz Awards	Best Actress in a Film		Won	[48]
		Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series	Paquita Salas	Nominated
	34th Goya Awards	Best Actress	The Endless Trench	Won	[49]
	29th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actress in a Leading Role		Won	[50]
	7th Platino Awards	Best Actress		Nominated	[51][52]
	70th Fotogramas de Plata	Best Film Actress		Won	[53]
2023	2nd Carmen Awards	Best Actress	A Boyfriend for My Wife	Nominated	[54][55]
	25th Iris Awards	Best Actress	Untameable	Won	[56]
2025	33rd Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Television Actress in a Minor Role	Cristóbal Balenciaga	Nominated	[57]