Elena Anaya

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

Elena Anaya Gutiérrez (born 17 July 1975) is a Spanish actress.

Elena Anaya
Anaya in 2024
Born	Elena Anaya Gutiérrez (1975-07-17) 17 July 1975 (age 49) Palencia, Spain
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1995–present
Partner	Tina Afugu Cordero
Children	1

She garnered public recognition in Spain for her performance in Sex and Lucia (2001),^[1] which also earned her a nomination to the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress. She starred in The Skin I Live In (2011), for which she won the Goya Award for Best Actress.^[2][3] She is also known for her roles as the ginger/redhaired vampire bride named Aleera in Van Helsing (2004), the Spanish tourist in Room in Rome (2010) and Doctor Poison in Wonder Woman (2017).

Early life

Anaya was born in Palencia, Spain.^[2] She is the youngest of three children. Her mother, Elena (Nena), is a housewife who later owned a boarding house in Palencia. Her father, Juan José Anaya Gómez (1934–2011), was an industrial engineer.^[4]

Career

Anaya moved to Cádiz to train as an actress, after which she landed roles in África and Familia.^[5]

She first received international attention in 2001 for her role in the sexually explicit drama Sex and Lucia.^[6] She also had a small part the year after in Almodóvar's Talk to Her.^[7]

Her best-known Hollywood film role was as Aleera, one of Dracula's brides in 2004's Van Helsing. That same year, Anaya was named as one of European films' Shooting Stars by European Film Promotion.

In 2006, Anaya appeared in Justin Timberlake's music video for his single, "SexyBack".^[8]

Anaya at the 2010 Malaga Film Festival

After some "quiet" years playing supporting roles in international films such as Savage Grace (2007) and Cairo Time (2009), Anaya roared back into prominence with a starring role in 2010's Room in Rome, and then a return to Almodóvar in 2011's The Skin I Live In.

In 2017, Anaya appeared as Doctor Poison in the superhero blockbuster film, Wonder Woman.^[9]

Personal life

Anaya and director Beatriz Sanchís [es] were reportedly in a relationship from 2008 to 2013.^{[10][11][12][13]}

In November 2016, it was announced that Anaya was expecting her first child with her partner, Tina Afugu Cordero, a costume designer.^[14][15][16] In February 2017, Anaya gave birth to their son.^[17]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1996	África	África		[18]
1997	Familia	Luna		[19]
1998	Grandes ocasiones	Susy		[20]
	Lágrimas negras (Black Tears)	Alicia		[21]
	Finisterre, donde termina el mundo	Laura		[22]
1999	Las huellas borradas (Fading Memories)	Rosa		[23]
2000	El árbol del penitente	Sonsoles
	El invierno de las anjanas (The Winter of the Fairies)	Adelaida		[24]
2001	Lucía y el sexo (Sex and Lucia)	Belén		[25]
	Sin noticias de Dios (Don't Tempt Me)	Pili
2002	La habitación azul (The Blue Room)	Ana		[26]
	Hable con ella (Talk to Her)	Ángela		[27]
	Rencor (Rencor)	Esther		[28]
2003	Dos tipos duros (Two Tough Guys)	Tatiana
2004	Van Helsing	Aleera		[29]
	Ana y Manuel	Ana
2005	Fragile	Helen Perez
	Dead Fish	Mimi
2006	Alatriste	Angélica de Alquézar		[30]
	Stage Kiss	Natalia
2007	Savage Grace	Blanca
	Miguel & William	Leonor
	In the Land of Women	Sofia Buñuel
2008	Sólo quiero caminar	Ana		[31]
	Mesrine: L'Instinct De Mort	Sofia
2009	Hierro	María		[32]
	Cairo Time	Kathryn
2010	Habitación en Roma (Room in Rome)	Alba		[33]
	Point Blank	Nadia Pierret
2011	La piel que habito (The Skin I Live In)	Vera Cruz		[34]
2012	Hijos de las nubes, la última colonia (Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony)	Narrator
2013	Pensé que iba a haber fiesta	Ana
2014	Todos están muertos (They Are All Dead)	Lupe		[35]
2015	Lejos del mar	Marina
	La memoria del agua (The Memory of Water)	Amanda		[36]
	Swung	Alice
2016	The Infiltrator	Gloria Alcaino		[37]
	Zipi y Zape y la isla del capitán (Zip & Zap and the Captain's Island)	Miss Pam
2017	La cordillera (The Summit)	Claudia Klein		[38]
	Wonder Woman	Isabel Maru / Doctor Poison		[39]
2020	Rifkin's Festival	Jo Rojas		[40]
2022	Jaula (The Chalk Line)	Paula		[41]
2023	Fatum	Comisaria Costa		[42]
TBA	Rosebush Pruning		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2024	Las largas sombras (Past Lies)	Rita		[43]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2002	16th Goya Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Sex and Lucia	Nominated	[44]
	11th Actors Union Awards	Best Film Performance in a Secondary Role		Won	[45]
2009	Sitges Film Festival	Best Actress	Hierro	Won	[46]
2011	25th Goya Awards	Best Actress	Room in Rome	Nominated	[44]
	20th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actress in a Leading Role		Nominated	[47][48]
2012	26th Goya Awards	Best Actress	The Skin I Live In	Won	[49]
	21st Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actress in a Leading Role		Nominated	[50][51]
2014	17th Málaga Film Festival	Silver Biznaga for Best Actress	They Are All Dead	Won	[52]
2015	2nd Feroz Awards	Best Main Actress in a Film		Nominated	[53]
	29th Goya Awards	Best Actress		Nominated	[54]
	24th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actress in a Leading Role		Won	[55]
2016	3rd Platino Awards	Best Actress	The Memory of Water	Nominated	[56]
2025	26th Iris Awards	Best Actress	Past Lies	Nominated	[57]