Juan Diego Botto

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

Juan Diego Botto Rota (born 29 August 1975) is an Argentine-Spanish film, stage and television actor.

Juan Diego Botto
Botto at the 32nd Goya Awards in 2018
Born	Juan Diego Botto Rota (1975-08-29) 29 August 1975 (age 49) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Occupations	Actor director
Years active	1983–present
Spouse	Olga Rodríguez ​ (m. 2017)​
Children	1
Mother	Cristina Rota
Relatives	María Botto (sister)

Born in Argentina, he moved to Spain together with his mother (the actress and acting coach Cristina Rota) in 1978. Following early film appearances as a child actor, he landed a breakthrough role in the 1995 film Stories from the Kronen. He has since starred in films such as Martín (Hache) (1997), Plenilune (2000), Broken Silence (2001), Obaba (2005), Go Away from Me (2006) and Ismael (2013). He has also worked as a stage director and playwright and debuted as a film director with the 2022 social drama-thriller On the Fringe.

Early life

Botto was born on 29 August 1975 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, son of Diego Fernando Botto Alduncín [es] and Cristina Rota.^[1] His parents were both actors. His father (a member of the Peronist Youth and Montoneros)^[1] was kidnapped and murdered in 1977 during the Argentine Dirty War.^[1] In 1978, together with his mother and older sister María, he moved to Madrid, Spain, where his little sister, Nur Al Levi [es], was born.^[2][3][4][5] His sisters are both actresses. His mother taught acting classes out of their apartment, before creating her own academy.

Botto attended high school in New York and lived there for two years.^[6]

Career

Botto studied acting at the school founded by his mother in Madrid, which later became the Center for New Creators, based in the Sala Mirador. Later he moved to New York to continue his studies under the direction of Uta Hagen.^[7]

Botto's first film appearance was at the age of eight in the film Game of Power, by Fausto Canel (1983).^[8]

During the 1980s, Botto played small roles in films and appeared in the 1990 American television series Zorro. In 1992, he landed a role as the son of Christopher Columbus in the film 1492: Conquest of Paradise, by Ridley Scott. Three years later he starred in the film Stories from the Kronen, an adaptation by Montxo Armendáriz of the novel of the same name, in which he achieved great success and popularity.^[9]

Botto's role in the 1999 film Sobreviviré (I Will Survive), about a woman who falls in love with a man who, unknown to her, is homosexual, got him more national and international recognition.^[10]

Botto's career has included films such as Martín (Hache), by the director Adolfo Aristarain; Broken Silence, by Montxo Armendáriz, Plenilunio, by Imanol Uribe, Asfalto, by Daniel Calparsoro; Go Away from Me, by Víctor García León; Todo lo que tú quieras, by Achero Mañas; as well as several works abroad, such as The Dancer Upstairs, directed by John Malkovich and starring Javier Bardem; Bordertown, by Gregory Nava, starring Jennifer Lopez; The Anarchist's Wife, by Marie Noëlle and Peter Sehr; and El Greco, by Yannis Smaragdis, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Cairo Film Festival in 2008.^{[8][11][12][13]}

In his professional career he has always combined cinema and theater. He is the coordinator of the Sala Mirador theater.^[14]

Juan Diego Botto in 2006

In 2005, he directed the play El privilegio de ser perro (The Privilege of Being a Dog), written by himself, about the tough life immigrants are subjected to while trying to sneak into and live in a new country. In December 2008, and after a tour throughout Spain, Hamlet premiered at the Theatre of María Guerrero in Madrid, which he directed and starred in, along with José Coronado, Marta Etura and Nieve de Medina, among others. He is also the author of the plays Despertares y celebraciones, directed by his mother Cristina Rota, and The Last Night of the Plague, directed by Víctor García León.^[15][16][17]

In 2012, he wrote the play Un trozo invisible de este mundo. The text, which deals with immigration and exile, mixes drama and humor with commitment. In it he acted, directed by Sergio Peris-Mencheta. In 2014, Botto won the Max Theater Awards for Best Actor and Best New Author for this work, which also won the Max Award for Best Play of the year.^[18][19]

He has received numerous cinematographic distinctions. He has been nominated for the Goya Awards four times for his appearances in the films Historias del Kronen, Plenilunio (2000), Vete de mí (2006) and Ismael (2013). His career in the theater has also made him the winner of a Fotograma de Plata Award for best theater actor in 2008 for his participation in Hamlet, as well as two Max Awards and a Cosmopolitan Award.^[20][18]

In the 2010s, he participated in the films Silencio en la Nieve (2012), by Gerardo Herrero, Ismael (2013), by Marcelo Piñeyro, Hablar (2015), by Joaquín Oristrell, and La ignorancia de la sangre (2014), by Manuel Gómez Pereira.^{[21][22][23][24]}

From 2016 to 2017, Botto starred in the TNT drama series Good Behavior, playing Javier, a charming hitman with a moral code who crosses paths with Letty (Michelle Dockery), a professional thief. Underneath their cold and calculating work, they both hide a harsh and dark family reality.^{[25][26][6][27][28]}

In January 2017, he worked on the suspense series Pulsaciones, on Antena 3, where he played Rodrigo Ugarte.^[29]

He played General Presidente Silvio Luna in the 2021 DC Extended Universe film The Suicide Squad, directed by James Gunn.^[30]

His debut as a feature film director is the film On the Fringe,^[31][32] selected for screening at the 79th Venice International Film Festival's Horizons section.^[33]

Personal life

Botto currently lives in Madrid with his wife, Spanish journalist and writer Olga Rodríguez.^[34] They have a daughter, Salma.^[35] He is also active in politics, protesting the 2003 war in Iraq^[36] and taking part in a support group for fellow children of the disappeared.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Film

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1984	Los motivos de Berta (Berta's Motives)	Luisito		[37]
1986	Teo el pelirrojo	Santiago		[38]
1989	Si te dicen que caí (If They Tell You I Fell)			[39]
1990	Ovejas negras [es]	Adolfo	Older version of Adolfo portrayed by Miguel Rellán	[40]
1991	Cómo ser mujer y no morir en el intento [es]			[41]
1992	1492: Conquest of Paradise			[39]
1995	Historias del Kronen (Stories from the Kronen)	Carlos		[42]
1996	La sal de la vida	Charly		[43]
	Éxtasis	Aspirante		[44]
	La Celestina	Calisto		[45]
	Más que amor, frenesí (Not Love, Just Frenzy)	Carlos		[46]
1997	En brazos de la mujer madura (In Praise of Older Women)	Andrés		[47]
	Martín (Hache)	Hache		[48]
1998	Bin ich schön? (Am I Beautiful)			[49]
1999	Novios (Couples)	Arturito		[50]
	Sobreviviré (I Will Survive)	Iñaki		[51]
	Ave María [fr]	Miguel		[52]
2000	Plenilunio (Plenilune)	El asesino		[53]
	Asfalto	Charly		[54]
2001	Silencio roto (Broken Silence)	Manuel		[55]
2002	Trece campanadas [ca]	Jacobo		[56]
	The Dancer Upstairs	Sucre		[57]
	El caballero Don Quijote (Don Quixote, Knight Errant)	Tosilos		[58]
2003	Los abajo firmantes (With George Bush on My Mind)	Jorge	Also co-writer	[59]
2004	Roma	Manuel Cueto / Joaquín "Joaco" Góñez	Older version of Góñez portrayed by José Sacristán	[60][61][62]
2005	Obaba	Miguel		[63]
	La fiesta del chivo (The Feast of the Goat)	Amadito García Guerrero		[64]
2006	Vete de mí (Go Away from Me)	Guillermo		[65]
	Va a ser que nadie es perfecto (Nobody Is Perfect)		Bit part	[66]
2007	El Greco	Fernando Niño de Guevara		[67]
	Bordertown	Marco A. Salamanca		[68]
2008	La mujer del anarquista (The Anarchist's Wife)	Justo Álvarez Calderón		[69]
—	King Conqueror	—	Unfinished film	[70][71]
2009	Las viudas de los jueves (The Widows of Thursdays)	Gustavo		[72]
2010	Todo lo que tú quieras (Anything You Want)	Leo		[73]
2012	Silencio en la nieve (Frozen Silence)	Arturo Andrade		[74][75]
	O Theós agapáei to chaviári (God Loves Caviar)	Count Lefentarios		[76]
	Dictado (Childish Games)	Daniel		[77]
2013	Ismael	Luis		[78]
2014	La ignorancia de la sangre (The Ignorance of Blood)	Javier Falcón		[79]
2017	Los comensales			[80]
2020	Rocambola	Saeta		[81]
	Los europeos (The Europeans)	Antonio		[82]
2021	The Suicide Squad	Silvio Luna		[83]
2022	En los márgenes (On the Fringe)	Manuel	Also director and co-writer	[84]
	No mires a los ojos (Staring at Strangers)	Sergio O'Kane		[85]
2024	The Room Next Door	Photographer		[86]
2025	Los aitas (Breaking Walls)	Juanma		[87]
TBA	Day Drinker †		Filming	[88]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1990	Zorro	Felipe (Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro's mute servant)
1996	Lucrecia	César	TV movie
2003	Augustus	Iullus Antonius	TV film
2016-2017	Good Behavior	Javier Pereira	Series lead
2017	Pulsaciones	Rodrigo Ugarte	10 episodes
2019	Instincto	Pol	5 episodes	[89]
2020	White Lines	Oriol Calafat	10 episodes	[90]
2020	Tales of the Lockdown		Director and writer	[91]
2022-2024	Todos mienten	Sergio	12 episodes	[92]
2022	No me gusta conducir	Pablo Lopetegui	TV miniseries, 6 episodes	[93]

Music videos

• Somos Anormales (2017, music video)^[94]

Director

• "Doble moral" (segment of the collective film ¡Hay motivo! [es]; 2004)^[95]
• "Gourmet" (episode of the streaming series Relatos con-fin-a-dos [es]; 2020)^[96]
• En los márgenes (2022)^[97][98]

Theater

• El privilegio de ser perro (2008)
• El ultimo dia de la peste (2010)
• Invisibles (2014)
• Una noche Sin Luna (2021)

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
1996	10th Goya Awards	Best New Actor	Stories from the Kronen	Nominated	[99]
2001	15th Goya Awards	Best Actor	Plenilunio	Nominated	[100]
2007	21st Goya Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Go Away from Me	Nominated	[101]
	16th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actor in a Secondary Role		Nominated	[102][103]
2010	19th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Stage Actor in a Leading Role	Hamlet	Nominated	[104][105]
2013	22nd Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Stage Actor in a Leading Role	Un trozo invisible de este mundo	Nominated	[106][107]
2014	28th Goya Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Ismael	Nominated	[108]
	17th Max Awards	Best New Playwright	Un trozo invisible del mundo	Won	[109]
		Best Actor		Won
2021	26th Forqué Awards	Best Film Actor	The Europeans	Nominated	[110][111]
	8th Feroz Awards	Best Supporting Actor (film)		Won	[112]
	35th Goya Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated	[113]
	National Theater Prize		—	Won	[39]
2022	30th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Stage Actor in a Leading Role	Una noche sin luna	Won	[114]
	25th Max Awards	Best Actor		Won	[115][116]
2023	10th Feroz Awards	Best Actor in a TV Series	I Don't Like Driving	Won	[117]
	37th Goya Awards	Best New Director	On the Fringe	Nominated	[118]
2025	33rd Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actor in a Minor Role	The Room Next Door	Nominated	[119]