Paz Vega

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

María de la Paz Campos Trigo (born 2 January 1976), known professionally as Paz Vega (Spanish: [paθˈβeɣa]), is a Spanish actress and filmmaker. She became popular for her performance in comedy television series 7 vidas.^[1] Her film credits include Sex and Lucia (2001), Mine Alone (2001), The Other Side of the Bed (2002), Carmen (2003), Spanglish (2004), 10 Items or Less (2006), Theresa: The Body of Christ (2007), Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012), All Roads Lead to Rome (2015), Acts of Vengeance (2017), and Rambo: Last Blood (2019). She played the role of Catalina Creel in the 2019 television series Cradle of Wolves (Cuna de lobos).

Paz Vega
Vega at the 34th Goya Awards in 2020
Born	María de la Paz Campos Trigo (1976-01-02) 2 January 1976 (age 49) Seville, Spain
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1997–present
Spouse	Orson Salazar ​ (m. 2002)​
Children	3

Early life

Vega was born in Seville, Andalusia, in 1976 to a housewife mother and a father who was a former bullfighter.^[2] Vega's younger sister has performed as a flamenco dancer.^[3] Vega has described her family as "traditional" and Catholic.^[2] She took her stage surname of 'Vega' from her grandmother.^[4] Vega decided to become an actress after attending a performance of Federico García Lorca's play, Bernarda Alba's House (La casa de Bernarda Alba), when she was 16.^[5]

After completing compulsory education at 16, Vega was accepted at the Andalusian Theater Center (Centro Andaluz de Teatro) stage school.^[6] She studied there for two years and took another two years studying journalism.^[7] She next moved to Madrid to seek her future.^[8]

Screen career

Vega at the 10 Items or Less premiere in Madrid with co-star Morgan Freeman in 2007

Vega made her television debut in the Spanish TV series, My Father Is So Nice (Menudo es mi padre), which starred rumba singer El Fary. She appeared in two other series in 1997; More Than Friends (Más que amigos) and Companions (Compañeros).

In 1999, she made her film debut in Zapping. The same year, she also had a minor role in the David Menkes movie I Will Survive, alongside Emma Suárez, and Juan Diego Botto.

Vega found success in 1999's TV series 7 Lives (7 Vidas). The series was billed as a Spanish Friends and became one of the country's best-loved domestic sitcoms. Vega played Laura, a perky Andalusian girl who had come to stay with David, who had recently come out of a coma. The series was broadcast on Telecinco and finished on 12 April 2006, albeit without Vega.

In 2001, she starred in Julio Médem's film Sex and Lucia, which brought her to the attention of a larger audience. However, she received prominent exposure, particularly to American audiences, when she appeared in the 2004 James L. Brooks American film Spanglish opposite Adam Sandler. In 2006, she co-starred with American actor Morgan Freeman in the independent film 10 Items or Less, directed by Brad Silberling. In 2008, she co-starred with Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, and Scarlett Johansson in The Spirit. In 2011, Vega had a role in Michele Placido's film Vallanzasca – The Angels of Evil.

Vega also works as a model; she is signed to 1/One Management in New York City. In May 2011, Vega replaced Penélope Cruz as the face for L'Oreal Spain.^[9]

In 2018, she participated in the third season of the reality cooking show MasterChef Celebrity.^[10]

In 2019, Vega appeared in Televisa to portray the lead character Catalina Creel in the miniseries Cradle of Wolves (Cuna de Lobos), based on the 1986 original telenovela of the same title. The same year, she portrayed an independent Mexican reporter in Rambo: Last Blood, in which she co-starred with Sylvester Stallone.

In 2023, Vega announced in Cannes the beginning of filming of her directorial debut, Rita, a feature film set in 1980s Seville billed by Vega as a "costumbrista and nostalgic" story.^[11] The film premiered at 2024 Locarno Film Festival and earned her a nomination for the Goya Award for Best New Director.^[12][13]

Personal life

Vega and her Venezuelan husband, Orson Salazar, had their first child, a son, in May 2003.^[14] Their second child, a daughter, was born in July 2005.^[15] Their third child, another son, was born in August 2006.^[16] They married in 2002.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Film

Vega at the 33rd Goya Awards in 2019.

Year	Title	Roles	Notes	Ref.
1999	Zapping	Elvira	Feature film debut	[17]
	I Will Survive (Sobreviviré)			[4]
	Nobody Knows Anybody (Nadie conoce a nadie)	Ariadna		[18]
2001	Sex and Lucia (Lucía y el sexo)	Lucía		[19]
	Mine Alone (Sólo mía]])	Ángela		[20]
2002	Talk to Her (Hable con ella]])	Amparo		[21]
	The Other Side of the Bed (El otro lado de la cama)	Sonia		[22]
	Novo	Isabelle
2003	Carmen	Carmen		[23]
2004	Say Yes (Di que sí)	Estrella Cuevas		[24]
	Spanglish	Flor		[25]
2006	10 Items or Less	Scarlet		[26]
	The Borgia (Los Borgia)	Caterina Sforza		[27]
	Fade to Black	Lea Padovani
2007	The Lark Farm (La masseria delle allodole)	Nunik		[28]
	Theresa: The Body of Christ (Teresa, el cuerpo de Cristo)	Santa Teresa		[29]
2008	The Human Contract	Michael		[30]
	The Spirit	Plaster of Paris		[31]
2009	Not Forgotten	Amaya
	The Six Wives of Henry Lefay	Verónica
	Triage	Elena Morales
2010	Burning Palms	Blanca Juárez
	Angel of Evil	Antonella D'Agostino
2011	Cat Run	Catalina Rona
2012	Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted	Esmeralda, Esperanza and Ernestina	Voice role
2013	I'm So Excited! (Los amantes pasajeros)	Alba		[32]
	Demon Inside	Marta
2014	Grace of Monaco	Maria Callas		[33]
	Paulo Coelho's Best Story	Luiza
	Kill the Messenger	Coral Baca
	The Ignorance of Blood (La ignorancia de la sangre)	Consuelo		[34]
2015	All Roads Lead to Rome	Giulia Carni
2016	Tales of an Immoral Couple (La vida inmoral de la pareja ideal)	Loles		[35]
2017	Acts of Vengeance	Alma
2018	About The Train Driver Who Was looking For Love... [de] (Vom Lokführer, der die Liebe suchte…/The Bra)	Daria
2019	Oh, my mother! (¡Ay, mi madre!	Pili
	Rambo: Last Blood	Carmen Delgado
2020	Chasing Wonders	Adrianna
2021	American Night	Sarah
2021	The House of Snails (La casa del caracol)	Berta		[36]
2021	Wetland (El lodo)	Claudia		[37]
2021	13 Minutes	Ana		[38]
2022	There Are No Saints	Nadia
2022	Full Train 2 (A todo tren 2)	Clara		[39]
2024	Rita	Mari	Also director, writer, and executive producer	[40]
	I Can't Live Without You (No puedo vivir sin ti)	Adela		[41][42]

Television

Year	Title	Roles	Notes
1997	My Father Is So Nice (Menudo es mi padre	Olga	6 episodes
1997–1998	more Than Friends (Más que amigos	Olga	28 episodes
1998	Companions (Compañeros)	Luz	17 episodes
1999	Shelly Fisher	Seidy Bender	Television film
1999–2006	7 Lives (7 vidas)	Laura Arteagabeitia	60 episodes
2008	Lex	Rocío Janer	4 episodes
2012	Mary of Nazareth	Mary Magdalene	Television film
	One Thousand and One Nights: Aladdin and Sherazade (Le mille e una notte: Aladino e Sherazade)	Namuna	Miniseries, three parts
2015	Beautiful & Twisted	Narcy	Television film
	Big Time in Hollywood, FL	Isabella Delgado	4 episodes
2016–2017	The Brotherhood (La Hermandad)	Luisa Salinas	Main role (seasons 1–2); 25 episodes
2016–2019	The OA	Renata	Main role (seasons 1–2); 7 episodes
2017	Forgive me, sir (Perdóname, señor)	Lucía Medina	8 episodes
2018	Fugitive (Fugitiva)	Magda	9 episodes
	Paquita Salas	Herself	Episode: "Starting Point" ("Punto de partida")
	MasterChef Celebrity		Runner-Up (season 3); 11 episodes
	The Continental (El Continental)	Belice	5 episodes
2019	Cradle Of Wolves (Cuna de lobos)	Catalina Creel de Larios	Lead role
2020	The House of Flowers (La Casa de las Flores)	Carmelita's mother	Episode: "LAUREL, (Symb. glory)"
2020–2021	Mask Singer: Guess Who Sings (Mask Singer: Adivina quién canta)	Catrina	Winner (season 1); 8 episodes
		Herself	Investigator (season 2); 9 episodes
2023	Kaleidoscope	Ava Mercer	Main role

Accolades

Vega and Nicole Kidman at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2001	48th Ondas Awards	Best Actress	Sex and Lucia	Won	[43]
2002	57th CEC Medals	Best Actress	Mine Alone	Nominated	[44][45]
	46th Sant Jordi Awards	Best Spanish Actress	Sex and Lucia & Mine Alone	Won	[46]
	52nd Fotogramas de Plata	Best Film Actress	Sex and Lucia	Nominated	[47][48]
	16th Goya Awards	Best New Actress	Sex and Lucia	Won	[49]
		Best Actress	Mine Alone	Nominated
	11th Actors Union Awards	Best Film Performance in a Leading Role		Nominated	[50][51]
		Best New Performance		Nominated
2003	53rd Fotogramas de Plata	Best Actress	The Other Side of the Bed	Nominated	[52][53]
2004	17th European Film Awards	Jameson People's Choice Award for Best Actress	Carmen	Nominated	[54][55]
2005	Imagen Awards	Best Actress	Spanglish	Nominated	[56][57]
2020	29th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Actress in an International Production	The OA	Nominated	[58]
2021	4th Berlanga Awards	Best Actress	Wetland	Nominated	[59][60]
2022	1st Carmen Awards	Best Actress	The House of Snails	Nominated	[61]
2024	32nd Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Actress in an International Production	Kaleidoscope	Nominated	[62][63]
2025	4th Carmen Awards	Best New Director	Rita	Won	[64][65]
		Best Original Screenplay		Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
	39th Goya Awards	Best New Director		Pending	[66]