Raúl Arévalo

Raúl Arévalo Zorzo (born 22 November 1979) is a Spanish actor and director. He has featured in films such as Dark Blue Almost Black (2006), Seven Billiard Tables (2007), The Blind Sunflowers (2008), Fat People (2009), Cousinhood (2011), I'm So Excited (2013), Marshland (2014), and The Europeans (2020) and television series such as La embajada (2016) and Riot Police (2020).

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

Raúl Arévalo
Arévalo at the 32nd Goya Awards in 2018
Born	Raúl Arévalo Zorzo (1979-11-22) 22 November 1979 (age 45) Móstoles, Spain
Occupations	Actor director
Years active	2001–present

He made his full-length directorial debut with The Fury of a Patient Man (2016).

Arévalo is the recipient of multiple accolades, including three Goya Awards, three Actors and Actresses Union Awards, and two Feroz Awards.

Career

Raúl Arévalo Zorzo was born on 22 November 1979 in Móstoles,^[1] province of Madrid. For his television debut, Arévalo joined the television series Compañeros while he was still a student under Cristina Rota.^[2] He was part of the cast of the series for two seasons (2001–2002).^[2]

In 2003, he made his feature film debut in With George Bush on My Mind,^[3] The following year, he appeared in Things That Make Living Worthwhile by Manuel Gómez Pereira.^[4]

Between 2003 and 2005, he made appearances in the TV series Hospital Central, Cuéntame cómo pasó, Aída and Motivos personales.

In 2006, he made his breakthrough performance as Israel, the lead character's best friend, in Dark Blue Almost Black, directed by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo. His work in this film earned him several awards. Later that year, he appeared on Antonio Banderas' second directorial effort Summer Rain, and in 2007 in the musical/comedy Scandalous and Seven Billiard Tables, with Maribel Verdú. He also worked with Verdú in The Blind Sunflowers in 2008, and in 2009, he appeared in Sánchez Arévalo's Fat People. For his performance in this film, he won a Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In 2016, he made his directorial debut with The Fury of a Patient Man, for which he won a Goya Award for Best New Director and a Goya Award for Best Original Screenplay.

He has also appeared in several short films, including Traumalogy (Traumalogía, 2007), as well as many stage productions.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2003	Los abajo firmantes (With George Bush on My Mind)	Hotel waiter	Feature film debut
2004	Cosas que hacen que la vida valga la pena (Things That Make Living Worthwhile)	Vendedor ('salesman')		[5]
2006	Azuloscurocasinegro (Dark Blue Almost Black)	Israel (aka "Sean")		[6]
	El camino de los ingleses (Summer Rain)	Babirusa		[7]
	Scandalous	Utrera
2007	Tocar el cielo (Touch the Sky)	Fidel		[8]
	Siete mesas de billar francés (Seven Billiard Tables)	Fele		[9]
2008	8 citas (8 Dates)	Jesús
	Che	Captured soldier #1
	Los girasoles ciegos (The Blind Sunflowers)	Salvador		[10]
	El patio de mi cárcel (My Prison Yard)	Poet
2009	Gordos (Fat People)	Álex		[11]
2010	Balada triste de trompeta (The Last Circus)	Carlos
	También la lluvia (Even the Rain)	Juan / Montesinos		[12]
2011	Primos (Cousinhood)	Julián		[13]
2012	Promoción fantasma (Ghost Graduation)	Modesto		[14]
2013	Los amantes pasajeros (I'm So Excited!)	Ulloa		[15]
	La gran familia española (Family United)	Waiter
2014	La vida inesperada (The Unexpected Life)	El Primo ('the cousin')		[16]
	La isla mínima (Marshland)	Pedro Suárez		[17]
	Negociador (Negotiator)	Rafa		[18]
	Murieron por encima de sus posibilidades (Dying Beyond Their Means)	Miguel		[19]
	El club de los incomprendidos (The Misfits Club)	Martín		[20]
2015	Las ovejas no pierden el tren (Sidetracked)	Alberto		[21]
	Hablar	El Cordero
2016	Cien años de perdón (To Steal from a Thief)	Ferrán		[22]
	Tarde para la ira (The Fury of a Patient Man)	—	Director and co-writer	[23]
2017	Oro (Gold)	Martín Dávila		[24]
2018	El aviso (The Warning)	Jon		[25]
	Memorias de un hombre en pijama (Memoirs of a Man in Pajamas)	Paco	Voice	[26]
	Mi obra maestra (My Masterpiece)	Alex		[27]
	Ola de crímenes (Crime Wave)	Taxista ('Taxi driver')		[28]
2019	Dolor y gloria (Pain and Glory)	Venancio		[29]
	El plan (The Plan)	Andrade		[30]
2020	Black Beach	Carlos		[31]
	Los europeos (The Europeans)	Miguel Alonso		[32]
2021	Donde caben dos (More the Merrier)	Jaime		[33]
	El lodo (Wetland)	Ricardo		[34]
2022	Voy a pasármelo bien	David		[35]
2024	The Room Next Door	Spanish Priest (Bernardo)		[36]
2025	El cielo de los animales (The Heaven of Animals)	Diego		[37]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001–02	Compañeros	Carlos Medina	Main role (seasons 8–9)
2003–04	Cuéntame cómo pasó	Basilio	3 episodes
2003	Hospital Central	Manolo Téllez	Episode: "Vertido"
2004	La sopa boba [es]	Jimmy	6 episodes
2005	Motivos personales	Marisa Pons' brother	Episode: "Las víctimas se multiplican"
2006	Génesis: en la mente del asesino	Guillermo García	Episode: "Suicidas"
2008	Soy el solitario	Carlos	Miniseries; 2 episodes
2010	Aída	Charly	Episode: "En un momento candado"
2012–14	Con el culo al aire	Jorge Ruiz	Main role
2013–14	The Time in Between	Ignacio	5 episodes
2015	Velvet	Víctor	8 episodes
2016	La embajada	Eduardo Marañón	Main role
2018	El Continental	Andrés	2 episodes
2020	Riot Police	Diego López Rodero	Main role
2021	Stories to Stay Awake	Javier	Episode: "La broma"
2022	Santo	Miguel Millán[38]

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2007	16th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best New Actor	Dark Blue Almost Black	Won	[39]
2008	22nd Goya Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Seven Billiard Tables	Nominated	[40]
	17th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actor in a Secondary Role		Won	[41]
2009	23rd Goya Awards	Best Actor	The Blind Sunflowers	Nominated	[42]
	18th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actor in a Leading Role		Nominated	[43][44]
2010	24th Goya Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Fat People	Won	[45]
	19th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actor in a Secondary Role		Nominated	[46][47]
2012	26th Goya Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Cousinhood	Nominated	[48]
	21st Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actor in a Secondary Role		Won	[49]
2014	1st Feroz Awards	Best Supporting Actor in a Film	I'm So Excited	Nominated	[50]
2015	20th Forqué Awards	Best Actor	Marshland	Nominated	[51]
	2nd Feroz Awards	Best Main Actor in a Film		Nominated	[52]
	29th Goya Awards	Best Actor		Nominated	[53]
	24th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actor in a Leading Role		Nominated	[54][55]
2017	4th Feroz Awards	Best Director	The Fury of a Patient Man	Won	[56]
		Best Screenplay		Won
	31st Goya Awards	Best New Director		Won	[57]
		Best Original Screenplay		Won
	26th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Television Actor in a Secondary Role	La embajada	Nominated	[58][59]
2021	26th Forqué Awards	Best Actor in a Series	Riot Police	Nominated	[60][61]
	8th Feroz Awards	Best Main Actor in a Film	The Europeans	Nominated	[62]
		Best Main Actor in a Series	Riot Police	Nominated
2022	30th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Television Actor in a Leading Role		Nominated	[63]