Ariadna Gil

Ariadna Gil was born on 23 January 1969, in Barcelona, Spain. Her father, August Gil, is a reputed lawyer and jurist in Spain. Ariadna married the director, writer and actor David Trueba in 1993. The couple also had two children: Violeta Rodriguez and Leo Trueba. However, the two decided to divorce each other in 2008.

Ariadna started dating actor, Viggo Mortensen, in 2009 and they continue to remain a love-struck couple even today. Gil and Mortensen are often spotted holding hands and walking in New York. The couple, however, lives together in Madrid. Ariadna is a huge football fan and support her home team F. C. Barcelona in major league matches.

Ariadna was interested in the arts even as a young child. She grew up learning to sing, dance, and play the violin. She even sang for her brothers’ band ‘Matamala’ at several occasions. Her career began when she appeared as the cover of a local indie Catalonian magazine. A noticeable personality owing to her rustic beauty, she started working with local theatre companies. From there, she graduated to working for television and was seen on local TV channels. She also enjoyed teaching Catalan and often held language classes on Canal 33. It was during one of these classes that she was noted by Bigas Luna, an established film director in Spain. He decided to cast her in her first film ‘Lola’ in 1986.

Ariadna Gil became well-known after the movie’s release and had several other offers lining up her way. From 1986 to 1992, she was seen in many films, including ‘El complot del Anells’ (1998), ‘Capitán Escalaborns’ (1990), ‘Amo tu cama rica’ (1991), and ‘El columpio’ (1992). For her role in ‘Amo Tu Cama Rica’, Gil was awarded the Ondas Award in 1992.

1992 marked a turning point year in Gil’s career. She starred as Violeta in Fernando Trueba’s ‘Belle Epoque’. The movie became a huge hit with acclaim pouring in from all corners. Gil too was applauded for her performance. She won the Goya Award for Best Lead Actress for this role. She began taking up more projects and was seen in more diverse movies from 1994 onwards, including ‘Mecánicas celestes’, ‘Los peores años de nuestra vida’, and ‘Antártida’.

In 1996, she starred in Gerardo Diego’s ‘Malena es un nombre de Tango’ and ‘Libertarias’, both of which were box-office successes. She also won the Best Actress Award at the Verona Love Screens Film Festival in 1997. Gil forayed into English-language movies with Nick Hamm’s ‘Talk of Angels’. She was later seen in ‘Don Juan’ (1999) and ‘Camera Obscura’ (2000). She went on to act in several Spanish and Argentinian movies in the early 2000s. The most popular of her films from this era were ‘Nueces para el amor’ (2000) and ‘Soldados de Salamina’, both of which earned her Best Actress awards at different film festivals.

Over the course of the next few years, Ariadna Gil made interesting film choices and portrayed roles that challenged her skills. She starred in the superhit film ‘El laberinto del fauno’/’Pan’s Labyrinth’ in 2006. The movie went on to win several Academy Awards and was touted to be the best Spanish movie of the year. Her prowess as an actress after ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ was acknowledged by the film industry. Her next major role was in Agustín Díaz Yanes’s 2008 film ‘Solo quiero caminar,’ which earned her two film award nominations. Though Gil starred in over six movies in the early 2010s, she took a break of three years after her 2014 release ‘L'altra frontera’. Gil returned to the large screen in 2017 when she starred in the thriller ‘Zona hostil’. More recently, she was seen as a recurring character in the series ‘Aquí en la Tierra’. Her current projects include the TV series ‘Gods of Medicine’, which is slated to be released toward the end of 2018 and the romance film ‘Apropierea.’

Gil’s daughter Violeta Rodríguez is named after the character Gil portrayed in ‘Belle Epoque’ (1992).