Jorge Perugorría Rodríguez is a renowned and popular Cuban actor born in Havana, Cuba, on August 13, 1965. He is also a painter, sculptor, and director.
He began his career as a theater actor at the age of 17. He made a splash in his first appearance on film. His first character in a feature film was Diego in Fresa y Chocolate, which was nominated for the Oscar in 1995 for Best Foreign Language Film and won the Goya Award for Best Spanish Language Foreign Film.
He was the founder of the El Público theater group, directed by Carlos Díaz, and the Olga Alonso theater group (1985-1987).
With such a prolific career, it's no surprise that he has received numerous awards for his acting. His most recognized role has been Diego in Fresa y Chocolate, which brought him worldwide fame and for which he has been awarded the following prizes:
Coral Award for Best Male Performance (1993, XV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba), Kikito Award for Best Male Performance (1994, XXVII Gramado Film Festival, Brazil), Male Acting Award in Film (1994, Contest of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba), Panambi Award for Best Acting Work (1994, V Asunción Film Festival, Paraguay), Special Jury Award Berlinale, Silver Bear (1994, 44th Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), Award for Best Performance (1995, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, California), Award for Best Performance (1995, New York Film Critics Circle)
He was also awarded Best Male Actor for his lead role in Amor Vertical (1997, 10th Edition of the Viña del Mar Film Festival, Chile) and received an Acting Award for his performance in Lista de Espera (2001, Cartagena de Indias Film Festival, Colombia).
In 2001, he was awarded the Honor Prize for his film career during the first Ibero-American Film Week "La Chimenea Verde" (Spain).
His less known passion for painting has led him to hold exhibits both nationally and internationally (Spain, New York, and Italy).
He has produced and directed music videos (When I Left Havana), documentaries (Iré Habana, Santiago and the Virgin), and feature films (Affinities, For Sale, and Chronic Love).
Filmography:
Sketch (1991, medium-length film), Strawberry and Chocolate (1993), Right of Asylum (1994), Cachito (1995), A Private Matter (1995), Tell Laura I Love Her (1995), Guantanamera (1995), Bámula (1996), Vertical Love (1996), Edip Mayor (1996), Life According to Muriel (1997), Things I Left in Havana (1997), Clandestine Stories in Havana (1997), Volavérunt (1998), When You Return to My Side (1999), Estorbo (2000), Land of Fire (2000), Waiting List (2000), Honey for Oshún (2001), Vajont - The Dam of Dishonor (2001), Nowhere (2001), Resentment (2002), Scented Oak (2003), Tangier (2004), A Rose from France (2005), Fruits in the Café (2005), Clara is Not a Woman's Name (2010), Return to Ithaca (2014), among others.
In 2019, she participated in the film Havana Kyrie by Paolo Consorti, alongside Jacqueline Arenal, Yerlín Pérez, Cheryl Saldívar, Susana Ruiz, Bárbaro Marín, and Andros.
In March 2021, it was announced that the actor would be the star of Dr. Portuondo, a Spanish series that began filming that week in Barcelona, in which he will portray a unique Cuban psychoanalyst who yells at his patients, swears in the name of Freud, and drinks Johnnie Walker whisky. The series, the first television production from the Spanish platform Filmin, adapts the novel Dr. Portuondo (2017) by the Catalan Carlo Pardial.
Perugorría lives in Cuba with his wife, Elsa, and their four children Anthuan, Andros, Adán, and Amén.
