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. His first appearance in film was a grand entrance. His first role in a feature film was as Diego in Fresa y Chocolate, which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1995 and won the Goya for Best Spanish Language Foreign Film.
He was a founding member of the theater group El Público, directed by Carlos Díaz, and of the Olga Alonso Theater Group (1985-1987).
With such a prolific career, it is not surprising that he has received numerous awards for his acting. His most recognized role has been Diego in Fresa y Chocolate, through which he gained 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), Award for Best Male Performance 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 Prize Berlinale, Silver Bear (1994, 44th Berlin International Film Festival), Award for Best Performance (1995, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, California), Award for Best Performance (1995, New York Press Association of Entertainment Critics)
His lead role in Amor Vertical was also awarded Best Male Actor (1997, 10th Edition of the Viña del Mar Film Festival, Chile), and for his performance in Lista de Espera, he received the Acting Award (2001, Cartagena de Indias Film Festival, Colombia).
In 2001, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his film career during the first Ibero-American Film Week "La Chimenea Verde" (Spain).
His lesser-known passion for painting has led him to hold exhibitions both nationally and internationally (in Spain, New York, and Italy).
He has produced and directed music videos (When I Left Havana), documentaries (Iré Havana, 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), Little Piece (1995), A Private Affair (1995), Tell Laura I Love Her (1995), Guantanamera (1995), Bámbola (1996), Vertical Love (1996), Oedipus 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), Stumbling Block (2000), Land of Fire (2000), Waiting List (2000), Honey for Oshún (2001), Vajont - The Dam of Dishonor (2001), Nowhere (2001), Resentment (2002), Fragrant 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, he 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 star in Dr. Portuondo, a Spanish series that began filming that week in Barcelona, where he will portray a unique Cuban psychoanalyst who shouts at his patients, swears by Freud, and drinks Johnnie Walker whisky. The series, the first television production of the Spanish platform Filmin, is an adaptation of 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.
