Ulises Toirac is a popular Cuban actor, comedian, screenwriter, and director of theater and television. He is the creator of characters embodying Creole humor such as Juan Marchante (Chivichana), Matute and Yudmila, among many others.
Ulises Toirac Abelenda was born on June 29, 1963. He graduated in Electrical Engineering from the "José Antonio Echeverría" Technological University of Havana (CUJAE) in 1986. However, his professional career has been in the cultural sector.
Since high school, he began to act as an amateur artist. In 1981, he formed a theater group for which he wrote the humorous play Colón en el Onceno Festival. With this group, he also staged the first production of the theatrical work Un Brindis por el Zonzo, a theatrical adaptation of a story by Onelio Jorge Cardoso.
At CUJAE, Ulises joined the amateur theater. He first became a part of an experimental group directed by Augusto Cañozares, with which he participated in the play Ópera X. He then joined the Carlos Pous theater group.
After these experiences, Ulises, along with several friends, founded the First National University Humor Festival. He took this opportunity to invite Alejandro García Villalón (Virulo) to close the event with the National Show Group. This was a turning point in Toirac's life that led him to pursue acting, particularly in the realm of humor.
After completing his university degree, he founded the group Onondivepa with a group of friends. They staged the play Farewell of Mourning to Comrade Benito and participated in summer shows alongside established artistic groups and Cuban comedians, such as La Seña del Humor and the National Ensemble of Shows itself.
In 1988, Ulises joined the cast of the Programa de Ramón on Radio Ciudad de La Habana, where he acted and wrote scripts, becoming familiar with radio production. A year later, he began working on the youth magazine broadcast by Radio Progreso, called Juventud 2000. At this station, he also wrote, directed, and starred in the humorous magazine Contalco.
His breakout in the television space was in Doble Filo, a program where he played the character Pupi, a young and talkative barber. In 1993, he became part of the cast of Sabadazo, the television show that ultimately brought him fame.
In Sabadazo, the television program hosted by Carlos Otero, Ulises portrayed more than fifteen characters, among which Matute and Yudmila stood out.
Despite being a time of success, Ulises has stated in various interviews that it was a contradictory period, as it also marked the beginning of an era of the trivialization of humor and the simplification of the way humor was crafted in Cuba.
This gave him the necessary boost to delve into one-man shows. He excelled in connecting different themes, attitudes, and talents. The first one-man show was Con Las Tiras del Pellejo (1995). This was followed by El Flaco (1996).
In 1999, he made his return to television with his own show in which he invited young comedians from across the country to participate: ¿Y tú de qué te ríes?
In 2002, he then began his most ambitious project, Will You Swear to Tell the Truth?. It was a television show that paid tribute to La Tremenda Corte, an internationally renowned Cuban humor program written by Castor Vispo and starring Leopoldo Fernández and Aníbal de Mar.
In Do you swear to tell the truth?, Toirac portrayed Chivichana, a descendant of Trespatines. The show had 5 seasons and remained on the air until 2009. Some scripts were adapted for the theater, achieving great success.
Ulises Toirac has performed on international stages. In 2011, he went on a tour of the United States. In Florida, he presented his solo show Cuentos, Canciones y otras IDEAteces at the Miami Dade County Auditorium.
Ulises Toirac is a member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. Throughout his artistic career, he has received significant awards that reaffirm his popularity in Cuba and distinctions such as the Order for National Culture (2004).
Movies in which he has participated as an actor:
- Alicia in Wonderland (1992)
- Tropical Dream (1993)
- Adorable Lies (1993)
- Pata Negra (1999)
- A King in Havana (2004)
- Chivichana The Movie (2005)
