Ulises Toirac is a popular Cuban actor, comedian, screenwriter, and director of theater and television. He is the creator of characters in Cuban humor such as Juan Marchante (Chivichana), Matute and Yudmila, among many others.
Ulises Toirac Abelenda was born on June 29, 1963. He graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from the José Antonio Echeverría Technological University of Havana (CUJAE) in 1986. However, his professional career has been in the cultural field.
Since high school, he began performing 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 produced the first staging of a theatrical piece, 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 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 Ensemble. This was a turning point in Toirac's life that led him to pursue acting, particularly in humor.
After finishing his university studies, he founded the group Onondivepa, along with a group of friends. They staged the play Farewell to the Comrade Benito and participated in summer shows alongside renowned 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 acquainted 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 comedy magazine Contalco.
His breakthrough in the television scene came with Doble Filo, a show in which he played the character Pupi, a young and talkative barber. In 1993, he became part of the cast of Sabadazo, the television show that definitely propelled him to fame.
In Sabadazo, a television program hosted by Carlos Otero, Ulises portrayed more than fifteen characters, including the notable Matute and Yudmila.
Despite being a time of success, Ulises has stated in several interviews that it was a contradictory phase, as it also marked the beginning of an era of the trivialization of jokes and the simplification of humor in Cuba.
This gave him the necessary boost to venture into one-man shows. In these, he stood out for his ability to connect different themes, attitudes, and talents. The first solo performance was Con Las Tiras del Pellejo (1995). It was followed by El Flaco (1996).
In 1999, he made his return to television with his own show, where he invited young comedians from all over the country to participate: ¿Y tú de qué te ríes?
In 2002, he began his most ambitious project, Do You Swear to Tell the Truth?. It was a television show that paid tribute to La Tremenda Corte, an internationally renowned Cuban comedy program written by Castor Vispo and starring Leopoldo Fernández and Aníbal de Mar.
In Do you swear to tell the truth? Toirac played Chivichana, a descendant of Trespatines. The show had 5 seasons and aired 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 affirm his popularity in Cuba, as well as distinctions such as the Order for National Culture (2004).
Movies in which he has participated as an actor:
- Alice in Wonderland (1992)
- Tropical Dream (1993)
- Adorable Lies (1993)
- Pata Negra (1999)
- A King in Havana (2004)
- Chivichana The Movie (2005)
