Ana Torrent Bertrán de Lis (born 12 July 1966) is a Spanish film actress.[1] She featured as a child actress in pictures such as The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), and Cría cuervos (1976), Elisa, vida mía (1977) and The Nest (1980).[1] Her performance in Thesis (1996) earned her a nomination to the Goya Award for Best Actress.[1]

Ana Torrent
Torrent in 2024
Born
Ana Torrent Bertrán de Lis

(1966-07-12) 12 July 1966 (age 58)
Madrid, Spain
OccupationActress
Years active1973–present

Early life and career

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Ana Torrent was born on 12 July 1966 in Madrid to an upper-class family.[1] Her debut came in 1973 with the starring role as "Ana" in the film El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive), directed by Víctor Erice, when she was seven years old.[2] In reference to her recruitment for this first film, Torrent stated:

"I remember meeting Victor for the first time. He was standing around during recess at my school, taking pictures of me and other girls. He was traveling around many schools to find a young girl to cast. I remember telling my parents that some man is taking pictures of me at school. Then they called on me one day while I was in class and mentioned the movie. I also remember some things from the shoot: the atmosphere, the sounds, the lights. It wasn’t a difficult process because it wasn’t acting. I never considered myself an actress. I was just playing myself, a child, and they gave me instructions. I remember my character in the film was even supposed to have a different name, but at that age, I didn’t understand why they weren’t calling me my name, so Victor changed it to Anna. I wasn’t conscious of acting at all, and I didn’t understand what I was doing. It was just like a big mysterious game."[3]

After The Spirit of the Beehive, she played a character with the same name in Cría Cuervos (Raise Ravens) (1976) by director Carlos Saura. Despite her success in film as a young child, she later recounted how it was not until her teens that she began to consider herself to really be an actress:

"It was much later. My role in The Spirit of the Beehive was a coincidence. I would have never chosen to be an actress myself. And my family had nothing to do with the film world. I was a shy and reserved person. I wasn’t like the other kids that wanted to perform in the theatre. I began to understand what acting was, and I began to enjoy it when I was 17 or 18. Again it was thanks to Victor. We kept in touch after The Spirit of the Beehive, and when I was around 16, we were speaking, and he asked me what I wanted to do career-wise. I wasn’t sure, and he asked if I thought about acting and recommended I take some acting classes. I began classes around 17, and that’s when I knew I wanted to do this for a living."[4]

In 1989, Torrent performed with Sharon Stone in the film Blood and Sand directed by Javier Elorrieta. In 1996, Torrent received numerous awards and nominations, including a Goya Award nomination for her lead actress role in Alejandro Amenábar's film Tesis (Thesis). By the end of the 1990s, she received critical acclaim when she played a Basque nationalist murdered for quitting ETA, in the film Yoyes (2000) directed by Helena Taberna. In 2008, Torrent portrayed Catherine of Aragon in the film The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), starring alongside Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson.

More recently, she rejoined Erice to star in the film Close Your Eyes. It premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, marking Torrent's return to Cannes after the presentation of Cría cuervos in 1976.[5] In the film, she portrayed Ana Arenas, the daughter of long-disappeared actor Julio Arenas.[6] Also in 2023, she starred in Foremost by Night, which debuted in the Venice Days.[7] She portrayed Cora, a woman unable to bear biological children.[7]

Filmography

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Year Film Role Notes Ref.
1973 El espíritu de la colmena Ana
1976 Cría cuervos Ana
1977 Elisa, vida mía Niña Elisa
1979 Ogro Niña vasca
1980 El nido (The Nest) Goyita
1985 Los paraísos perdidos (The Lost Paradise) Andrea [10]
1989 Sangre y arena Carmen Espinosa
1992 Vacas Catalina [11]
1992 Amor e Dedinhos de Pé Victorina Vidal
1994 Entre rojas La Tacatún [12]
1995 Puede ser divertido Carmen
1995 El palomo cojo (The Lame Pigeon) Adoración [14]
1996 Tesis (Thesis) Ángela [15]
1998 El grito en el cielo (Shoot Out) Yoli
2000 Yoyes Yoyes
2001 Sagitario Luisa
2001 Juego de Luna (Luna's Game) Luna Younger versions of the character played by Dafne Fernández and Gara Muñoz [17]
2003 Una preciosa puesta de sol Elena
2004 Iris Magdalena
2008 14, Fabian Road Vega Galindo [19]
2008 The Other Boleyn Girl Catherine of Aragon
2009 NO-DO (The Haunting) Francesca [20]
2011 There Be Dragons Doña Dolores
2017 Verónica (Veronica) Ana
2020 It Snows in Benidorm Lucía
2023 Cerrar los ojos (Close Your Eyes) Ana Arenas [21]
Sobre todo de noche (Foremost by Night) Cora [22]

Accolades

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Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
1997
11th Goya Awards Best Actress Thesis Nominated
2024
11th Feroz Awards Best Supporting Actress in a Film Close Your Eyes Nominated
16th Gaudí Awards Best Supporting Actress Nominated
38th Goya Awards Best Supporting Actress Nominated
11th Platino Awards Best Supporting Actress Nominated

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Ana Torrent, 10 pistas para resumir toda una vida dedicada al cine". Diez Minutos (in European Spanish). 4 August 2018. Retrieved 2023-09-03.
  2. ^ Román, Manuel (2019-01-12). "El secreto mejor guardado de Ana Torrent". Chic (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  3. ^ Ntim, Zac (2023-05-18). "Ana Torrent On Reuniting With Víctor Erice For Cannes Title 'Close Your Eyes' & Why She Believes Spanish Cinema Is In A "Very Good Moment"". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  4. ^ Ntim, Zac (2023-05-18). "Ana Torrent On Reuniting With Víctor Erice For Cannes Title 'Close Your Eyes' & Why She Believes Spanish Cinema Is In A "Very Good Moment"". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  5. ^ Ntim, Zac (18 May 2023). "Ana Torrent On Reuniting With Víctor Erice For Cannes Title 'Close Your Eyes' & Why She Believes Spanish Cinema Is In A "Very Good Moment"". Deadline Hollywood.
  6. ^ Piña, Begoña (26 September 2023). "Víctor Erice salda cuentas con el cine y con su pasado en 'Cerrar los ojos'". Público.
  7. ^ a b Ruiz, Paula Arantzazu (23 October 2023). "Seminci 2023 | 'Sobre todo de noche': la historia de un crimen atroz contada deslumbrantemente por Víctor Iriarte". Cinemanía – via 20minutos.es.
  8. ^ "Ana Torrent: "Hay pocos papeles interesantes para actrices en la cincuentena"". abc (in Spanish). 2020-02-12. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  9. ^ Paracuellos, P (25 August 2017). ""El romance poético de 'El nido' es una lucha por recuperar el Edén"". El Comercio. Grupo Vocento.
  10. ^ Pavlović, Tatjana (2008). "Los paraísos perdidos: Cinema of Return and Repetition (Basilio Martín Patino, 1985)". In Resina, Joan Ramon (ed.). Burning Darkness. A Half Century of Spanish Cinema. State University of New York Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-7914-7503-4.
  11. ^ Costa Villaverde, Elisa (2008). "Julio Medem: Vacas. Cineasta y película claves en el proceso de reconfiguración del cine español de los noventa". In Soledad, Marie (ed.). Le cinéma de Julio Medem. Paris: Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle. pp. 23–40. ISBN 9782878547481.
  12. ^ Faulkner, Sally (2020). "Middlebrow cinema by women directors in the 1990s". Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies. 21 (1): 72. doi:10.1080/14636204.2020.1720985.
  13. ^ Benavent 2000, p. 480.
  14. ^ Rooney, David (9 October 1995). "The Lame Pigeon". Variety.
  15. ^ Escobar, María Eugenia (1999). "Mirada, voyeurismo y transgresión en el cine". Nomadías (4). Santiago: Universidad de Chile: 70.
  16. ^ Benavent, Francisco María (2000). Cine español de los 90. Diccionario de películas, directores y temático. Bilbao: Ediciones Mensajero. p. 280. ISBN 84-271-2326-4.
  17. ^ Schwartz, Ronald (2008). Great Spanish Films Since 1950. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 231. ISBN 978-0-8108-5405-5.
  18. ^ Holland, Jonathan (28 July 2004). "Iris". Variety.
  19. ^ Holland, Jonathan (21 April 2008). "14, Fabian Road". Variety.
  20. ^ "El 'No-Do' de Elio Quiroga llega a Los Angeles". La Provincia. Prensa Ibérica. 17 September 2009.
  21. ^ "Close Your Eyes" (PDF). Festival de Cannes. May 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  22. ^ ""Sobre todo de noche", de Víctor Iriarte, competirá en Giornate degli Autore de Venecia". EiTB. 27 July 2023.
  23. ^ Viaje al cine español. 25 años de los Premios Goya (PDF), Lunwerg, 2011, p. 279, ISBN 978-84-9785-791-8
  24. ^ Sánchez Casademont, Rafael (27 January 2024). "Palmarés completo de los Premios Feroz 2024: 'La mesías' sigue arrasando y los Goya ganan emoción con unos premios muy divididos en cine". Fotogramas.
  25. ^ Oteo, Jana (5 February 2024). "Premios Gaudí 2024: Lista completa de los ganadores". La Razón.
  26. ^ "Premios Goya 2024 | Palmarés completo: todos los ganadores de la gran noche de 'La sociedad de la nieve'". Cinemanía. 11 February 2024 – via 20minutos.es.
  27. ^ "Premios Platino 2024 | Palmarés completo: el triunfo de 'La sociedad de la nieve' y todos los ganadores de la noche". Cinemanía. 21 April 2024 – via 20minutos.es.
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