All About My Mother

Background:

One of the most important Spanish language actresses, Cecilia Roth, known for her recurrent association with Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, gained international recognition after playing the title role in Almodóvar’s Academy Award-winner All About My Mother/ Todo sobre mi madre (1999). The role brought the Argentinean beauty a European Film Award and a Goya Award. Two years before, she acquired countless appreciations thanks to her bravura performance in the Adolfo Aristarain-directed challenging family drama Martín (Hache), where she won a Havana Film Festival Award, an Onda Award, an Argentinean Film Critics Association Award and a Goya Award as well as a Sant Jordi Award. The recipient of the Fotogramas de Plata Best Movie Actress (2000) also picked up an Argentinean Film Critics Association Award for her starring turn in A Place in the World/ Lugar en el mundo, Un (1992). Other notable credits include A Night with Sabrina Love/ Noche con Sabrina Love, Una (2000), Antigua, My Life/Antigua vida mía (2001), the hit detective drama Ashes from Paradise/Cenizas del Paraiso (1997), The Loves of Kafka/ Amores de Kafka, Los (1988) and The Stranger (1987).

An established actress, Roth recently appeared in the comedy Sofacama (2006). She will star in the forthcoming films, the drama Películas de mi padre, Las (2006) and the thriller Resurrectores (2007).

As for her private life, Roth is married to Argentine musician Fito Páez, and becomes the mother of their adopted son, Martín. Formerly, her marriage life was linked to Gonzalo Gil and Gorka Duo.


Expatriate

Childhood and Family:

Cecilia Rotemberg Rot, who would later be famous as Cecilia Roth, was born on August 8, 1956, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Due to tyrannical military regime, Cecilia moved to Spain with her father and her brother, Ariel Rot, in 1976, and did not return to her homeland until the mid-1980s. During her years as a refugee, she pursued a career in acting. Cecilia’s brother is an Argentine musician and member of the ex-Los Rodríguez band.

5’ 7” tall Cecilia previously married Gonzalo Gil and Gorka Duo, before tying the knot with Argentine musician Fito Páez in 2000. The couple adopted a son named Martín, who was featured on the cover of Fito Páez’ album Abre.


Martín

Career:

A Buenos Aires, Argentina-born who exiled to Spain during Argentina’s 1970s-early-‘80s repressive military regime, Cecilia Roth worked in several Argentinean films, including one No toquen a la nena (1976), before escaping to Spain, where she established a frequent collaboration with Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. Her first major film role arrived in 1980, when she was cast in as Ana, opposite Eusebio Poncela and Will More, in writer/director Ivan Zuleta’s cult film Arrebato/Rapture.

That same year, Roth was also seen in Pedro Almodóvar’s Pepi, Lucy, Bom, playing the supporting role of Chica del anuncio ‘Bragas Ponte.’ She rejoined the director two years later by taking on the starring role of Sexilia in his sex mockery Labyrinth of Passion (1982), a film in which a young Antonio Banderas was featured as Sadec. Her next films with Almodóvar are Dark Habits/Entre tinieblas (1983, opposite Marisa Paredes) and What Have I Done to Deserve This?/ ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!! (1984). In expat Argentine director Rodolfo Kuhn’s El Senor Galindez (1984), the actress again co-starred with Antonio Banderas.

A recognized performer, Roth finally decided to return to her homeland of Argentina in the mid-‘80s and became a national star of stage, TV and film. Despite performance in the Adolfo Aristarain-helmed Argentine-U.S. thriller The Stranger (1987), she avoided an English-language career. Instead, she appeared in various Argentine films during the ‘80s and ‘90s. In The Loves of Kafka/ Amores de Kafka, Los (1988), Roth showcased the intensity of her talent with her role of Franz Kafka’s sister, and by 1993, she took home an Argentinean Film Critics Association for Best Actress because of her brilliant presentation of Ana in Aristarain’s South American version of a Western A Place in the World/ Lugar en el mundo, Un (1992).

Roth went on to demonstrate her prospective skills in the successful detective drama Ashes from Paradise/Cenizas del Paraiso (1997), where she co-starred opposite Héctor Alterio as a judge/investigator named Beatriz Teller. However, it was her starring performance of Alicia in director Adolfo Aristarain’s demanding family drama Martín (Hache) (1997) that won her numerous accolades. For her significant efforts, Roth was handed such awards as a Havana Film Festival, an Onda, an Argentinean Film Critics Association and a Goya for Best Actress, as well as a Sant Jordi for Best Spanish Actress.

After a role in the television series “Laura y Zoe” (1998), Roth scored even huge victory with she reunited with director Pedro Almodóvar and Dark Habits co-star Marisa Paredes in the multiple award-winning comic drama All About My Mother/ Todo sobre mi madre (1999). Impressively playing Manuela, the mother of a dead teen son, Roth became an international critics’ darling. As a result, she was handed a European Film and a Goya for Best Lead Actress. Additionally, she received such nominations as a Spanish Actors Union for Lead Performance and a Golden Satellite for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical.

Following All About My Mother’s worldwide success, Roth co-starred with Javier Bardem in the Spanish romantic drama Segunda Piel/ Second Skin (2000), earned Argentinean Film Critics Association nods for her roles in A Night with Sabrina Love/ Noche con Sabrina Love, Una (2000) and Antigua, My Life/Antigua vida mía (2001). She also could be seen in such films as Vidas privadas (2001), Deseo (2002), Kamchatka (2002), Lucía, Lucía (2003), Padre nuestro (2005) and Otros días vendrán (2005), and in television projects like miniseries “Sol negro” (2003, made an uncredited cameo as Dolores Bustos), “Epitafios” and “Luisa Sanfelice” (both 2004), as well as the series “Mujeres asesinas” (2005).

Recently appearing as Bernie in the comedy film Sofacama (2006), Roth is set to play a role in writer/director Augusto Martínez Torres’ drama Películas de mi padre, Las (2006). She will also star in the Argentina/Spain production Resurrectores, a thriller for 2007 release.


Awards:

- Fotogramas de Plata: Best Movie Actress (Mejor Actriz de Cine), 2000
- Huelva Latin American Film Festival: Silver Colon, Best Actress (Mejor Actriz), A Night with Sabrina Love (Noche con Sabrina Love, Una), 2000
- Goya: Best Lead Actress (Mejor Actriz Principal), All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre), 2000
- European Film: Best Actress, All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre), 1999
- Goya: Best Lead Actress (Mejor Actriz Principal), Martín (Hache), 1998
- Sant Jordi: Best Spanish Actress (Mejor Actriz Española), Martín (Hache), 1998
- Argentinean Film Critics Association: Silver Condor, Best Actress (Mejor Actriz), Martín (Hache), 1998
- Ondas: Best Actress (Mejor Actriz, Martín (Hache), 1997
- Havana Film Festival: Best Actress, Martín (Hache), 1997
- Argentinean Film Critics Association: Silver Condor, Best Actress (Mejor Actriz), A Place in the World (Lugar en el mundo, Un), 1993