# Verónica Echegui

Verónica Fernández Echegaray (born 16 June 1983), known professionally as Verónica Echegui, is a prominent Spanish actress and director. Since making her feature film debut as the eponymous character of the 2006 drama My Name Is Juani she has featured in films such as My Prison Yard (2008), Kathmandu Lullaby (2012), The Cold Light of Day (2012) Family United (2013), You're Killing Me Susana (2016), Let Yourself Go (2017), "The Hunter's Prayer" (2017), Unknown Origins (2020), My Heart Goes Boom! (2020), The Offering (2020), "Book of love" (2022),"Artificial Justice" (2023) and Yo No Soy Esa (2024).
She has also featured in television series such as Fortitude (2015-2017), Trust (2018), Intimacy (2022) and Love You To Death (2024).
In 2020, her short film and directorial debut Tótem Loba was released to great acclaim and won the Best Short Film at the Goya Awards in 2022.

## Early life

Verónica Fernández Echegaray was born in Madrid on 16 June 1983. Her father is a lawyer and her mother a civil servant. In a 2015 interview she said she had aspired to be an actress since the age of eight, though her parents wanted her to pursue a more conventional career. "Sometimes you meet people on your journey through life who encourage you to follow your heart." She heeded the advice and has never looked back, committing herself tirelessly to the art of film. Moving to London, she trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, while working as a waitress.

## Career

Echegui was discovered by Spanish director Bigas Luna, who cast her in the 2006 film My Name Is Juani, earning her a nomination for the Goya Award for Best New Actress; she portrayed the eponymous character, a 18-year-old woman who moves to Madrid to pursue her dreams of becoming an actress . The European Film Promotion Jury selected Echegui as one of ten up-and-coming European actors to be honoured with the 2009 Shooting Stars Award.
In 2009, she caught the eye of the British public in the Mighty Boosh film spin-off Bunny and the Bull. Starring alongside Boosh mainstays Noel Fielding, Simon Farnaby and Julian Barratt, she played a foul-mouthed waitress caught up in a bizarre, hallucinogenic road trip involving a kidnapped stuffed bear, deranged tramps, and dogs.
In 2012, Craig Mathieson wrote in the Australian entertainment paper The Age "In Roberto Perez Toledo's romantic drama Six Points about Emma she plays a confident blind woman, while for Manuel Martín Cuenca's sparse, atmospheric Half of Oscar she is a silent, withdrawn sibling circling her estranged brother, and in Icíar Bollaín's Kathmandu Lullaby she displays a forthright passion as a teacher trying to help abandoned children in Nepal."
In 2015, she made her British television debut playing Elena Ledesma in the Sky and Primevideo series Fortitude and in 2018 in American television appearing in the FX series Trust, playing one of J. Paul Getty's girlfriends, Luciana.
In 2020, she portrayed a hard-boiled cop and cosplay-loving Norma in Unknown Origins.
In 2021, she debuted as a director with the short film Tótem loba [es], which won her the Goya Award for Best Fictional Short Film.

## Personal life

Echegui is fluent in Spanish, Italian and English. If her passion for and dedication to acting and storytelling have a guiding purpose, it is to offer people stories that remind them of the beauty and importance of living from the heart.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2006 | Yo soy la Juani (My Name Is Juani) | Juani | |
| 2007 | El menor de los males (The Lesser Evil) | Vanesa | |
| 2007 | Tocar el cielo (Touch the Sky) | Elena | |
| 2008 | 8 citas (8 Dates) | Vane | |
| 2008 | El patio de mi cárcel (My Prison Yard) | Isa | |
| 2008 | La casa de mi padre [es] | Sara | |
| 2009 | Bunny and the Bull | Eloisa | |
| 2010 | La mitad de Óscar (Half of Oscar) | María | |
| 2011 | Verbo | Medussa | |
| 2011 | Seis puntos sobre Emma (Six Points About Emma) | Emma | |
| 2012 | Katmandú, un espejo en el cielo (Kathmandu Lullaby) | Laia | |
| 2012 | The Cold Light of Day | Lucia | |
| 2013 | &ME | Edurne | |
| 2013 | La gran familia española (Family United) | Cris | |
| 2014 | Kamikaze | Nancy | |
| 2016 | Me estás matando, Susana (You're Killing Me Susana) | Susana | |
| 2016 | No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas (Don't Blame the Karma for Being an Idiot) | Sara | |
| 2017 | La niebla y la doncella (The Mist and the Maiden) | Ruth Anglada | |
| 2017 | Lasciati andare [it] (Let Yourself Go) | Claudia | |
| 2017 | The Hunter's Prayer | Dani | |
| 2019 | Orígenes secretos (Unknown Origins) | Norma | |
| 2020 | L'ofrena (The Offering) | Rita | |
| 2020 | Explota explota (My Heart Goes Boom!) | Amparo | Character features a Murcian Spanish accent |
| 2021 | Donde caben dos (More the Merrier) | Ana | |
| 2022 | Book of Love | Maria Rodríguez | |
| 2022 | Historias para no contar (Stories Not to Be Told) | Sofía | |
| 2022 | Objetos (Lost & Found) | Helena | |
| 2024 | Yo no soy esa | Susana | |
| 2024 | Justicia artificial (Artificial Justice) | Carmen Costa | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2003 | Una nueva vida | Ana | 3 episodes |
| 2003 | Paco y Veva | Isa | 18 episodes |
| 2007 | Un difunto, seis mujeres y un taller | Marta | TV movie |
| 2014 | Cuéntame cómo pasó | Cristina | 1 episode |
| 2015–17 | Fortitude | Elena Ledesma | 19 episodes |
| 2017 | Apaches | Carol | |
| 2018 | Trust | Luciana | Miniseries |
| 2020 | 3 Caminos | Raquel | 6 episodes |
| 2022 | Intimidad (Intimacy) | Ane | 8 episodes |
| 2023 | Los pacientes del doctor García (The Patients of Dr. García) | Amparo Priego | |
| 2025 | A muerte † (Love You to Death) | Marta | |

## Accolades

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 2007 | 62nd CEC Medals | Best Newcomer | My Name Is Juani | Nominated |
| 2007 | 21st Goya Awards | Best New Actress | My Name Is Juani | Nominated |
| 2007 | 51st Sant Jordi Awards | Best Spanish Actress | My Name Is Juani | Won |
| 2007 | 16th Actors and Actresses Union Awards | Best New Actress | My Name Is Juani | Nominated |
| 2007 | 10th Málaga Film Festival | Best Supporting Actress | The Lesser Evil | Won |
| 2009 | 64th CEC Medals | Best Actress | My Prison Yard | Nominated |
| 2009 | 23rd Goya Awards | Best Actress | My Prison Yard | Nominated |
| 2012 | 4th Gaudí Awards | Best Actress | Kathmandu Lullaby | Won |
| 2012 | 26th Goya Awards | Best Actress | Kathmandu Lullaby | Nominated |
| 2014 | 1st Feroz Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Family United | Nominated |
| 2014 | 23rd Actors and Actresses Union Awards | Best Film Actress in a Secondary Role | Family United | Nominated |
| 2021 | 8th Feroz Awards | Best Supporting Actress | My Heart Goes Boom! | Won |
| 2021 | 35th Goya Awards | Best Supporting Actress | My Heart Goes Boom! | Nominated |
| 2021 | 13th Gaudí Awards | Best Supporting Actress | The Offering | Won |
| 2022 | 36th Goya Awards | Best Fictional Short Film | Tótem Loba | Won |
| 2023 | 10th Platino Awards | Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or TV Series | Intimacy | Nominated |