Arcelia Ramírez

Arcelia Ramírez is an actress who graduated from the UNAM’s University Theater Center. Her wide-ranging career in film, theater, and television encompasses approximately 50 feature-length films, over 30 plays, and around 20 TV productions. El secreto de Romelia; La mujer de Benjamín (Benjamin’s Woman, 1991, for which she won Best Actress at the Cinema Jove International Film Festival in Valencia, Spain), Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate, 1992), Ciudad de ciegos (City of the Blind, 1990), and El cometa (1999) mark her first forays into Mexican cinema. In Así es la vida (Such Is Life, 2000), premiered at Cannes in 2000, she worked with Arturo Ripstein, who made her one of his muses after her powerful performance in this adaptation of Medea, which was followed by Las razones del corazón (The Reasons of the Heart) and La calle de la amargura (Bleak Street).

The winner of the Ariel Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2001 with the film Perfume de violetas (Violet Perfume: No One Is Listening) has also won various Best Actress awards, including at the Lleida International Film Festival, with Así es la vida (2000), and the Guadalajara International Film Festival with En un claroscuro de la luna (2000), as well as the Silver Goddess for El viaje de Teo (2008), Cilantro y perejil (1998), and Verónica (2018). No se aceptan devoluciones (Instructions Not Included, the biggest blockbuster in Mexican cinema), Güten Tag Ramón (Good Day, Ramon), Las horas contigo (The Hours with You), Las búsquedas (The Searches), and Te llevo conmigo (I Carry You With Me, a Sundance winner in 2020) are all part of her vast filmography.

Ramírez received a standing ovation at Cannes 2021 for La civil, by Teodora Mihai, which won the Prize of Courage in the Un Certain Regard section. Her performance in this film has garnered numerous other international awards at Cairo, Huelva, and Viña del Mar, among other festivals. Her starring roles on stage are Antes te gustaba la lluvia, La muerte y la doncella, Las tres hermanas, Buenas personas (for which the ACPT named her Best Actress), Clausura del amor, Hermanas, and Desaparecer, by Pascal Rambert. Previously, she appeared in Bosques, La pasión de Pentesilea, La séptima morada, La noche de Hernán Cortés, La guía de turistas, El caballero de Olmedo, Las mujeres sabias, Fedra y otras griegas, and Relaciones peligrosas, among many other works.

Recognized for her film career with the Mocte de Oro at the San Francisco Latino Film Festival, Ramírez starred in the acclaimed series Juana Inés, directed by Patricia Arriaga, about the life of the famous poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. She also successfully participated in the series El Chema, El club (The Club), and El Vato (which won the International Emmy for Best Non-English Language US Primetime Program), and in telenovelas such as De frente al sol and Vencer el miedo, for which she won the TVyNovelas award as Best Newcomer 1993 and Best Leading Actress 2020, respectively.

Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia