1983, Madrid, Spain

Bárbara Santa-Cruz is an actress, director, and teacher.
Her passion for cinema and storytelling led her to enroll in university to study Audiovisual Communication (where she graduated with honors, writing a thesis about women in Fassbinder’s cinema) and in the Cuarta Pared theater school. She continued her training as an actress at the Estudio Corazza, attracted by the work of Manuel Morón, whom she considers her most influential mentor. At the studio, she met Javier Ballesteros, director and playwright of the company Mujer en Obras, of which she is currently a part. With the company, she has performed in plays such as La and Ese toro que no veíamos at the Teatros del Canal. The company won two Max Awards in the 2023 edition.
She made her film debut at the age of 22 with the short film Clases Particulares, directed by Alauda Ruíz de Azúa, for which she received the Aisge Award for Best Female Performance. Since then, she has appeared in films such as Pagafantas and Fe de etarras directed by Borja Cobeaga; Los amantes pasajeros by Pedro Almodóvar; 3 bodas de Más by Javier Ruiz Caldera (nominated for a Feroz Award, where she would later serve as the master of ceremonies a year later); Ilusión by Daniel Castro; Barcelona Nit d´estiu y Nit d´hivern by Dani de la Orden; Sexo fácil películas tristes by Alejo Flah; Esa sensación by Juan Cavestany; Sin rodeos by Santiago Segura; Jefe by Sergio Barrejón; Si yo fuera rico by Álvaro Fernández Armero; and Los buenos modales by Marta Díaz de Lope. Her most recent projects are Una película barata directed by Osama Chami and Amanece en Samaná, directed by Rodrigo Cortés, also starring Luis Zahera.
In television, she has appeared in series such as Cuéntame, Bosé, Buscando el Norte, Amar en tiempos revueltos, El príncipe, Vive cantando, Justo antes de Cristo or Muertos SL. Her most recent work is the series El refugio atómico, soon available on Netflix, in which Alvise Rigo also participates.
In 2018, she directed and wrote her first short film Divorcio, receiving awards for Distribution at the notodofilmfest and Best Screenplay at the Tarazona Film Festival.