1975, Madrid, Spain

Daughter of a British mother and a father from Cádiz, she developed an interest in the performing arts at a very young age and began her artistic training studying ballet. Over time she turned her vocation toward acting and started performing in amateur theatre, where she gained her first experience on stage. Her film debut came in 1993 with Jardines colgantes, directed by Pablo Llorca. She later moved to London to study acting at the Actor’s Center, making use of her fluency in English. From then on, she began a career that has established her as one of the most recognized Spanish actresses of her generation.

The beginnings of her acting career can be found in amateur theatre, where she started to develop her vocation as an actress in the early 1990s. This initial stage on stage was fundamental for gaining experience and practical training before moving into audiovisual work. Although her career later focused mainly on film and television, theatre was the space where she first began building the foundations of her artistic career.

On television, she appeared early in popular series such as Farmacia de guardia, Hermanos de leche and Querido maestro. She later joined the cast of Petra Delicado and gained greater visibility with Raquel busca su sitio. She subsequently starred in Pulsaciones and appeared in Vivir sin permiso, Nasdrovia and La templanza. Among her most recent works are No me gusta conducir, The Mallorca Files, Citas Barcelona, En fin, and La vida breve. Her most recent works are Salvador, released on Netflix in 2026, and the second season of Su Majestad for Prime Video.

In film, after her debut in Jardines colgantes, she continued with titles such as La hora de los valientes, which earned her a nomination for the Goya Award. In the following years she appeared in films such as Son de mar and A mi madre le gustan las mujeres, for which she received the Fotogramas de Plata award. Her career reached greater international recognition with Hable con ella, directed by Pedro Almodóvar. She later appeared in titles such as Mi vida sin mí, En la ciudad, Inconscientes, Malas temporadas and Los crímenes de Oxford. She later participated in Lope, Lo mejor de Eva, Una pistola en cada mano and Amor en su punto. Among her most recent works are No mires a los ojos, Chinas, Anatema and La maleta. In 2026 she stars in Amor para adultos, directed by Fernando Sánchez-Izquierdo.

Alongside her film career, Leonor Watling has also achieved success as the singer and lyricist of the band Marlango.