1975, Madrid

Born in Madrid, Manuela Velasaco began developing her talents as an actriz as a girl and, at only 8, performed a small part in the television series, Los Desastres de la Guerra. Three years later, in 1987, she would debut on film in Pedro Almodovar’s Law of Desire.

Between 2000 and 2005 she presented the 40 Principales and Del 40 al 1 on Canal+.

Shortly after she began to take on small roles in numerous televison series such as Este es mi Barrio (Antena 3), El Comisario (Telecinco), A Las Once a Casa (TVE), Hospital Central (Telecinco), El Grupo (Telecinco), Geminis (TVE), Policias (Antena 3) and Cuentame Còmo Pasó (TVE). On film we have sen her in Maria Camus’s Los Desastres de la Guerra, Jorge Iglesias’s Gente Pez, Raul Marchand’s Atraco a las 3 y Media and Roberto Santiago’s El Club de los Suicidas amongst others.

Success arrived in 2007 when she starred in the terror film REC, for which she won the Goya award for Best New Actress as well as the Best Actress Award at the Sitges Film Festival. Later she has featured in television series such as La Chica de Ayer and Doctor Mateo, both on Antena 3. In 2010 she joined the cast of the succesful TVE series, Aguila Roja, where she played Eugenia de Molina, the rebel duchess of Monfrague.

During the 2010-2011 season she made her debut on stage as Anne Deever in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, under the direction of Claudio Tolcachir, with a season in Madrid and tour of Spain which was a great sucess and critically acclaimed.

Her most recent work in film has been in Jose Luis Garcí’s Sangre de mayo, Jaume Balageró and Paco Plaza’s REC2, Borja Manso and Marcos Cabotá’s Amigos, José Luis Garci’s Holmes & Watson. Madrid Days and Ruben Ochandiano and Carlos Dorrego’s yet-to-be-released Cuento de Verano.

In 2012 she plays the role of Ainhoa in the Telecinco series Aída, combined with her theatre performance in Feelgood by Laberto Castrillo-Ferrer. Soon after she joins the cast of Velvet on Antena 3 where she plays Cristina Otegui.

In 2013 she brings Ángela Vidal back to life in the fourth season of the film franchise REC 4. Apocalipsis directed by Jaume Balagueró. He works with this same director once again in 2014 in the short film Ladrones as part of a cast including Antonio de la Torre and Fele Martínez.

In 2016 she combines her appearances in theatre productions like Bajo terapia and Todo es mentira with her participation in the series Velvet. In 2017 she begins working in the film on channel 1 Traición in which she co-stars with Ana Belén and Nathalie Poza. In 2018 she works under the direction of Fernando Colomo in the film Antes de la quema. In 2019, she portrays Ricardo III under the direction of Miguel del Arco and films the series Mentiras for Atresmedia. In 2020, she participates in Relatos con-fin-a-dos and joins the cast of the ninth season of Amar es para siempre, a series in which she has filmed over 250 episodes, playing the role of Maica Vélez in a profound romantic plot.

In 2022, she begins her work in Express for Lionsgate +, alongside Maggie Civantos and Kiti Mánver. Manuela portrays a therapist in this Spanish suspense series about express kidnappings, which already has two seasons. Recently, the actress has joined the cast of the upcoming season of Los misterios de Laura for RTVE.

The upcoming film Cuando los amos duermen, a fantastic comedy directed by Santiago Alvarado, in which Manuela stars alongside Iván Massagué, will be released soon.