9 Famous Living Spaniards that Every Guiri Should Know
by Eleena
Guest blogger Eleena (better known as Beckett in the NFS forum) is a New Yorker who has lived 1079 days in Madrid, just not consecutively. When she’s not teaching English to Spaniards, she updates her bilingual blog “Voices en Español” and posts fairy tales in Spanish over at Cody’s Cuentos.
You’ve packed your bags, said your good-byes and bought your one-way ticket to Spain. But before you board that flight to Barajas, have you brushed up on your knowledge of modern-day Spain? Besides Pedro Almodóvar, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, what other famous living Spaniards do you know? Well, in no particular order of preference, here are some names to get you started. The 9 Famous Living Spaniards That Every Guiri Should Know list. Don’t leave home without it:
1. Esperanza Aguirre - The president of the autonomous community of Madrid, this Spanish politician is a force to be reckoned with. Spaniards either love her or hate her, which means she must be doing something right! She plays politics like a Russian chess master, always one move ahead, and if she stays on the path she is currently on, she will probably become Spain’s first female prime minister in the next decade.
2. King Juan Carlos – ¿Por qué no te callas? ‘nuf said.
3. Santiago Calatrava – This architect, whose distinctive, soaring designs have brought modern flair to Barcelona and Valencia, is one of Spain’s hottest exports.
4. Ana Obregón – This 58-year-old actress puts the coo in cougar. Once known for her films, her current claim to fame these days is her Dorian Grey-like appearance – she was once called the “geriatric Barbie” by Victoria “Posh” Beckham — and her dating a male model by the name of Darek. Obregón is a frequent staple of the Spanish tabloids and Spanish gossip media. She’s kind of like an old Paris Hilton.
5. Almudena Grandes – A Spanish writer who has written several books and short stories that depict modern Spanish life.
6. Iñaki Gabilondo – This broadcaster has been in the journalism biz for four decades and makes no secret of his political views but he is well-respected because he asks tough questions. When Iñaki Gabilondo talks, people listen.
7. Fernando Alonso – Three years ago nobody in Spain cared about Formula 1 auto racing. Now everybody loves Fernando, well, almost everyone. And this Asturiano, who at the tender age of 24 became the youngest Formula 1 champion in the 2005 season, is now a national sports hero with his mug appearing everywhere.
8. Santiago “Torrente” Segura – This comic actor is Spain’s answer to Ben Stiller and the Farrelly Brothers. If it’s funny and crude, Segura is the guy. Never heard of him? Well, Segura’s movie “Torrente 2: Misión en Marbella” is reportedly the highest-grossing Made-in-Spain movie of all time. Take that, Almódovar!
9. Rodolfo Chikilicuatre – Spain’s entry to the 2008 Eurovision music contest. Chikilicuatre sang and breiki danced his way into the hearts of Spanish fans with his “El Baile del Chiki Chiki.” He’s got a pompadour that the original Elvis would love.
10. And for No. 10? We’ll turn that over to you. Who would be on your list of Living Spanish Famosos?
Photo King Juan Carlos courtesy wikipedia
Posted: March 25th, 2008 under Spanish Culture and News, guest bloggers.
Comments: 27
Comments
Comment from Tom
Time: March 25, 2008, 8:16 am
Well… how about the Duquesa de Alba? She’s the ultimate weirdo Spanish aristocrat and the result of centuries of ‘breeding’.
Also, Penélope and Javier. (Why is it that Spaniards always refer to celebrities by their first names? This is a tendency I fid slightly odd… like they’re family or something).
About F1: I’m not sure about Madrid but here in Barcelona, Formula 1 has always been pretty popular. Alonso has merely attracted the meat-headed patriots. Go Hamilton!
Comment from hellothere
Time: March 25, 2008, 9:03 am
This is a great list and great additions.
I would add Karlos Arguiñano, the TV chef who always rambles on with funny stories whilst he cooks. He puts on quite a show, really.
And speaking of chefs, Ferrán Adriá.
Dani Pedrosa, the motorbike racer.
Rafael Nadal, the tennis player.
Alejandro Amenábar, the film director.
Number 4 on the list, Ana Obregón, is also famous for being a biologist: some Spaniards even jokingly refer to her as “la bióloga”!
Comment from Erik Rasmussen
Time: March 25, 2008, 9:16 am
I agree with everything hellothere said. Arguiñano rocks!
Gotta include Pau Gasol, too. Especially if you’re an American living in Spain. The Spaniards are really proud to have a star basketball player in the NBA.
Comment from Parubin
Time: March 25, 2008, 9:53 am
Just two very famous people in Spain, that come to mind right now :
Raúl : Real Madrid everlasting attacker who has crushed all individual scoring records both in Spain and in the rest of Europe. He has persistently been in the news for the last 15 years, almost. Lately for not being called to the National Squad by coach Luis Aragonés.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%C3%BAl_Gonz%C3%A1lez
Federico Jiménez Losantos : He would be the anti-Iñaki Gabilondo. The most controversial radio host and political commentator in Spain.
Once a anti-Franquist maoist-communist in his youth in the 70’s, he’s travelled all the way to the opposite side of the political spectrum to the remoteness of the hard-right.
His big mouth doesn´t leave anyone indifferent, and he’s has been prosecuted for defamation on a number of ocasions. He is said to have quite an influence on Partido Popular (PP) political party, although he doesn´t hesitate to fiercely critizice them when they are being too soft in his opinion. One of his biggest rivals is Alberto Ruiz Gallardón (major of Madrid, from the PP, by the way) who is accused by Losantos of being an undercover socialist on the other side.
He’s opinions of PSOE and what he says their crucial involvement (proved to be inexistent) with the 2004 Al-Qaeda Madrid bombings are on the verge of legality.
He speaks from Cadena COPE radio network (owned by the Spanish Catholic Church, although he is not specially religious except for from a socio-cultural point of view, in which he seems quite anti-islamist) every working day from 6 am till nearly mid day. He is the most parodied character in Spanish political TV satires.
Although he often borders the line of defamation he uses most of the time a humoristic tone in his speech and he is acknowledge for his vast knowledge of history (which often uses in his favour), literature and culture in general terms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Jimenez_Losantos
Comment from frank
Time: March 25, 2008, 10:23 am
“About F1: I’m not sure about Madrid but here in Barcelona, Formula 1 has always been pretty popular. Alonso has merely attracted the meat-headed patriots. Go Hamilton!”
Yes, most seem to like him, although a F1 site I read, he has his share of detractors, he is frequently referred to as El Mentón,El Soplón,El Quejica etc. But the real hate is reserved for Hamilton, Hamiltongo,El Negro, El Negrito,El Mimado El Niñato etc, and for some reason the Spanish seem to hate his father! Not sure what he has done wrong, I’ve never heard a comment from him. 
As regards Hamilton, I have never seen so much hate for one person, and the fact that he is coloured just seems to make matters worse. But they deny they are racists! I personally don´t go much on Alonso, but I respect him as a driver, but that´s not the case with the Spanish and Hamilton, they give him no credit at all for his driving, he´s just lucky to have a fast monoplazo. On Suday he started 9th (?) and quickly went up to 5th, then after a disastrous pit stop, he went back to 12th position, and then worked his way up again to get 4 points. Given that he was never going to catch the Ferrari´s, I didn´t think that was bad, but according to the Spanish, unless he starts in pole position, he´s rubbish.
Comment from Ben
Time: March 25, 2008, 10:38 am
I agree with all your points on Alonso, but, pleeeeease let’s not get into another Hamilton racism debate! Staying on topic, you else would you all add to Eleena’s list?
Comment from soy pescador
Time: March 25, 2008, 10:41 am
Amancio Ortega , the mastermind behind the hugely famous clothing empire.
Zara clothing stores. Has never been photographed before. One of the top ten richest on the Forbes list
Comment from Ben
Time: March 25, 2008, 10:50 am
Wow, yes, he is an impressive guy - started out in his living room with his wife 44 years ago:
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_Amancio-Ortega_9PLV.html
Comment from Parubin
Time: March 25, 2008, 11:10 am
Yes… Amancio Ortega : ranks the 9th biggest fortune in the world. Considering this fortune was self-made by a high-school drop out it is even more impressive.
Who would want to waste his/her precious time in useless academic education, when you could have been making big bucks selling lingerie. ???
(Somehow my comments are most of the times trapped by the anti-spam software. Something wrong with my computer??)
Comment from Ben
Time: March 25, 2008, 11:52 am
@Parubin - I’m sorry your comments keep getting held up in the anti-spam filter, I have no idea why, it’s all very automated and I can’t change the settings - it is probably something to do with your email address. I have to keep it in place though as it has stopped over 35,000 spam comments since I added it a year of two ago! I usually manage to approve your comments pretty quickly.
Comment from hellothere
Time: March 25, 2008, 12:08 pm
Armancio Ortega dropped on the Forbes billionaires ranking from 9th to 22nd this year(http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_Amancio-Ortega_9PLV.html).
I remember reading somewhere this had to do with the housing crisis (Ortega has a lot of his fortune in buildings, starting with the ones where he puts his clothes outlets).
He definitely is famous and even well-loved by Spaniards
Comment from laura
Time: March 25, 2008, 1:45 pm
you should also know El Listo, the spanish webcomic por the spanish nerds: http://listocomics.com
Comment from Mrmark
Time: March 25, 2008, 1:46 pm
Can’t believe Rafael Nadal isn’t on the list. Here’s a couple more suggestions: Paco de Lucia. Antonio Banderas.
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: March 25, 2008, 1:47 pm
How about Jose Andres, whose tv specials in the US is being highly received and has been make the talk show circuit on TV and radio here in the US. I just heard him 2 weeks ago on NPR’s Kojo Nmamdi’s show.
Comment from Parubin
Time: March 25, 2008, 2:10 pm
I think, if I am allowed to make a suggestion, the interesting aspect of this comment would be to name those very famous Spaniards that are only famous within Spain but not abroad.
Of course, the likes of Pau Gasol, Fernando Alonso, Rafa Nadal, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Antonio Banderas, Pedro Almodóvar… are widely known in Spain as well as abroad, so the regular Spaniard will not be impressed if a Guiri would name any of those world wide celebrities.
Another thing will be that Guiri commenting on Iñaki Gabilondo’s latest news broadcast, or gossiping about Ana Obregon’s new boyfriend who still suffers from acne. That would be more surprising, because those two are very famous indeed, but only within the Spanish borders.
For instance, “El Gran Wyoming” would be an example of someone very known in Spain, having conducted a number of succesful tv comedy shows for years, but I’d be surprised if anyone outside Spain ever heard his odd name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Gran_Wyoming
Comment from luke
Time: March 25, 2008, 2:21 pm
Mortadelo y Filemon. Do they count as ‘living’?
Comment from sandy
Time: March 25, 2008, 3:00 pm
What about the famous tenor Jose Carreras?
Comment from Pepino
Time: March 25, 2008, 3:01 pm
My suggestion would be Alaska. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_%28cantante%29
She´s the singer from the band Fangoria and has been around since the Movida in the 80´s. Her approach to the ageing process seems to be “apply more makeup”, and luckily her hair is a colour that no one doubts for a second has come out of a bottle of chemicals! Her music rarely changes much, and her voice isn´t great, but she sells well and keeps her fame after so many years. Many people follow Fangoria slavishly it seems, and she has some very dedicated fans.
Curiously, I last saw her a couple of weeks ago as a guest on the Pasapalabra quiz show (which normally only has Z-list soap stars), so I hope that´s not a sign of an impending dip in her career! jeje
Comment from Parubin
Time: March 25, 2008, 10:03 pm
@ Pepino :
When I was a teenager in the 90’s Alaska’s star seemed to have faded out for good, still I kind of liked his previous new-wave electro-punk works from the early 80’s.
Much to my surprise Alaska (head of Fangoria) released some 3 or 4 years ago a massive hit for Spanish dancefloors which put them back on top again : ‘No Sé Qué Me Das’.
Here’s the link to a very recent live performance of ‘No Sé Qué Me Das’ by Alaska & Fangoria :
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=rkL2i8y6hHA
Comment from Beckett
Time: March 25, 2008, 11:07 pm
@Parubin, thanks for mentioning Jiménez Losantos. He was on my original list of famosos but didn’t make the final cut since there was room for only 9 people.
Comment from richardksa
Time: March 26, 2008, 12:07 am
I am going to stick my neck out here and nominate Sergio Peris-Mencheta. Haven’t heard of him? You will. I met this actor while he was improving his English. Now he is starring in his first Hollywood film. See:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0673824/
More than that, I have seen the results of his direction. Quite brilliant. Remember, you read it here first.
Comment from Easyrider
Time: March 26, 2008, 12:13 am
Tomatito, flamenco guitar player
Fernando Torres, “el niño de Liverpool”
Joaquín Cortés, dancer
John Galliano, designer
Montserrat Caballé, opera singer
Arturo Pérez Reverte, don’t miss his articles in “El Semanal”
Lucía Lapiedra, porno-actress and housewife
María Patiño, Lidia Lozano and Co, dictionary kickers.
Cayetano Rivera, José tomás, etc, bull killers!
Comment from Charles C Stirk Jr
Time: March 26, 2008, 3:09 am
Pedro Almodóvar mabe … also
Comment from Pepino
Time: March 26, 2008, 11:30 am
@Parubin. Thanks for the Alaska link, I´ll check it out when I´m home later (I´m in the office now). I don´t know that song. Well, not by name, although I expect I might know it when I hear it. The one that springs to mind of hers that I like is “Retorciendo palabras”. I´ve got that going around in my head as we speak. 
Comment from Parubin
Time: March 26, 2008, 1:40 pm
Regarding Alaska, I just read this in the news today:
Apparently, Prince Albert from Monaco in his annual “Rose Ball” hosted by the monarchs every year in palace (since Grace Kelly opened that tradition in 1964) , wants to commemorate this year’s edition (to take place this saturday) to the memory of the “Movida” (the countercultural hype that shook Spain in the late 70’s and early 80’s).
Star guests to palace will be some survivors from that era (some of them respectably mature celebrities now) such as Pedro Almodóvar, Bibi Andersen, Paco Clavel, Rosi de Palma and of course Alaska.
In fact, it has been said that Alaska will be DJing and Fangoria (with Alaska) will perform their dance music to the audience.
Shake your bling bling, royals!!. 
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/362881/0/almodovar/baile/monaco/
Comment from Palmer
Time: March 26, 2008, 3:04 pm
Re: Santiago Calatrava, the architect… his design was the one chosen for Atlanta’s new symphony hall expected to begin construction soon, I hope. Check out the symphony’s website for the design. Very impressive. It’s expected to be the signature piece of architecture for Atlanta once it is completed. The website is “atlantasymphony.org” (sorry, I don’t know how to embed links.)
Comment from Moscow
Time: March 26, 2008, 4:22 pm
I would include Rafael Azcona, who died this week. I saw a couple of interviews with him, and I was mesmerised by his personality. One of the true greats of Spanish cinema, and virtually unknown abroad - although one of his films, not his best by any means, won an Oscar.
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