Julio Benitez Guardiola

Julio Benitez was born in 1962 in Havana, Cuba. He grew up being surrounded by a variety of performing art expressions such as music, dance, and theatre. At a young age, he began to go to Havana's famous theatre called "Teatro Estudio" to watch the Sunday matinee theatre performances. That's when he started to develop his passion for theatre. Julio studied Acting & Directing at the National School of Arts (ENA) from1993 - 1998. He was immersed in different arts courses and performances to learn and gain experience. He studied painting and folkloric dance, as well as makeup application for theatre, and dance & theatre production. In the mid-1990s, Julio's career took an important new direction when he started to work with Salvador Gonzalez, an important Cuban painter, muralist and sculptor. Julio started to travel throughout Cuba and around the world until 1999. That's when he decided to start his new life in Canada, with over 10 years experience as an actor and director in theatre and film in Cuba. One year later, (in 2000) Julio started to work as a background performer in different movies. He soon became a full member of ACTRA. Since then, he has worked on many films and television productions as a background performer, stunt person and principal actor. Additionally, he became a member of IATSE and NABET, working in the arts department as a set painter. He has also worked on many different films, such as "Freezing Territory" and the television series "Income Property". Last year, he was nominated as Best Supporting Actor by Philadelphia Independent Film Festival with his performance in 'F**cking My Way Back Home" - 2017 (Kathryn Palmateer and Shawn Whitney, Directors)- Actor Role: Alberto. Julio has been working on different scripts for television series and film; he is working with editor Daisy Goldstein on the script of 'Black Ice', his feature film project.