Nati Mistral

Spanish actress born in Madrid on 13 December 1923, into the bosom of a poor family. Her mother was the one who inculcated her artistic gifts. She entered the Conservatory, where she studied singing and music. Still being an adolescent, she entered a children's company performing shows for children at the 'Teatro Español de la Plaza de Santa Ana' in Madrid. This way, she was hired several times to act in groups or with little roles in the classic theatre plays offered by Cayetano Luca de Tena, who was the director of the theatre at that time. She had her first chance with a part at Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. In 1944 she won a radio song contest, and then she was hired, together with Tony Leblanc, by the company owned by Lola Flores and Manolo Caracol, to play as secondary stars or 'Vedettes Americaines'. That was the starting point of her popularity. Her first works were in the cinema (Oro y marfil (1947), La muralla feliz (1948), Currito de la Cruz (1949), Servicio en la mar (1951)), but her best facet is theatre. She has a wide repertoire, including musical plays ('El hombre de la Mancha' [Man of La Mancha], 'La Perrichola', 'La corte del Faraón') and dramatic plays ('Fortunata y Jacinta', 'María Reyes', 'La zapatera prodigiosa', 'Anillos para una dama', among others). In 1997 she won a National Theatre Award.