At nearly 73, Luisa Gavasa is enjoying one of the brightest moments of her professional life. A Zaragoza native, she has earned a Goya nomination for best supporting actress for her work in The Master Who Promised the Sea, and she has additional nods from the Feroz and CEC awards for the same role. Her short film Paris 70, featuring Dani Feixas, has gathered 93 national and international awards, underscoring a remarkable, persistent career.
Her near future is equally bustling with projects. She plans to perform in a summer stage production, shoot another feature film, and then see Paris 70 become a full-length feature. Committed to the craft through 2026, she remains grateful for life and fully present in the moments of work and artistry. She describes herself as being in a wonderful moment, with professional success reaching a level of interpretive maturity that resonates on stage and screen alike.
Gavasa previously joined Aragonese director Paula Ortiz in The Bride, where her portrayal as Lorca’s mother earned a Goya and a Feroz award for best supporting actress in 2016. She recalls that turning point with gratitude, acknowledging how the recognition opened doors in cinema and altered the course of her life.
Her acclaimed performance in The Master Who Promised the Sea may further expand her horizons. She notes that the character, a gentle yet significant presence, surpassed her expectations of being considered for awards such as the Feroz or Goya. The competition this year is intense, with Ane Gabarain and Itziar Lazkano also contending for the 20,000 species of bees award, Clara Segura for Creatura, and Ana Torrent for Victor Erice’s new film Cerrar los ojos, among others. Gavasa emphasizes the quality and depth of the nominees, recognizing the strength of the ensemble in this edition.
In her view, the ensemble is composed of strong, mature women occupying meaningful roles. She notes that opportunities have shifted since 2015 and credits Erice’s return with creating a favorable environment, helped by the outstanding work of Ana in particular. The sense of momentum is palpable, even as the artist remains grounded in gratitude for the craft and the journey itself.
Importance of awards
Being nominated, Gavasa says, is a reward in its own right for a performer from Zaragoza. She reflects that recognition can feel more meaningful at different ages; at 25 it can carry a larger impact, while at 65 it is perceived differently. Nonetheless, awards carry significance, providing validation and encouragement at every stage of a long career.
In The Master Who Promised the Sea, Gavasa embodies Charo, the wife of Antoni Benaiges, a republican teacher who introduced a pioneering and revolutionary approach to education in the early 1930s. She highlights the film as a tribute to educators who risked and sometimes sacrificed their lives to educate others. The story resonates with the way younger generations understand civilian conflict and the aftermath of war and its victors’ behavior.
With great directors
These roles have reinforced Gavasa as a favored performer, alongside her work in The Bride which helped shape her career. After earning the Goya in 2016, she has collaborated with renowned directors such as Agustí Villaronga, Javier Fesser, Julio Medem, and Jose Luis Garci. She expresses sincere gratitude for this journey, noting that prior to these opportunities she spent more time in television than in feature films, making every film a unique milestone.
Though her life has long revolved around the stage, Gavasa has spent significant time in television as well, earning recognition for roles in series such as Amar en tiempo revueltos, where she portrayed Doña Loreto for 202 episodes. Earlier in her career, she also appeared in small screen projects such as Farmacia de Guardia or El Comisario and had occasional cinema appearances, including a nun in Almodóvar’s Entre tinieblas. Her dedication to the stage has remained steadfast, with recent forays into TV series like The Minister of Time and The Cable Girls. The Zaragoza university theater sparked her early development, where her mentor and great teacher, Mariano Cariñena, guided her first steps in the craft. She regards those beginnings as foundational, describing how she performed in Theater Manager at the age of 22 under his guidance.