lit a candle 1h ago62. Cancer, it says. Never heard of him before Celda 211 showed up on cable, good supporting work in that one.
Their story
Manolo Solo, born Manuel Jesús Fernández Serrano in Algeciras on 11 January 1964, was a Spanish actor whose career is often described as one of the great late blooms of Spanish cinema. For more than two decades he worked steadily in supporting and minor roles in film, television, theatre and…
Manolo Solo, born Manuel Jesús Fernández Serrano in Algeciras on 11 January 1964, was a Spanish actor whose career is often described as one of the great late blooms of Spanish cinema. For more than two decades he worked steadily in supporting and minor roles in film, television, theatre and dubbing before critics and audiences came to see him as a leading man in his late fifties. He won the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as El Triana in Raúl Arévalo's thriller Tarde para la ira (The Fury of a Patient Man, 2016) and was nominated for the Goya on four other occasions, including twice for Best Actor.
His parents were teachers. His father died when he was a baby, an absence he later described as a permanent wound that shaped his life. He told interviewers that the loss influenced both his choice of the stage name Solo, meaning alone, and his decision to study Education Sciences at the University of Seville, although he never worked as a teacher. He grew up in Los Barrios, near Algeciras, until about the age of six, then moved with his family to Seville, where he spent around three decades. His mother, a teacher with what he called a lot of the artist in her, gave him his love of theatre and music.
Before acting, there was rock. As a teenager in Seville he played bass, guitar and sang in bands including Hacienda Somos Todos and Libertad Provisional, then joined Arden Lágrimas and became the singer of Los Relicarios, a Sevillian rock group that also included the future filmmaker Santi Amodeo. Los Relicarios released the album Detentebala in 1991 and shared stages with bands such as Héroes del Silencio. Years later he returned to music with Manolo Solo and Also Starring, a project of rock songs linked to cinema.
Solo trained at the Instituto del Teatro in Seville, debuted on stage in 1989 and worked in Andalusian television and dubbing. As a dubbing actor he voiced characters in the Spanish version of Dragon Ball, including Tao Pai Pai, Mr. Popo, Android 17 and Beerus, which made his voice part of the childhood of a generation. His feature film debut came with Cuando todo esté en orden (Everything in Place, 2002). He moved to Madrid, in his own words already rather grown up and for love, because his partner lived there and he had been offered a part in a play by Juan Diego Botto.
Over the following years he built an extraordinary list of supporting roles: Garcés, the subordinate of Captain Vidal in Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (2006); Roca in Cell 211 (2009); the cartoonist Ibáñez in El gran Vázquez (2010); RTVE director Fernando Castedo in 23-F: la película (2011); and a journalist in Alberto Rodríguez's Marshland (2014). His portrayal of Judge Pablo Ruz in B, la película (2015), about the Bárcenas case, brought his first Goya nomination. A year later, as the hoarse-voiced small-time dealer El Triana in Tarde para la ira, he won the Goya. The rasping voice was something he improvised in an early reading, and Arévalo asked him to keep it.
He played the inquisitor Celso de Guevara in the series La peste, the sinister Cardinal Santoro in Álex de la Iglesia's 30 monedas, Miralles opposite Javier Bardem in The Good Boss (2021), which brought another Goya nomination, and roles in Official Competition, Josefina and Girasoles silvestres. On stage he won an Actors and Actresses Union award for Smoking Room and played Peter in Mrs. Dalloway at the Teatro Español.
The turning point came with Víctor Erice's Cerrar los ojos (Close Your Eyes, 2023), in which he played the retired filmmaker Miguel Garay. The performance brought his first Goya nomination for Best Actor and international praise. Leading roles followed in Una quinta portuguesa (The Portuguese House, 2025), A la cara (Nothing Personal, 2025), based on the short film that had won him the Biznaga de Plata for best actor at the Málaga Festival in 2020, and as General Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado in Alberto Rodríguez's series Anatomía de un instante (2025). In 2026 he received another Goya nomination for Best Actor and won the CEC Medal for Best Actor for Una quinta portuguesa.
Solo kept his private life largely out of public view. He died in Madrid on 30 July 2026, aged 62, after a long illness with cancer, as announced by the Spanish Film Academy. At the time he was filming the series Las vecinas. Colleagues including Raúl Arévalo, Malena Alterio, Álex de la Iglesia and Carolina Bang attended his wake at the San Isidro funeral home in Madrid, and tributes came from Antonio Banderas, the Spanish Ministry of Culture, the President of Andalusia and the Málaga Festival. He is remembered as the improbable protagonist, a patient, deeply truthful actor whose eyes, as critic Glenn Kenny wrote, conveyed universes of worry and sadness.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (en, es); El País; Infobae; Vanitatis; Fotogramas; RTVE; Europa Press; Spanish Film Academy. Wikipedia ↗
In their own words
“Mi padre terminó una carrera antes de su edad, escribía, pintaba... Era un tío muy brillante. En cierta manera he querido vivir una continuación de su vida. (My father finished a degree early, he wrote, he painted... He was a very brilliant guy. In a way I have wanted to live a continuation of his life.)”
Vanity Fair interview, 2025, as quoted by Infobae
“Yo soy huérfano de padre, no llegué a conocerle porque murió justo al nacer yo. (I lost my father; I never got to know him because he died just as I was born.)”
Interview quoted by Vanitatis, 2026
“Me he sentido algo frustrado porque creo que no tengo tanto talento para la música como me gustaría, pero la pasión la sigo teniendo. (I have felt somewhat frustrated because I do not think I have as much talent for music as I would like, but I still have the passion.)”
Interview with RockTotal, as quoted by Infobae
“Tras el odio en redes solo hay miedo. (Behind hatred on social networks there is only fear.)”
Promoting the film A la cara, May 2026
“Con 16 o 17 años empecé a tener grupos de música, tenía la pasión por el rock. (At 16 or 17 I started having bands, I had a passion for rock.)”
Interview with NIUS, as quoted by Infobae
Photos
2Manolo Solo at the 31st Goya Awards, where he won Best Supporting Actor
Feb 2017 · by People Forever
Manolo Solo at the 40th Goya Awards, February 2026
Feb 2026 · by People Forever
From social media
7Posts by Manolo, and posts about them, kept here so they are not lost.