Gracia Olayo

Gracia Olayo (born 19 August 1957) is a Spanish stage, television and film actress.

Gracia Olayo
Olayo in 2024
Born	(1957-08-19) 19 August 1957 (age 67) Madrid, Spain
Occupation	Actress

Biography

Gracia Olayo was born in Madrid on 19 August 1957,^[1] into a family of 19 siblings.^[2] She has another twin sister, Sole Olayo, also an actress.^[3][4] She worked for 11 years (until age 30) as a flight attendant.^[5][2] In 1988, she founded the comedy trio Las Veneno [es], which became a duo (consisting of Gracia and her twin Sole) in the 1990s.^[6] By 1999, she was working in Antena 3's show Sorpresa ¡Sorpresa! [es] as a steward.^[7]

Some early film credits in her acting career include performance in Historias de la puta mili [es] (1994), El efecto mariposa (1995), Perdona bonita, pero Lucas me quería a mí (1997), 800 Bullets (2002), Bulgarian Lovers (2004) and The Ferpect Crime (2004).^[6][5]

Her character of Rosa Ruano (providing comic relief) in fantasy television series Los protegidos from 2010 to 2012 became popular, providing Olayo a platform to reach to younger audiences, going on to perform for 4 years in Los Javis' (Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi) stage play La llamada, in replacement of Llum Barrera [es].^[8][5] She also reprise her role of Sor Bernarda in the film adaptation of the stage play, La llamada (known under the English-language title Holy Camp!) which was also directed by Los Javis.^[9] In 2018 she featured alongside Pedro Casablanc as (foster) parents of the title character of superhero comedy Superlópez.^[10] Olayo joined the second season of another superhero comedy work, the series The Neighbor, to portray the Mayor of Madrid, obsessed with bringing a Summer Olympics to the city.^[11]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2002	800 balas (800 Bullets)	Juli		[12]
2004	Los novios búlgaros (Bulgarian Lovers)	Rosita		[13]
2004	Crimen ferpecto (The Ferpect Crime)	Concha		[14]
2010	Balada triste de trompeta (The Last Circus)	Sonsoles		[15]
2014	Musarañas (Shrew's Nest)	Doña Puri		[16]
2017	La llamada (Holy Camp!)	Sor Bernarda		[9]
2018	Superlópez			[10]
2020	Hasta que la boda nos separe (The Wedding Unplanner)	Lourdes		[17]
2020	Las mejores familias (The Best Families)	Carmen		[18]
TBD	Fenómenas	Paz		[19]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2006	Mujeres	Susana	Main	[20]
2008	Plutón B.R.B. Nero	Merche	Main	[21]
2010–12	Los protegidos	Rosa Ruano	Main	[22][23]
2013	Con el culo al aire	Mamen		[24]
2016	La sonata del silencio (The Sonata of Silence)	Juana		[25]
2021	El Vecino (The Neighbor)	Alcaldesa de Madrid	Introduced in season 2	[11]
2021	Los protegidos: El regreso	Rosa Ruano	Reprise of role in Los protegidos	[26]
2021	Supernormal	Marisol		[27]
2023	La mesías	Tía Rosa ('Aunt Rosa')		[28]

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2007	16th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Television Actress in a Minor Role	Mujeres	Won	[29][30]
2016	25th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Stage Actress in a Secondary Role	La llamada	Nominated	[31][32]
2018	5th Feroz Awards	Best Supporting Actress in a Film	Holy Camp!	Nominated	[33]
	27th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actress in a Secondary Role		Nominated	[34][35]
2024	32nd Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Television Actress in a Minor Role	La mesías	Won	[36]