Karra Elejalde

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Elejalde and the second or maternal family name is Garay.

Carlos Elejalde Garay (born 10 October 1960) better known as Karra Elejalde, is a Spanish actor and occasional filmmaker.

Karra Elejalde
Elejalde in 2025
Born	Carlos Elejalde Garay (1960-10-10) 10 October 1960 (age 64) Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Spain
Occupations	Actor screenwriter director

Biography

Carlos Elejalde Garay was born on 10 October 1960 in Vitoria-Gasteiz.^[1][2] He developed his early acting career on independent stage plays.^[2]

After making his feature film debut with a role in the 1987 film A los cuatro vientos, Elejalde's collaborations with Basque cinema auteurs such as Juanma Bajo Ulloa, Álex de la Iglesia or Julio Medem launched his acting career in the 1990s.^[3]

He made his feature film directorial debut by shooting the 2000 film Año Mariano in tandem with Fernando Guillén Cuervo, later making his solo debut with the 2004 film Torapia.^[4]

In 2014 he replaced Benito Pocino as Mortadelo in Mortadelo y Filemón contra Jimmy el Cachondo (2014).^[5] He played Koldo in Ocho apellidos vascos.^[6] He reprised the same role in Ocho apellidos catalanes (2015).^[7] After the success of both films, he affirmed he won't play the next sequels.^[8][9] In 2016 he appeared in 1898: Los últimos de Filipinas as Brother Carmelo.^[10]

During the 25th Goya Awards in 2011 he was awarded by the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[11] In 2015 he was awarded by the same prize at the 29th Goya Awards.^[12]

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1990	Sauna	Johnny		[13]
1991	Terranova	Celso		[14]
1992	Vacas (Cows)	Ilegorri / Lucas		[15]
1993	Kika	Policía Mario		[16]
	Acción mutante	Manitas		[17]
	La ardilla roja (The Red Squirrel)	Antón		[18]
	La madre muerta (The Dead Mother)	Ismael López de Matako		[19]
1994	Dias contados (Running Out of Time)	Rafa		[20]
	Enciende mi pasión	Bruno		[21]
1995	Salto al vacío (Jump into the Void)	Juancar		[22]
	Entre rojas	Padre de Lucía ('Lucía's father')		[23]
	Tatiana, la muñeca rusa	Joaquín		[24]
1996	Tierra (Earth)	Patricio		[25]
	Corsarios del chip	Roberto Mesa		[26]
	Best-seller: El premio	Sergio		[26]
1997	Airbag	Juantxo		[27]
	La pistola de mi hermano (My Brother's Gun)	Inspector		[28]
1999	Novios (Couples)	José		[29]
	Los sin nombre (The Nameless)	Bruno Massera		[30]
2000	Año Mariano (The Year of Maria)	Mariano	Also writer-director	[31]
2001	Lázaro de Tormes	Arcipreste		[32]
	Visionarios (Visionaries)	Padre Laburu ('Father Laburu')		[33]
2002	Carne de gallina (Chicken Skin)	Gelín		[34]
	Nos miran (They're Watching Us)	Medina		[35]
2007	Los cronocrímenes (Timecrimes)	Héctor		[36]
2010	El idioma imposible (The Impossible Language)	Camarero ('waiter')		[37]
	Biutiful	Mendoza		[38]
	También la lluvia (Even the Rain)	Antón / Cristóbal Colón		[39]
2012	Invasor (Invader)	Baza		[40]
	Miel de naranjas (Orange Honey)	Don Eladio		[41]
2014	Ocho apellidos vascos (Spanish Affair)	Koldo		[42]
	A esmorga	Bocas		[43]
2015	Rey Gitano (Gipsy King)	Jose Mari		[44]
	Ocho apellidos catalanes (Spanish Affair 2)	Koldo		[45]
2016	Embarazados (We Are Pregnant)	Ginecólogo ('gynaecologist')		[46]
	100 metros (100 Meters)	Manolo		[47]
	Rumbos (Night Tales)	Pedro		[48]
	1898, Los últimos de Filipinas (1898, Our Last Men in the Philippines)	Fray Carmelo		[49]
2017	La higuera de los bastardos (The Bastards' Fig Tree)	Rogelio		[50]
2019	La pequeña Suiza (The Little Switzerland)	Peio		[51]
	Mientras dure la guerra (While at War)	Miguel de Unamuno		[52]
2021	Bajocero (Below Zero)	Miguel		[53]
	Poliamor para principiantes (Polyamory for Dummies)	Satur		[54]
2022	Llegaron de noche (What Lucia Saw)	Ignacio Ellacuría		[55]
	La vida padre (Two Many Chefs)	Juan		[56]
	Vasil	Alfredo		[57]
	Reyes contra Santa (The Three Wise Kings vs Santa)	Melchor		[58]
2023	Kepler Sexto B (Kepler 6B)	Jonás		[59]

• 1987: A los cuatro vientos
• 1991: Butterfly Wings as Neighbour
• 1995: Adão e Eva as Rafael
• 1996: El dedo en la llaga as Eduardo
• 1999: A Sweet Scent of Death as El Gitano
• 2001: Killer Housewives as Lalo
• 2002: El rey de la granja
• 2002: The Forest as Velasco
• 2004: Torapia as Basilio
• 2005: El calentito as Pepe
• 2006: Locos por el sexo as Ramón
• 2008: Íntimos y extraños. 3 historias y 1/2 as Diego
• 2014: Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission Implausible as Mortadelo / Tía Fulgencia (voice)
• 2016: Embarazados as Ginecólogo
• 2017: Operación Concha as Marcos Ruiz de Aldazábal
• 2017: Santo Time as Munilla

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2015	20th Forqué Awards	Best Actor	Spanish Affair	Nominated	[60]
	2nd Feroz Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated	[61]
	24th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actor in a Secondary Role		Won	[62]
2017	9th Gaudí Awards	Best Supporting Actor	100 Meters	Won	[63]
2019	6th Feroz Awards	Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series	What the Future Holds	Nominated	[64]
2020	25th Forqué Awards	Best Actor	While at War	Nominated	[65]
	12th Gaudí Awards	Best Actor		Won	[66]
	35th Goya Awards	Best Actor		Nominated	[67]
	29th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Film Actor in a Leading Role		Won	[68]
	7th Platino Awards	Best Actor		Nominated	[69][70]
2022	9th Feroz Awards	Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series	La Fortuna	Nominated	[71]
	30th Actors and Actresses Union Awards	Best Television Actor in a Secondary Role		Nominated	[72][73]
	9th Platino Awards	Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or TV Series		Nominated	[74]
	67th Valladolid International Film Festival	Best Actor	Vasil	Won	[75]
2023	10th Feroz Awards	Best Actor in a Film		Nominated	[76]
	6th Berlanga Awards	Best Actor	Kepler 6B	Won	[77]