Leonardo Sbaraglia- Tomas
Buenos Aires-born actor Leonardo Sbaraglia is a major star in both his native Argentina and his adopted country of Spain.
Prominent within the new generation of young Argentinean actors, Sbaraglia established his career in feature film by debuting in La Noche de Los Lapices, directed by Hector Olivera in 1986. Since then he has appeared in many award-winning films, including Marcelo Pineyro's Cenizas de Paraiso, which won top honors from both Argentina and Spain, and Pineyro's Plata Quemada (Burnt Money) which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2000 and also took Best Foreign Film in a Spanish Language in Spain's prestigious Goya Awards.
Sbaraglia has also appeared in such films as Pineyro's Caballos Salvajes; Tango Feroz: La Leyenda de Tanguito, Copyright, Fuego Gris, No Te Mueras Sin Decirme Adonde Vas, Besos en la Frente, Vendado y Frio, portrayed the young Borges in Borges, Los Libros y las Noches, En La Ciudad Sin Limites and Deseo. He also performed in the television series Clave de Sol and was narrator of La Argentina de Tato.
In 2002 Sbaraglia won the Best New Actor category in the Goya Awards for his portrayal of Tomas in Intacto.
Eusebio Poncela- Federico
Eusebio Poncela was born in Madrid, Spain. His 33 year long career in feature films has included winning Best Actor Awards for his roles in Arrebato (Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award) and New York LaCinemaFe's Silver Apple for Cabecitas Rubia, and a nomination for Best Lead Actor in Spain's Goyas for Intacto. Poncela has worked with Spain's leading director Pedro Almodovar in Matador as well as Almodovar's early masterpiece Law of Desire.
His other film credits include: La Casa sin Fronteras, Separacion Matrimonial, El Asesino esta entre los Trece, Larga Noche de Julio, La Muerte del Escorpion, Operation Ogro, Sus Anos Dorados, Entre Parentesis, El Arreglo, El Dorado, Diario de Invierno, Continental, El Invierno en Lisboa, El Rey Pasmado, El Laberinto Griego, El Juego de los Mensajes Invisibles, El Beso del Sueno, Una Sombra ya Pronto Seras, Adolfo Aristarain's Martin Hache, La Sonambula, La Sombra de Cain, Sagitario, Tuno Negro and 800 Balas.
Poncela's television credits include the miniseries Los Gozos y las Sombras and El Secreto de la Porcelana.
Monica Lopez- Sara
Monica Lopez is a leading young Spanish actress whose film career began in 1992 with a role in La Fiebre del Oro. She has appeared in such Spanish films as Los Peores Anos de Nuestra Vida, Todo es Mentira, Souvenir and Un Banco en el Parque.
Antonio Dechent- Alejandro
Antonio Dechent established his motion picture career by debuting in Vicente Aranda's popular El Lute: Camina o Revienta in 1987 followed by its sequel El Lute II: Manana Sere Libre.
His other credits include No Hagas Planes con Marga, Matar al Nani, Los Dias del Cometa, La Cruz de Iberia, Day of the Beast, Libertarias which won the Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival, El Color de las Nubes, Mararia which won the Golden Egret for Best Film in the Miami Hispanic Film Festival, Bailame el Agua, Cascabel and El Juego de Luna.
Dechent was nominated as Best Supporting Actor in Spain's Goya Awards for his portrayal of Federico in Intacto.
Max Von Sydow- Samuel
Max von Sydow became best known playing tormented protagonists in a number of director Ingmar Bergman's best-known features, including The Seventh Seal (1957). He was cast as Christ in George Stevens' biblical epic The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and has enjoyed international star status ever since.
A classically trained actor who studied at Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theater School, Von Sydow won his first film role in Only A Mother (1949) but spent the first half of the 1950s perfecting his craft on stage. He appeared in a number of Bergman films in the late 1950s and 1960s, including Wild Strawberries, The Magician, Brink Of Life, The Virgin Spring, Through A Glass Darkly, Hour Of The Wolf, Shame, The Passion Of Anna and The Touch.
From 1966, von Sydow was cast to appear in many American and English-language films including The Quiller Memorandum, Hawaii, Steppenwolf, Three Days Of The Condor and Hurricane.
He starred in Jan Troell's epic two-part feature The Emigrants and The New Land and in 1973 made a vivid impression as Father Merrin, the title character in the Exorcist, also appearing in Exorcist II, The Heretic.
During the 1980's he worked almost constantly on a wide variety of projects from high, wrenching dramas like Pelle The Conqueror (for which he earned an Oscar â nomination for his characterization of the father), to the hallucinatory comedy Strange Brew, and in 1988 he made his directorial debut with Katinka (which earned him a Guldbagge Award for Best Director).
Recent films include Wim Wender's Until The End Of The World and Best Intentions, (as Ingmar Bergman's grandfather). In 1993 he played the Devil in the Stephen King saga Needful Things making him the only actor in memory to have played Lucifer, an exorcist, and Jesus Christ.
Von Sydow's other film credits include :
VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED
FOXTROT
MARCH OR DIE
BRASS TARGET
CONAN THE BARBARIAN
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN
DREAMSCAPE
DUNE
DUET FOR ONE
HANNAH AND HER SISTERS
WOLF AT THE DOOR (as Strindberg)
AWAKENINGS
THE OX (for Sven Nykvist)
A KISS BEFORE DYING
THE SILENT TOUCH
JUDGE DREDD
HAMSUN
WHAT DREAMS MAY COME
SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS
NON HO SONO
MINORITY REPORT
