Spanish actress Verónica Echegui has died at the age of 42.
The celebrated actress, known for her roles in My Prisoner’s Yard and Katmandu Lullaby, was hospitalised in Madrid and died on Sunday after she was diagnosed with cancer, local press report.
Spanish newspaper El Pais report that few people in Spanish cinema knew of Echegui’s cancer diagnosis.
Echegui starred in 30 films and TV shows over her 18-year career after her breakout role in I Am Juani in 2006, including starring alongside Noel Fielding and Richard Ayoade in a 2009 Mighty Boosh spin off film, Bunny and the Bull.
After appearing in 2002 Amazon Prime romantic comedy Book of Love, Echegui’s final screen role was in Apple TV+ series Love You to Death, filmed in August 2023 and released this year.
Born in Madrid in 1983, Echegui also appeared in films such as The Cold Light of Day, Family United, You’re Killing Me Susana, Let Yourself Go, and TV shows including Intimacy, Fortitude and Trust.
Echegui made her directorial debut in 2020’s Tótem loba, which won best short film at the Goya Awards in 2022, considered Spanish cinema’s biggest awards honour.
The star set her sights on acting at the tender age of nine, and although her big break didn’t come until 2006, she starred in several TV shows prior.
I Am Juani in 2006 – in which she played a young woman dreaming of becoming an actress – saw Echegui nominated for the best new actress Goya Award, and burst Echegui’s career open, leading the way for her to become a fixture of Spanish cinema over the next two decades.
She recounted in a 2020 interview with Icon how filmmaker Bigas Luna searched through 3,000 actresses to find the title character, and she was the 651st to be considered.
Echegui turned up wearing a character appropriate ‘tracksuit [she] found in Bershka’ and landed the role after having coffee with Luna, and convincing him that she had the desire and ambition to pull it off.
After two further Goya nominations for leading actress in The Courtyard of my Prison in 2008 and Kathmandu Lullaby in 2011, Echegui found international success starring in Mexican film You’re Killing Me, Susana in 2016.
Beside her acting career, Echegui used her platform to campaign against sexual abuse within the film industry and in Spain in general.
The Mask of Zorro star Antonio Banderas paid tribute on X, writing: ‘Today, Spanish cinema is in mourning due to the passing of Verónica Echegui. My condolences to her family and friends.’
Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez also penned a tribute, writing: ‘I was deeply shocked by the news of Verónica Echegui’s passing, an actress with enormous talent and humility who leaves us far too young.
‘My sincere embrace in these such difficult moments for the entire family and friends.’
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