Daniel Guzmán (actor)

Daniel Guzmán at the Goya Awards in 2017.

He grew up in Las Águilas, an area of Madrid, where during his youth he painted graffiti under the pseudonym Tifón[1], in spite of a large part of the neighbourhood in Aluche being against his paintings. He painted as a form of protest against the things going on in the world that he did not agree with, for example the Gulf War.

These paintings earned him a certain fame, to the point at which he co-led a docudrama called Mi Firma en las Paredes for the features programme Crónicas urbanas in 1990.[2] Daniel was fascinated by the experience and decided to become an actor, training under William Layton and studying at the University Centre of the Arts TAI in Madrid. Despite his enthusiasm, he started to take part in firefighting competitions — in order to have stable work in case his acting fell through — and paid his bills preparing stages for the concerts of artists such as Luz Casal. In theatre, he obtained roles in works like La dama boba (1993), Fronteras (1993) y Peter Pan (1994).

Various consecutive strokes of luck made him decide to dedicate himself full-time to acting. In 1994, Fernando León de Aranoa offered him a character in his short film Sirenas. He later obtained small roles in the films Hola, ¿estás sola? and Puede ser divertido. Shortly afterwards, he headlined the cast of Eso (1997), under the direction of Fernando Colomo, in which Daniel played Domingo, a man in his twenties obsessed over losing his virginity. In 1995 the casting director Sara Bilbatúa took advantage of the image Daniel offered in this film as a representative of a disorientated youth to include him in the cast of Éxtasis, where he played a criminal whose best friend (Rober: Javier Bardem) was confused with the lost son of an older man. For his part, Daniel Guzmán was nominated for an award from the Unión de Actores for the best surprise star actor. His next complete film, Suerte, confirmed this profile, playing Toni, a character who robbed banks to start a new life with his girlfriend.

In his television works in the series Menudo es mi padre (1997), he changed style, taking the role of an exemplary student. This work allowed him to go deeper in the world of cinema.

After a cameo in Barrio, Daniel gained notable roles in El grito en el cielo and Rewind. In theatre, he starred in Yonquis y yanquis (1996-1997) and Joe Killer (1998).

As recognition of his work, the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences offered him the opportunity to present the Best Actor award at the Goya Awards together with Adrià Collado and Joel Joan in 1999. The three actors took advantage of the occasion to parody the rivalry among young people in the profession.

Daniel returned that year to television in the series Policías, en el corazón de la calle (2000-2003) where he played Rafael, an undisciplined police officer who in his youth had trafficked drugs, and who was obligated to arrest his former friends until he was shot, leaving him paraplegic. Together with Josep Maria Pou, he was nominated for the Fotogramas de Plata awards for best television actor.

In the early 2000s he took up his political activity once again to actively participate in the protests against the Iraq War, during which he was arrested.

In 2006 Guzmán participated as a motorcyclist in the Carrera de Albacete; he came 26th.

In February 2015, he played Lucas in the Antena 3 series Velvet. A year later he received the Goya award for Best New Director for the film A cambio de nada. In 2018 he switched to stage direction for Perfectos desconocidos, written by Paolo Genovese, which he helped adapt.[3]

• Sueños (2003, short film)
• A cambio de nada (2015)

• Daniel Guzmán on IMDb
• Daniel Guzmán on Twitter
• Interview on winning the Goya Award for "Sueños" (in Spanish)
• Daniel Guzmán feels the fear and the dreams of adolescence (in Spanish)
• 'Sueños', from the actor Daniel Guzmán, wins the Guindilla Prize for Best Short Film in the Actual de Logroño (in Spanish)