Fernando Hechavarría

Theater, film and television actor, widely known both nationally and internationally for his work in telenovelas and dramatic series. He holds the Award for Best Male Acting in Film at the competition of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba held in Havana in 1996.

Fernando Hechavarría is a virtuous man, not only because he has demonstrated, and abundantly so, his gifts for acting, but also because he has been privileged in many ways: incredible voice, elegant face, slender figure and artistic qualities that go beyond his performances in television, theater or film. He is one of the actors most beloved by the Cuban public.

He was born in Santiago de Cuba, and from a very young age his parents took him to Holguín. His artistic interests began to manifest in 1972, when he studied design, painting and sculpture at the Provincial School of Plastic Arts in Holguín.

In 1976 he graduated from the National School of Art in the specialty of acting.

Between 1978 and 1994, he collaborated on several occasions with the Escambray Theater Company, an interesting experience of community theater developed in one of the mountainous regions of Cuba. He spent 20 years in the Escambray Theater Group and from there he moved to Teatro El Público. He formed his family in Villa Clara, got married there, and his daughters were born in that province.

He studied acting at the National School of Art under the guidance of Nicolás Dorr, Raúl Eguren and Nieves Laferté. Then came the privilege of being part of the Escambray Theater Group, which was much more than a community experience. Starting from particularities, it reached universal problems, which led to his experience being studied in important universities around the world, from Sweden to New York.

He contributed new aesthetic patterns, experimented with very different techniques because the training of his actors was very solid. The sense of commitment to society and to the historical moment are important factors that marked and guided the excellence of his work.

Then came the experiences in the El Público group, which is challenge, pleasure, discovery of new expressive resources, personal and professional growth, it is love, a broader horizon.

Fernando has participated in approximately 30 films, most of them co-productions. He has had the pleasure of working with directors like Philippe de Broca (the scenes he had in that film were all with Jean-Paul Belmondo); also with the Spanish director Manuel Martín Cuenca, a project that gave him the opportunity to work with an actor he adores, Javier Cámara, and also with Leonor Watling, one of the Almodóvar girls. In Inocencia, Regreso a Ítaca or Leontina lies the crux of the phenomenon: quality and not quantity.

Telenovelas on Cuban TV opened the doors to the general public for him, including those by Nacho Capitán which marked a before and after, and Cuando el agua regresa a la tierra. He has played many negative characters, double standards, hatred, infidelity, manipulation, anger, lies, ego, violence. Sometimes together, sometimes separate in each performance, but yes, there have been many.

Fernando prefers intense, complex, different characters, no matter how small or large they may be. Sometimes he plays leading roles that are insubstantial and banal, and sometimes he plays small characters that mark the viewer's memory for life and, furthermore, on a personal level, a particular affection for the work done.

At El Público he has participated in performances such as Calígula by Albert Camus, King Lear by William Shakespeare or El Público by Federico García Lorca. He has gained much popularity with his work in several television series (Cuando el agua regresa a la tierra, Tierra Brava, Las huérfanas de la Obrapía, among others). In 1973, he made his first film performance, a medium for which he feels great attraction.

Filmography
1973: La tierra y el cielo. Dir. Manuel Octavio Gómez.
1983: Como la vida misma. Dir. Víctor Casaus.
1986: Plácido. Dir. Sergio Giral.
1996: Sabor latino (Spain-Cuba). Dir. Pedro Carvajal.
1997: Amor vertical. Dir. Arturo Sotto.
1997: Pon tu pensamiento en mí. Dir. Arturo Sotto.
1999: Cuba (Spain-Cuba). Dir. Pedro Carvajal.
2000: La estrella fugaz o Amazonas (France-Cuba). Dir. Phillippe de Brocca.
2000: Pata Negra (Spain-Cuba). Dir. Luis Oliveros.
2002: El misterio de Galíndez (Spain-Cuba). Dir. Gerardo Herrero.
2004: Alys y Bobi (Canada-Cuba). Dir. Francois Labont.
2004: Cayena (France-Cuba). Dir. Thierry Bunisti.
2005: Malas temporadas (Spain).
2006: Camino al edén. Dir. Daniel Díaz Torres.
2009: Ciudad en rojo (LM Ficc.). Dir. Rebeca Chávez.
2010: Trocadero 162, bajos (LM Doc.). Dir. Tomás Piard.

Awards
Aire Frío, Best Supporting Actor Award in Television. Competition of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. Havana, 1999.
Cuando el agua regresa a la tierra, Best Male Acting Award in Television. Competition of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. Havana, 1992.
Pon tu pensamiento en mí, Best Male Acting Award in Film. Competition of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. Havana, 1996.

He has participated in 26 international theater and film festivals in countries such as Spain, Venezuela, Brazil, United States of America, Switzerland, England, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Mexico and Panama.