Jorge Perugorría Rodríguez

===BODY===
Pichi was born in Havana in the Wajay, Boyeros municipality, Havana, where he spent his childhood and adolescence.

His first steps as an actor began in an amateur group while he was in middle school. His work as an actor begins in Cuba at age 17, starring in important works of Cuban and universal theater. From age 22 onwards, he combines his work in theater and television.

His film career begins when in 1993 Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea chooses him to play "Diego" in "Strawberry and Chocolate", the first Cuban film nominated for the 1994 Oscar Awards, marking the beginning of his international film career.

Thus our actor makes his first foray into cinema with this film and overnight becomes the most sought-after actor in Cuban cinema. He plays Diego, a homosexual who attempts to seduce a communist youth activist and with whom he ends up establishing a great friendship. And although Diego fights against intolerance and in favor of freedom under the Castro regime, the film goes beyond that and proposes a reflection on the lack of understanding towards everything that means being and thinking differently.

After "Strawberry and Chocolate" comes the madness of success, and for a Cuban actor who has lived with a ration card for 28 years this film represents a radical change in his life. After his excellent work in the role of Diego, he receives work proposals in international cinema.

The late Cuban director, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (Titón to his friends) was his great friend and mentor. Pichi and Titón worked together on "Strawberry and Chocolate" and "Guantanamera". Such an intimate relationship runs up against Fidel Castro, who harshly criticizes this last film for the image it offers of the island, to which the Cuban actor finds the positive side to the entire situation: this criticism is wonderful publicity for "Guantanamera".

Of Spanish descent, the actor's grandfather is the first Perugorría born in Cuba, where his great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather moved from Spain at the beginning of the 20th century. Interested in tracing their footsteps, in 1995 he is invited to the Spanish television program "Quién sabe dónde". From there, he launches a message to search for relatives of his ancestors in Spain and, since the surname is so common, perugorrías start appearing like mushrooms.

This man with penetrating green eyes and virile appearance has been classified, much to his chagrin, as an actor of characters always ready for feminine conquest. He usually responds to this with an "I've been conquered for a while". Married to Elsa, an actress with whom he began his theatrical career, they have three children and define themselves as a stable family of average Cubans. In short, Pichi is approachable and someone who can talk about Cuba for hours and hours, "if I'm not there I miss Havana, the people, its malecón, its sounds, its smells...".

In 2001 he inaugurates his first painting exhibition "If You Ask Me for Fish I'll Give It to You...". So far he has held several exhibitions in Cuba, Spain, Italy, and the United States.

Currently he lives with his family in Santa Fé, a fishing village west of Havana.

Having become the most prolific Cuban actor in cinema in just a few years, he bursts onto the scene in 1993 with Strawberry and Chocolate, an acclaimed film directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. He appears in other films such as Right of Asylum, Guantanamera, Vertical Love and The Age of Enlightenment. He also ventures into painting; his works are exhibited and receive the approval of the public and specialized critics.

He has worked as a producer and director of films, is the Director of the Gibara International Film Festival, and is committed to developing a cultural project in the San Isidro neighborhood of Old Havana where he proposes to create the Titón Foundation.

Filmography
1991 Sketches. Dir. Tomás Piard.
1992 Dogs Are Hungry (Short fiction. International School of Film and TV).
1993
Strawberry and Chocolate. Dir. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío.
Regression (Short fiction. International School of Film and TV). Dir. Basilio García.
Margarita Island (Italian TV). Dir. Vinczencio Badolizani.
1994
Maité (Spain). Dir. Carlos Zabala and Eneko Olasagasti.
Tell Laura I Love Her (Spain). Dir. José Miguel Juárez.
Right of Asylum. Dir. Octavio Cortázar.
1995
Oedipus the Mayor (Colombia). Dir. Jorge Alí Triana.
Cachito (Spain). Dir. Enrique Urbizu.
Private Matter (Spain). Dir. Imanol Arias.
Guantanamera. Dir. Tomás Gutierrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío.
1996
Bambola (Spain). Dir. Bigas Luna.
Clandestine Stories of Havana (Argentina). Dir. Diego Musik.
1997
Life According to Muriel. Dir. Eduardo Milewicz.
Things I Left in Havana (Spain). Dir. Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón.
The World According to Muriel (Argentina). Dir. Carlos Milewicz.
Razor in the Flesh (Brazil). Dir. Neville De Almeida.
Vertical Love. Dir. Arturo Sotto.
1998
Cuba (Spain). Dir. Pedro Carvajal.
When You Return to My Side (Spain). Dir. Gracia Querejeta.
Nuisance (Brazil). Dir. Ruy Guerra.
Volaverunt (Spain). Dir. Bigas Luna.
Doña Bárbara (Venezuela). Dir. Betty Kaplan.
1999
Land of Fire (Chile). Dir. Miguel Littín.
Waiting List. Dir. Juan Carlos Tabío.
2000 Vajont (Italy). Dir. Renzo Martinelli.
2001
Honey for Oshún. Dir. Humberto Solás.
Nowhere (Italy-Spain). Dir. Luis Sepúlveda.
2002 Rancor (Spain). Dir. Miguel Albadalejo.
2003
Open Havana (Screenplay and co-direction with Arturo Sotto. Documentary).
Fragrant Oak. Dir. Rigoberto López.
2004
Tangier (Spain). Dir. Juan Madrid.
Ants in the Mouth (Spain - Cuba). Dir. Mariano Barroso.
2005 A Rose from France (Spain). Dir. Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón.
2006 The Heart of the Earth (Spain - Portugal - United Kingdom). Dir. Antonio Cuadri.
Santiago and the Virgin at the Fire Festival (Co-direction with Ángel Alderete. Documentary).
2007 Oscar. The Color of Destiny (Spain). Dir. Lucas Fernández.
2008 The Horn of Plenty. Dir. Juan Carlos Tabío.
2009 Brainstorm (Fiction short). Dir. Eduardo del Llano.
2010
Clara Is Not a Woman's Name Pepe Carbajo
Affinities Vladimir Cruz and Jorge Perugorria (directors)

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
Distinction for National Culture, awarded by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. Havana, 1996.
Vertical Love
Best Male Actor. X Edition of the Viña del Mar Film Festival. Chile, 1997.
Strawberry and Chocolate
Coral Award for Best Male Performance XV International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. Havana, 1993.
Award for Best Performance Association of Entertainment Chroniclers of New York. USA, 1995.
Award for Best Performance Association of Film Critics of Los Angeles, California. USA, 1995.
Panambi Award for Best Acting Performance (ex aequo) V Asunción Film Festival. Paraguay, 1994.
Male Acting Award in Cinema (ex aequo) Competition of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. Havana, 1994.
Kikito Award for Best Male Acting Performance (ex aequo) XXVII Gramado Film Festival. Brazil, 1994.
Guantanamera
Award for Best Male Acting Performance in Cinema. Competition of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. Havana, 1995.
Santiago and the Virgin at the Fire Festival
Special Jury Award (ex aequo). International Poor Cinema Festival. Gibara, Cuba, 2006.

Theater Groups in which he has worked:
"Olga Alonso" Group 1985-1987
"Arte Popular" Group 1988-1990
"Rita Montaner" Group 1991
"El Público" Theater Group 1992

Theater Works in which he has worked:
"Olga Alonso" Group
- Play: "Romeo and Juliet"
- Play: "María Antonia"
- Play: "Yerma"
- Play: "Andoba"
- Play: "Hamlet"
"Arte Popular" Group
- Play: "Casino Wheel"
- North American Theater Trilogy: "Glass Menagerie", "Tea and Sympathy"
"Rita Montaner" Theater Group
- Play: "Juana de Beciel"
- Play: "Electra Garrigó"
- Play: "Speak Softly or I'll Shout"
"El Público" Theater Group
- Play: "The Maids"