Leonardo Benítez -

Graduate of the Instituto Superior de Arte. The history of this versatile actor moves from athletics toward acting, passing through music—rap and lyrical singing—and theater.

Leonardo grew up alongside his mother, Otilia, a cook with an artist's soul, and his father, Elio, an extremely upright man who, lacking more demonstrations of affection, did teach him to appreciate the value of effort and discipline to succeed in life.

"My father passed away when I was 16 years old and I lost my mother seven years ago. I never had too strong a bond with him, but with her the relationship was very close and that's why I still feel her present every day in everything I do".

Furthermore, Benítez is the youngest of five siblings: Lázaro and Elio, both from mother and father, and he also has another couple, Nelson and Noel, from his father's side.

"With the two brothers I grew up with, I always had a relationship of great respect and admiration. Then the others arrived in a curious way, because we didn't have mutual knowledge of each other's existence. They did know about the other two, but they only identified me as an actor, until they discovered where I came from during an interview I gave on television and after that they contacted me. Currently we've all created a very nice bond, despite the time that had passed".

Artistic Career

His Time in Music

He was part of a rap-fusion group, where he did the melodic vocals. If something has been constant in each of Leonardo's facets, it is his drive for improvement, the intention to be better each day at whatever he dares to do. During that stage, in order to improve his vocal performance, he attended singing classes with the late professor Ricardo Linares, "who saw conditions in him and took him to the lyrical choir where he was mounting an opera. He wanted him to do a character". Robin, he remembers it was called. "Participating in the work demanded stage projection, and so he entered theater to lose his fear".

Cuban Television

He has participated among others in the following programs and series: adventure series Enigma de un verano, directed by Roly Peña, Patrulla 444. In 2013 the Teleplay Salvando al general, under the direction of Pedro Luis Rodríguez González, Teleplay, Cuéntame, poeta (2007), directed by Elena Palacios. In the permanent cast of Tras la huella, Bailando en Cuba as host, Vivir del cuento, Telenovela Latidos compartidos.

Filmography

• Roble de olor, (2004).


• Mañana, (2006), Alejandro Moya.


• Ciudad en rojo (2009), by Rebeca Chávez.


• 7 días en La Habana (2012), directed by various filmmakers.


• Fátima o el Parque de la Fraternidad (2015), by Jorge Perugorría.


• La emboscada (2015), by Alejandro Gil.


• 4 estaciones en la Habana (2016), by Félix Vizcarret.


• Habana Selfie, (2019).

Confessions of Leonardo Benítez

• Sport in his life: "I simply loved sport because of my brother, the middle one, who is eight years older. He was an athlete and very good, a sprinter, a runner of 200 and 400 meters. He has always been an idol for me. I wanted to follow in his footsteps and started in athletics, but soon I realized that my flat feet prevented me from training rigorously"…

• First steps as an actor: My first steps were at the Casa de la Cultura de Plaza (located at Calzada and 8, Plaza de la Revolución) as part of the Olga Alonso group, under the tutelage of the eternal professor Humberto Rodríguez García. That has been an immense breeding ground and art schools have been well nourished from there…

• 150-11-6: The above are not random numbers, nor do they have a hidden meaning beyond figures related to actors who presented themselves to a casting that Raquel Revuelta launched, to work with them and direct them toward the professional. That opportunity he remembers as unique, but very strong and rigorous. Of 150 who came to pass the tests, they chose 11 and in the end only six remained. Leonardo among them…

• The Julio of Tras la Huella: I started playing the same official operative that Vladimir Villar had done. The chemistry with the actors worked very well. Part of the public said it didn't work well, but many from the first episode praised me. Tras la Huella is a piece of me".

• First black leading man protagonist: In the history of Cuban television, I was the first black actor to star as the leading man in a novel. That had never happened, according to what Irela Bravo and other people who keep statistics on Cuban television told me. It launched me to absolute popularity. It's not that I was unknown, but that had a tremendous reach. Wherever there was a Cuban watching the novel, they identified with Maykel Junior…

A part of Leonardo's career has been focused on social networks, especially Instagram, where he uses his official profile to upload content that allows him to connect with his followers in a different way.

"I don't use social networks to seek prestige or monetize, but to give people things that make them feel good and also let them know about my work and other personal projects. Unlike influencers, who have many more followers, as an actor I'm a more well-known figure, because I've been on television for almost 25 years.

"For me, followers are not fans, but fams, like that, with an 'm', because I see them as my family and with them I share what I feel. Sometimes it can be a reel with my partner or something different, always keeping my private life separate. She has a lot of grace for those videos and we take advantage of it to create content that people who follow both of us like.

In addition to telling us about his artistic and other projects, the actor also takes advantage of social media to post alongside his partner, the entrepreneur Celia Pérez. Both usually post humorous videos that have excellent results among the public, although not always the response has been positive.

"When I posted my first photo with Celia on my networks, there were people who said 'I'm not going to follow you anymore'. Until then I had been single and, when that post appeared, which I made because I felt the instinct, several people felt uncomfortable".

Father and actor to the end of the line

"Not a few asked me for a long time when I would have children and I always answered that I would have three. My wife, Celia, has a 10-year-old boy who, despite not being 'mine', as it's usually said, is someone I adore with my life.

"What many don't know is that I have a daughter who lives in Russia. She was born from a brief relationship I had with a woman from that country. A month after we separated she told me she was pregnant and then I knew what I would face being a 'long-distance' father. At over 40 years old I understood it would be difficult, but I assumed it with the best attitude and desire".

The memories of that pregnancy time blend together for Leonardo, who at that time met Celia. "She accepted and understood my situation. When my daughter was about to be born, I traveled to Russia and had the possibility of being the first person to hold her in my arms when she came into the world", revealed the actor born and raised in Havana.

Benítez assumes almost everything in life with the same intensity and commitment. If there's something he's clear about, it's that he wants to keep learning at every moment he has and that constant work is the key to success in any sense.

"As long as I have health I plan to keep acting. I've talked with contemporary colleagues around my age who tell me 'what's left for me to do in acting is just X thing', as if this were checking off objectives from a list. That, not to mention that there are people who make a thousand productions and don't even worry about whether they have the quality they should. I still feel pain over scenes that could have turned out better, over censorship and other things that I think affected some of my work.

"I would like to continue exploring art and, when I think about that, I realize the path is long, but at the same time it motivates me. In my case, I feel that I still have everything to do and continue growing a lot, not just as an actor, but also as a person. The fact that I don't know it all is what gives me the most desire to keep going. And the key to all this is surrounding yourself with love and being a good person, because how do you get into the skin of so many characters, good and bad, if you don't have that on your side?".

The future offers little rest

Along with the constant commitment that TLH represents for him, Leonardo continues working and keeps several fronts open at the same time.

Right now he has pending the release of Estrés, a film with five stories where he was under the orders of filmmaker Marilyn Solaya. "There I played the negative character in one of the episodes, where the protagonist is Héctor Noas. We are trainers of some female boxers and we have a war to get our disciples to get the ticket to an international competition".

Along with that film, which has already finished shooting, he is also involved in two projects in development. First is the film titled El camino, directed by Omar Alí and with a screenplay by his daughter, Daniela Alí. In the film, in the pre-production phase and whose filming begins in March, he will play a health worker during the Angola war.

Parallel to his acting career, Benítez has a family business with his brothers. It's the cafeteria La Titona, named in honor of his mother, whom everyone called Tita. Likewise, together with his wife, he is working on expanding the proposals of the beauty salon En tus manos to offer new services.

Beyond filmmaking, business and other matters, Leonardo is happy sitting in front of the television and watching a good series. "I take a long time watching them because I keep pausing to see an actor's reaction, a shot, or things like that. I also like going out because they invite me to certain places and I go with Celia, but that's in spurts: there are times when I don't leave the house and other times when I go out every day".