Natividad Anisia Díaz Chirino

Cuban actress in radio and television, reciter and television host. She has played major dramatic and humorous roles. National Television Prize in 2023.

From a very young age she showed interest and abilities for acting and recitation.

This renowned actress recalls, a native of Havana, that her first inclination toward art was not precisely acting, but music. "In reality I wanted to be a singer, she affirms. I had a very beautiful and well-tuned mezzo-soprano voice. I aspired to be a lyric singer and, as such, I dreamed of performing Cecilia Valdés".

"But unfortunately I didn't have family support, because no one in my family had knowledge or artistic aspirations, even though my grandmother sang very well. In any case, I didn't miss an opportunity to sing at family gatherings".

For the luck of those of us who have applauded each of her masterful artistic performances, it happened that "one day I was listening on Radio Progreso to the final chapter of Wuthering Heights. When I finished listening to that I said: I want to be an actress".

It was thus that with "permission from my husband who was very jealous" and the help of the excellent actress Antonia Valdés, a friend of her grandmother, Natacha Díaz joined a theater group, newly created and directed by the already renowned actors Alden Nigth and Eric Romay.

"I was in that group when I learned of a call for the formation of actors at the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television. I presented myself and I was approved.

"In reality it wasn't a course, but rather a school where I stayed for four years and during which I received comprehensive training from both an artistic and academic perspective. Upon completing it I began working at a radio station in the province of Villa Clara. Some time later I returned to Havana and became part of the artistic cast of Radio Progreso, a station to which I owe a good part of my acting training".

Although only sporadically and in children's and educational programs, Natacha Díaz in her early years ventured into television, it was precisely this medium that gave her the possibility to consolidate her career as an actress, "because suddenly they called me to participate in the novel The Young Woman of the Golden Arrow, by Cirilo Villaverde and directed by who would later become my dear friend Raúl Pérez Sánchez".

That turned out to be Natacha Díaz's big television debut. The enslaved woman Anacleta, a character she interpreted and of which she assures that "greatly marked my career", opened the doors for many other telenovelas, among them The Old Pier, Longed-for Meeting and Next Year. "Although in reality, she notes, there are so many that I've forgotten the names of many.

Graduate of the School of Actor Training at the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) in Havana.

Artistic Career
She began her professional artistic career in 1969 in the TACYA theater group, where she acted in works such as The Parrots, The House of Bernarda Alba, Macbeth and others.

During this period her work in a monologue titled The Santería Priestess also stands out.

In Radio
Her time in radio has been very extensive: she has acted in spaces such as

Great Novels
The Story
Cuban Novel
The Great Adventure of Humanity
Through Our Fields and Cities.

In Television
Her broad acting spectrum has allowed her to take on both dramatic and humorous roles, as well as to be a host and reciter, conditions that she has developed fully on TV.

In Telenovelas
Novels such as:
The Old Pier
Next Year
Going Out at Night
Longed-for Meeting.

Humorous Programs
Behind the Facade
The Crazy Ants
Machine Time

Teletheaters
Cold Air
The Black D

"Already in 1975 I couldn't continue working for radio, because there were many commitments with television, which absorbed all my time. But radio fascinates me".

Also noteworthy have been her appearances in other television programs, such as On the Trail, the series Promises, as well as countless shorts made with the International Film School. Also the second season of the popular series Calendar.

"I am very grateful to Magda González Grau, an extraordinary and talented director, for the character she assigned me in this series, which in its first season was very well received by viewers throughout the country, for its cast, excellent direction and script. The latter in charge of Amílcar Salatti who in my opinion is, if not the best, one of the best writers of this time.

In this second season that I have the joy of participating in, I take on a very lovely character, which I like very much, as it is a grandmother named Bárbara. She is an austere person. A grandmother with very unique characteristics who takes care of a granddaughter whose parents are serving a mission abroad".

In Film
1981: Red Dust. Dir. Jesús Díaz.
1988: Plaff or Too Much Fear of Life. Dir. Juan Carlos Tabío.
2001: The Nights of Constantinople. Dir. Orlando Rojas.
2003: Even Though You're Far Away. Dir. Juan Carlos Tabío.

Internationalist
Natasha Díaz receives the ACTUAR Prize for Life's Work from the hands of J. L. Frías

She performed a tour through Ethiopia as a musical comedian, host and actress.

In France, Belgium and Spain she acted in a French version of Macbeth (by William Shakespeare) as part of a variety show.

Awards and Recognition
1979: Caracol Prize for female acting in television awarded by the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists. Havana, 1979, for The Old Pier.
1995: Caricato Prize for female acting in television awarded by the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists. Havana, 1995, for her performance in Next Year.
1999: Distinction for National Culture, awarded by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. Havana, 1999.
2012: Tropical Gypsy Distinction (2012), awarded by the Provincial Directorate of Culture of Havana.[3]
2018: ACTUAR Prize for Life's Work awarded by the Artistic Agency for Performing Arts ACTUAR in 2018.

Absolutely uncompromising in the face of injustice, Natacha Díaz considers herself to be a good person, tremendously sensitive one who feels others' pain as her own. She is a bearer of talent, humility and nobility even greater than what we have witnessed through the screens.