Jorge Perugorría to star in Havana-set drama «Hotel Nacional»

Foto: Wikimedia Commons / FICG.mx (CC BY 2.0)

September 15, 2026

Cuban actor Jorge Perugorría, best known for his lead role in the Oscar-nominated film Strawberry and Chocolate (Fresa y chocolate), has been cast in the upcoming Havana-set drama Hotel Nacional, which will be presented at the Iberseries & Platino Industria Co-Production and Financing Forum. Variety first reported the casting, and other entertainment outlets have since confirmed the details.

Perugorría plays Rubén, a veteran bartender at Havana's iconic Hotel Nacional, opposite Brazilian star Thiago Lacerda and a Spanish doctor whose paths cross at the hotel bar. Writer-director Diego Corsini (Adiós Madrid) is helming the project for producers Cinescalas (Spain), TVZero (Brazil) and i4films, with support from Cuba's ICAIC. Principal photography is targeted for early 2027.

The film is on the slate for the sixth edition of Iberseries & Platino Industria, scheduled for September 29 to October 2. Corsini has described Rubén as a roughly 60-year-old Havanese with more than three decades behind the bar, whose everyday solitude is transformed when he meets the two foreign guests.

Fuente: Variety; HCNTimes

Jorge Perugorría Rodríguez

Arts, Actor, Painter, Director, Society

===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.