Guillermo Francella

Life and work

Born in Buenos Aires, Francella made his television debut in [[1984]], participating in Historia de un Trepador (A Golddigger's Story). In 1985, he made his first feature film, El Telo y la Tele (Telo and Tele). He also participated in the television series, El Infiel (The Cheating Man) as Felipe during that year. 1986 was a very busy year for Francella: he filmed three movies, including Camarero Nocturno en Mar del Plata (Nightshift Steward at Mar Del Plata) and Las Colegialas (College Girls), as well as one television series, named El Lobo (The Wolf).

Francella's television and movie acting career continued on with movies as Los Pilotos más Locos del Mundo (The World's Craziest Pilots), Paraíso Relax (Relax Paradise, released as Casa de Masajes in Argentina) and Bañeros II:La Playa Loca (Beach Bums II:Crazy Beach); as well as television series like De Carne Somos (We are Made of Flesh) and La Familia Benvenutto. The aforementioned works were among Francella's acting experiences during the late 1980s.

In 1989, Francella participated in one of his biggest hits to date, Los Extermineitors, a comedy-action film that offered a satirical look at action movies such as Terminator and Rambo. Francella's next project was a sequel to that film. Extermineitors II: La venganza del dragón, filmed in 1990, was Francella's first acting job of the 1990s. In 1990, he also played a character whose name was a pun on his ("Francachella") in the Brigada Cola (Last Brigade), a comic television series. Two more sequels to Los Extermineitors followed, Extermineitors III: La gran pelea final and Extermineitors IV: Como hermanos gemelos, whose central argument was largely a parody of the classic Schwarzenegger/DeVito comedy Twins. After the release of the last film of the saga Francella took some time off from acting on screen.

When he returned to act in front of the cameras, international interest in his shows and movies had grown, and his first work in three years, 1997's Naranja y Media, was released in various English-speaking countries, under the name of My Better Halves. His next movie, 1998's Un Argentino en New York, was filmed in Spain and the United States. It was also a major Argentine cinema hit. In 2000, he participated in one of Telefe's most viewed shows, Papá es un Ídolo, a show that would also reach English-speaking countries under the name of Daddy is my Idol.

Francella began acting in 2001 in what perhaps may be his career's defining work: the Telefe live television sketch comedy and variety show Poné a Francella (Put on Francella), where he hosted and starred in the comic sketches. As of 2004, the series was being televised for the third year in a row; in Latin America, for a television series (not including telenovelas) to last longer than one year, it has to be considered a major hit. Poné a Francella reached the United States by DirecTV satellite transmissions.

Cuban president Fidel Castro, upon learning that the 2003 movie, Un Día en el Paraíso (A Day in Paradise) was to include Francella, gave the producers full permission to film the movie in Fidel's Cuba. Francella played two characters in that movie, Reynaldo and Roy. He returned to slapstick comedy in 2005 with Papá Se Volvió Loco (Daddy's Gone Mad!), and in the theatre with his local production of Young Frankenstein.

In 2005 he acted on the TV show Casados con hijos, a local remake of Married... with Children -playing the role of Pepe Argento, the argentinian equivalent version of Al Bundy- that was a big success in his country.

In the more recent years Francella has garnered critical acclaim due to his performance in the winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, El secreto de sus ojos (2009). The film marks both his first dramatic role in film and a drastic departure from his established TV figure - as well as his first collaboration with director Juan José Campanella. His most recent film is Los Marziano. As of 2011, he stars in the miniseries El hombre de tu vida, which was created and also directed by Campanella.