Eduard Fernández Serrano (born 25 August 1964) is a Spanish screen and stage actor from Catalonia. He has featured in films such as Fausto 5.0 (2001), In the City (2003), Smoke & Mirrors (2016), While at War (2019), The 47 (2024), and Marco, the Invented Truth (2024). He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Goya Awards.
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Early life and education
Eduard Fernández was born in Barcelona on 25 August 1964. He trained as a mime artist at the Barcelona's Institut del Teatre, and did street performances as such.
Screen career
Following a theatre (he was a member of Els Joglars) and television career, he made his feature film debut at age 30, in 1994 film Souvenir. His breakthrough film role in 1999 thriller Washington Wolves earned him a nomination to the Goya Award for Best New Actor.
His portrayal of Santos Vella, a contemporary Mephistopheles, in Fausto 5.0 (2001) earned him the Goya Award for Best Actor.
Fernández starred in Alberto Rodríguez's political thriller Smoke & Mirrors (2016) as corrupt spy/fixer Francisco Paesa, clinching the Silver Shell for Best Actor at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.
In 2019, he portrayed the founder of the Spanish Legion, one-eyed and one-armed Millán Astray, in While at War, a drama film set in the early stages of the Spanish Civil War focused on the plight of philosopher Miguel de Unamuno. For his performance in the film, he won a Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also starred in Belén Funes' social drama A Thief's Daughter in tandem with his daughter Greta.
In 2021, Fernández featured in Mediterraneo: The Law of the Sea, in which he portrayed Open Arms founder Òscar Camps, the protagonist of the film.
Fernández featured in 2022 psychological thriller God's Crooked Lines (2022), portraying psychiatric hospital director Samuel Alvar, the nemesis of lead character Alice Gould. In an interview to Vanity Fair, Fernández stated that he believed his character to be "a bit misogynistic in addition to having a big ego".
In 2024, Fernández portrayed two iconic roles in film: Manolo Vital in The 47 and Enric Marco in Marco, the Invented Truth, the former a bus driver of immigrant background who hijacked a Barcelona bus line in 1978 in order to stand for his neighbors' rights and the latter an impostor who falsely pretended to be a survivor of the Flossenbürg concentration camp. For the aforementioned performances, he respectively won the Gaudí and the Goya Awards for Best Leading Actor. Also in 2024, he was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts. The year was rounded up with the short film El otro, Fernández's directorial debut, which premiered at the 69th Seminci. In 2025, he was awarded with Spain's National Cinematography Prize, recognizing his career as well as a year 2024 with "two outstanding performances in two completely different films".
In 2025, he portrayed PCE leader Santiago Carrillo in the historical drama miniseries The Anatomy of a Moment about the 23 February 1981 Spanish coup attempt. In order to prepare for the role, he worked with Carlos Latre. He went on to star in the family drama The Bad Father (2026), set to premiere at the 74th San Sebastián International Film Festival. In the film, he portrayed a renowned writer and scholar reuniting with his three estranged children for Christmas.
Family
Fernández had a 25-year relationship with writer Esmeralda Berbel, with whom he had one daughter, Greta (born 1995), who has also pursued an acting career.
Views
In 2026, Fernández co-signed alongside other Spanish artists a text urging the United Nations and the governments of the world to actively work towards the release from prison of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti.
Partial filmography
Accolades
Fernández has been recognized by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain for the following:
14th Goya Awards: Best New Actor, nominated, for Washington Wolves (1999)
16th Goya Awards: Best Actor, win, for Fausto 5.0 (2001) and Best Supporting Actor, nomination, for Sound of the Sea (2001)
18th Goya Awards, Best Supporting Actor, win, for In the City (2003)
19th Goya Awards, Best Actor, nomination, for Things That Make Living Worthwhile (2004)
20th Goya Awards, Best Supporting Actor, nomination, for The Method (2005)
25th Goya Awards, Best Supporting Actor, nomination, for Biutiful (2010)
28th Goya Awards, Best Actor, nomination, for All the Women (2013)
29th Goya Awards, Best Supporting Actor, nomination, for El Niño (2014)
31st Goya Awards, Best Actor, nomination, for Smoke & Mirrors (2016)
33rd Goya Awards, Best Supporting Actor, nomination, for Everybody Knows (2018)
34th Goya Awards, Best Supporting Actor, win, for While at War (2019)
36th Goya Awards, Best Actor, nomination, for Mediterraneo: The Law of the Sea (2021)
39th Goya Awards, Best Actor, win, for Marco, the Invented Truth (2024)
