ARTIST’S PROFILE

Irene Escolar (Madrid, 1988) received a bilingual education in St. Anne´s School. After finishing her studies she graduated in University and studied English Philology. Her acting training includes an intensive course in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts of London, four years in Cristina Rota´s acting school in Madrid, five summers at the Biennale di Teatro di Venezia where she studied with Thomas Ostermeier, Declan Donnellan and Jan Lauwers amongst other international artists.

Irene started working in cinema when she was very young. At the age of fourteen she was picked by Carlos Saura to work on his movie “The seventh day”. From then on she has worked in twenty productions with directors such as Christopher Hampton, Jose Luis Cuerda or Hugh Hudson. In 2015 she shot “An Autumn without Berlin” where she played the leading part. This film was in competition at the San Sebastian International Film Festival where she received the Irizar Award as Best Actress. For that same part she was honoured with the Goya Award as Best New Actress as well as plenty of other nominations. In television she played the role of Juana “The Mad” with great success, for this work she received the ACE Award. More recently she has been part of Dime Quién Soy: Mistress of War where she plays the leading part giving life to a woman from the age of eighteen to the age of eighty. Her work has received excellent reviews and was sold to countries all around the world. 

 Irene has a very solid theatre career in Spain having worked in twenty eight productions with national and internationally recognized directors such as Àlex Rigola or Pascal Rambert. 

She has also produced several theatre pieces, such as David Harrower’s Blackbird or Martin Mcdonagh´s The cripple of Inishmaan. As well as this she created a monologue with Federico Garcia Lorca´s texts which she directed and starred in. In 2019 she was awarded the Comunidad de Madrid Theatre Award for her contribution to theatre in Spain.

In 2020 she created Escenario 0 for HBO Europe where she was the executive producer and acted in three episodes. Escenario 0 features six episodes from prominent writers and filmmakers. A unique project that mixes different disciplines to create an exceptional fusion between the performing and audiovisual arts. It premiered in the San Sebastian International Film Festival with great success.

In 2021 she was part of Competencia Oficial, a film by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn with Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas. The film premiered and was in official competition at the Venice International Film Festival and opened the section Perlas at the SSIFF. As well as this she has shot Tenéis que venir a verla directed by Jonás Trueba and where she plays a leading part.