Alejandro Amenábar facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alejandro Amenábar
Amenábar in 2015
Born	Alejandro Fernando Amenábar Cantos (1972-03-31) 31 March 1972 (age 53) Santiago, Chile
Citizenship	Chile Spain
Occupation	Film director screenwriter composer
Years active	1992–present
Spouse(s)	David Blanco ​ ​ (m. 2015; div. 2019)​

Alejandro Amenábar (born 31 March 1972) is a talented film director, screenwriter, and composer from Chile and Spain. He is known for making movies that often win many awards. For example, he has won nine Goya Awards, which are like Spain's Oscars. He won "Best Director" for his 2001 film The Others.

He also won two European Film Awards. His movie The Sea Inside won an Academy Award for "Best Foreign Language Film" for Spain. Alejandro Amenábar writes or helps write the stories for all his films. He also creates almost all the music for them.

Early Life and Passions

Alejandro Amenábar was born in Santiago, Chile, on March 31, 1972. His father, Hugo Ricardo Amenábar, was Chilean, and his mother, Josefina Cantos, was Spanish. Alejandro has both Chilean and Spanish citizenship. His father worked as a technician, and his mother stayed home to care for him and his older brother, Ricardo.

In August 1973, when Alejandro was very young, his family moved to Spain. They settled in Madrid, first living in a camping caravan. When Alejandro was six, they moved to a home near Paracuellos de Jarama.

Alejandro and his brother did not watch much television when they were growing up. From the age of 15, Alejandro spent a lot of time going to the cinema to watch movies. Besides films, he loved writing stories and reading books. His mother said he could remember everything he read. As a child, he also made up melodies easily on the keyboard and guitar.

Education and Early Career

Alejandro started school at Padres Escolapios de Getafe. Later, he moved to the Alameda de Osuna Institute in Madrid. His parents wanted him to go there because it was known as one of the best schools.

Before becoming a director, Alejandro worked different jobs. He was a stock boy in a warehouse and a gardener. He saved money to buy his own camera. He wanted to use a camera before studying film at university.

He went to the Information Sciences Faculty at Madrid's Complutense University. However, he decided to stop studying film there. Even so, going to university was helpful. He met people who became very important in his career. These included Sergio Rozas, Carlos Montero, and Eduardo Noriega. He also met Mateo Gil, a close friend. They promised to always support each other's film projects.

Film Career Highlights

Between 1991 and 1994, Amenábar made three short films. These short films greatly influenced his first full-length movies. They were called La Cabeza, Himenóptero, and Luna.

A famous director named José Luis Cuerda helped Alejandro a lot. Cuerda read the script for Himenóptero and was very impressed. He decided to produce Alejandro's first major film, Thesis (1996). This movie was a thriller set at a university. Thesis made Alejandro famous. It won seven Goya Awards, including Best Picture and Best New Director.

In 1997, he directed Abre Los Ojos. This was a science fiction movie that did well at film festivals around the world. The famous actor Tom Cruise liked the movie so much that he bought the rights to remake it. Tom Cruise starred in the American version, called Vanilla Sky.

His third full-length film was The Others (2001). This was a ghost story starring Nicole Kidman. It was a huge success internationally, especially in Spain. It was the most-watched film in Spain that year. In the United States, it was also very popular and stayed at the top of the box office for weeks. The film won eight Goya Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

In 2004, Amenábar released The Sea Inside. This movie was based on the true story of Ramón Sampedro. He was a man who could not move his arms or legs (a quadriplegic). The film explored important ideas about life. It won 14 Goya Awards, including Best Movie and Best Director. It also won an Academy Award for "Best Foreign Language Film".

In 2008, Amenábar started working on a film called Mists of Time, which was later renamed Agora. This movie starred well-known actors like Rachel Weisz. Agora premiered in 2009. It was a very expensive Spanish film to make, costing 50 million euros.

After a break of almost seven years, Amenábar returned in 2015 with the thriller Regression. This film starred Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson. It first showed at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Alejandro Amenábar is also a talented composer. He creates the music for his own films. He has also composed music for other movies, such as Butterfly's Tongue and Nobody Knows Anybody.

Filmography

Film

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Composer	Notes
1996	Thesis	Yes	Yes	Associate	Yes
1997	Open Your Eyes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
1999	Butterfly's Tongue	No	No	No	Yes
	Nobody Knows Anybody	No	No	No	Yes
2001	The Others	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
2004	The Sea Inside	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also editor
2009	Agora	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
2010	For the Good of Others	No	No	Yes	No
2015	Regression	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
2019	While at War	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2025	The Captive	Yes

Short film

Television

See also

In Spanish: Alejandro Amenábar para niños