About me
València, 2000 — Madrid
01I was born among paintbrushes, canvases and photographs
I was born among paintbrushes, canvases and photographs. At two years old I went, for the first time, to a magical place where my mother forgot all her problems for a few hours and became the happiest person in the world. From that moment on I was in love with cinema and I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
02Why?
As a teenager I nicked my mum's camera every chance I got. I ran my little experiments and shot whatever hit me, above all us: human beings. I wanted to understand why. Why do we insult each other, hate each other, love each other, want each other? And I'm still asking. I still don't get all of it. Why?
03Death came to visit
As I was finishing my arts baccalaureate, death came to visit, so I could learn on my own skin what life was. I spent nearly a month in hospital and went under the knife twice for a collapsed lung. It made me realise that life can end when you least expect it. And that it has no mercy, however young you are. I'm one of the very lucky ones: I get to tell the story. Sadly, my friend Julián wasn't so lucky.
After I got out of hospital and, by some miracle, graduated, Julián died of a heart attack. The fucked-up, ironic part is that Julián died dressed as Death at his village fiesta. He'd invited me that night, but I couldn't make it. I still wonder whether he'd be alive if I'd gone. I think about you sometimes, Julián: we miss your joy and your optimism, my friend.
04The king of Minesweeper
That's what pushed me to jump into the thing I wanted to do and that scared me to death at the same time. After two months as the king of Minesweeper, and a lot of beers, I dropped out of my art history degree and threw myself into acting.
I'd worked out that to direct, I first had to understand acting, and actors. I also got into acting because I had a stammer: I sputtered and stalled like an old engine. Oh, and I was a virgin at the time. All I can say is that joining the theatre cured both problems. One before the other, obviously.
05A completely mad teacher
I trained at the Fundación Shakespeare in València under a completely mad teacher who, I have to admit, was also a genius. I could write five novels, a TV series and a trilogy about everything that happened to me in the years I spent with that theatre company. But since we haven't got all day, and you may already be getting bored of me, I'll give you one short story.
The Maestro, if you could call him that, had to have surgery for a really nasty fucking cancer. You may not believe this, but it's true. After the operation he escaped from the hospital and turned up to class in his gown, with a drip and a catheter. That scene was fucking unreal.
To this day I wonder how he got out of the hospital. That was everyday life at that school, just to give you an idea of how batshit the place was.
06My good shit
While I was studying theatre I made loads of experiments (I called them my good shit) in every corner of the audiovisual world. I tried to learn everything I could, in front of the camera and behind it.
Once I'd graduated, I wanted to stay on in that madhouse: to me it was home. But the Maestro kicked me out, because he got it into his head that I was going to steal the school from him. Like I said, it was a very special place. It hurt a lot that the man who trained me threw me out like that. Looking back, I can see my time there had to end right then.
07Off to Madrid
After being kicked out, a global pandemic, a romance that left its mark, with a psychic medium thirteen years older than me, which ended at a jazz concert in Paris with a row straight out of a film, and a Star Wars series shoot where I was a featured extra alongside Hollywood stars, I decided to head for Madrid, a place I love and where I still live.
These days I'm still learning from life every single day, and I'm still telling stories, in front of the camera and behind it.
08If you've read this far
If you had the patience to read all the way to the end, thank you. I know it's not a quick dopamine hit like a TikTok of some influencer dancing or doing something completely pointless. Maybe one day I'll do that too, but for now I think I'll hold off.
Maybe I'll do a Casillas, the Real Madrid goalkeeper: once I've achieved everything I ever wanted, I'll spend my days acting like a dickhead.
With love, Enrike