Belén Rueda

María Belén Rueda García-Porrero (born 16 March 1965) is a Spanish actress. She is best known for her roles as Lucía in the TV series Los Serrano (2003); as Julia in Mar adentro (2004), for which she won a Goya Award; and as Laura in El orfanato (2007), for which she received another Goya Award nomination. Most recently she played the lead role in the movie Los ojos de Julia (2010). Rueda was born in Madrid. Her father was a civil engineer and her mother was a ballet instructor. She is the second of three children; her siblings are named María Jesús (Chus) and Alfonso. She and her family moved to San Juan, Alicante when she was a child. When Rueda was 18 years old she moved to Madrid to study architecture, but she left the university when she met an Italian man whom she later married. Rueda returned to Madrid and worked as a salesperson and a model until she became a TV presenter. After that she worked as an actress on television, including the show Los Serrano (2003), and eventually acted in films. She won a Goya Award in 2004 for her role as Julia in Mar adentro (2004). She received another Goya nomination for her role in the 2007 film, El orfanato (2007). Rueda played the lead role of the Spanish thriller Los ojos de Julia (2010), which was produced by Guillermo del Toro. She also starred in Oriol Paulo's thriller El cuerpo (2012).