Milena Smit

Her career began at a hotel front desk

Milena Smit was working at a hotel front desk when cinema knocked on her door through Instagram. David Victori was looking for a face not tainted by industry mannerisms for Thou Shalt Not Kill in 2020. She had no formal training but a physical presence that devoured the camera from the very first casting.

And the gamble paid off.

In 2020, her Goya nomination for Best Revelation Actress confirmed that her magnetism was no casting accident. Critics praised her ability to hold the dramatic pulse opposite an actor with as long a track record as Mario Casas. It marked the start of a career that bypassed the usual path of traditional training.

In 2021, Pedro Almodóvar cast her in Parallel Mothers. There she shared the screen with Penélope Cruz under a pressure that would have overwhelmed actors with decades of experience. Smit held her ground with dry restraint, earning her second Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actress.

The Leap to the Global Market and Thrillers

Because audiences connected with her melancholic gaze, genre cinema became her natural refuge. In 2022 she starred in Dragonflies alongside Olivia Baglivi, an independent project exploring peripheral marginality. That same year she shot Tin & Tina, a psychological horror film in which she explored the limits of motherhood under a suffocating aesthetic.

The year 2023 marked her breakout thanks to the Netflix adaptation of The Snow Girl. Her role as journalist Miren Rojo moved her away from the ethereal image of her early career and plunged her into a raw, physical and emotional mire. The series racked up millions of hours viewed worldwide during its first weeks on air.

But her career did not stop at the easy success of streaming platforms.

In 2024 she starred in The Platform 2, aiming to repeat the international impact of the first installment. She also worked on the film The Infiltrator during that same period. Her name stopped being a promise and became a key part of contemporary Spanish cinema.

Projects Scheduled on the Calendar

For 2025, she has the release of The Gardener scheduled, a suspense series where mystery once again drives her performance. Her script selection strategy prioritizes characters with obvious inner fractures. She never chooses the path of acting comfort or light comedy.

The international market is no longer a possibility but a reality.

Production on her latest projects in 2025 has required shoots in a variety of locations, from the Basque Country to Madrid. The budget for El jardinero is one of the largest for a Spanish-soil suspense series during that period. Filming of the first season wrapped after twenty weeks of nonstop shooting.