Santiago Cabrera

A passport full of stamps

Santiago Cabrera was born in Caracas in 1978 by pure geographic chance. His father was a Chilean diplomat, which forced the family to change homes, languages and friends every few years. He lived in Toronto, London, Madrid and Romania before turning eighteen.

In London, he studied at the Drama Centre, where he crossed paths with a generation that wanted classical theater over quick fame. Santiago Cabrera is not your typical method actor.

But his British training gave him a technical foundation that allowed him to break into the American market without the burden of an accent. In his early years in England, he worked on Shakespeare productions and in small roles on British television.

And it worked.

The leap to global television

The year 2006 changed his bank account and his public profile. He played Isaac Mendez in Heroes, and that painter who predicted the end of the world in his canvases earned him a direct ticket to Hollywood's major leagues.

In 2008, he worked under Steven Soderbergh on the movie Che. He played the revolutionary Camilo Cienfuegos and shared scenes with Benicio del Toro on a shoot that aimed for an almost documentary-like realism.

Because his profile fit both historical dramas and big-budget blockbusters. In 2014, he donned Aramis's cloak in the BBC series The Musketeers (a production shot mainly in the Czech Republic), which ran for three full seasons.

The year 2020 marked his entry into a franchise with millions of fans around the world. In Star Trek: Picard, he played Cristóbal Rios, a captain with several holograms of himself. He was paid to play five different characters in a single scene, thanks to digital effects and constant shifts in technical register.

A return to her roots in 2024

Santiago Cabrera has always kept one foot in the Latin American market, despite living in California. In 2010, he starred in La vida de los peces (The Fish Lover), directed by Matías Bize, a film that won the Goya Award for Best Ibero-American Film.

The Anglo-American market has always been his home base.

But in 2024, he decided to return to filming in Spain. He took part in the production of Land of Women for Apple TV+ alongside Carmen Maura. The shoot took place entirely on location in Catalonia and marked his return to Spanish-language work after years of English-language projects.

In 2024, he also joined the cast of the series The Cleaning Lady for Fox in its third season. He played Jorge Sanchez, and the contract included a total of twelve episodes of intensive production.