Catalina Saavedra


Catalina Saavedra Pérez is a Chilean film, stage and television actress. She is known to international audiences for playing the title character in the 2009 film The Maid, for which she received several awards and nominations.

Career

Saavedra's father is the writer Omar Saavedra Santis. She started acting lessons at the age of ten, prompted by her mother's hiring of a private theater arts teacher in Valparaíso. Years later, her love for acting led her to deepen her studies at the "Escuela de Teatro Imagen" in Santiago and later in Barcelona, when she began to study experimental theatre.
Saavedra's first professional theatre performances were in roles in plays such as El Despertar, Pervertimientos y Otros Gestos Para Nada and La noche de la Iguana, and in a café-chantant called TV cable 90. On film, Saavedra's first appearances were in short films, such as El Bidón and Volando Voy. Saavedra has performed various roles in several soap operas, sitcoms and TV shows on Chilean and German television.
International recognition for Saavedra came in 2009, for her leading role as Raquel in the 2009 Chilean film The Maid. It was released on 13 August 2009 in Chile and 16 October 2009 in the United States, grossing over $400,000 in the first few weeks in theaters with only 18 copies circulating, turning into one of the most successful Chilean films in the United States. The film ended its theatrical run in the United States with a gross of $576,608. Her role was praised by specialized press and critics around the world, bestowing her many acting awards, including Best Actress at the Sundance Film Festival, Torino Film Festival, Huelva Film Festival, Biarritz Film Festival, Cartagena Film Festival and Miami Film Festival, a breakthrough award at the Gotham Independent Film Awards and a Satellite Awards nomination. In late 2009, she appeared as a possible nominee for the most important film awards, Academy Awards and Golden Globes Awards along with the film The Maid for International Movie.

Work in TV and stage

Television credits (sitcoms and series)

Jaguar Yu Amor a domicilio, la comedia as BrígidaGeografía del deseo, as MarisaLos Galindo, season 1, episode 1Loco por ti, season 4, episode 2Los simuladores, season 1, episodes 1, 3, 4 and 8La Nany, season 1, episodes 8 and 76La otra cara del espejo, season 1, episode 1Urgencias, season 2, episode 9Huaiquimán y Tolosa, season 1, episode 8Los Venegas as Josefina

Television credits (soap operas)

  • Hasta en las mejores familias as Jessica
  • Amor a Domicilio as Brígida
  • Adrenalina as Raquel Trujillo
  • Playa Salvaje as Susana
  • Fuera de Control as Pamela Duarte
  • Sabor a Ti as Virginia Solano
  • Piel Canela as Talula Vargas
  • Buen Partido as Rita
  • Fortunato, as Dulcinea

Stage credits

El Despertar Pervertimientos y Otros Gestos Para Nada La noche de la Iguana Muerte de un Funcionario Público Telarañas Sht Ojos Rotos Firmas para el Amor, Assistant directorCirculando Ni Ahí Inocencia En La Sangre Putas Errantes El lugar de la misericordia, Assistant directorLas Gallinas Las Brutas Los Mountainbikers Diatriba de la victoria
  • ''Equívoca Fuga de Señorita Apretando un Pañuelo de encaje sobre su Pecho''