Olatz Ganboa


Olatz Ganboa Pilar is a Basque film, theatre and television actress.
She has worked on several audiovisual productions, films and television series, such as Etxekoak, Itsasoa or Ángela. She has also worked on multiple stage productions, with acclaimed performances, including ¡Ay Carmela!, La casa de Bernarda Alba, Simplicissimus, Lyceum Club, La lucha por la vida or Festen, for which she won the Union of Basque Actors and Actresses Award in 2024.
In 2018 she was nominated for Best New Performer at the Ercilla Awards, in 2020 she was nominated for Best Stage Actress at the Union of Basque Actors and Actresses Awards and in 2024 she was a candidate for Best Actress at the Max Awards. In 2024 she won the Award for Best Stage Actress at the Union of Basque Actors and Actresses Awards.
IG olatzganboa

Life and career

Olatz Ganboa was born in Algorta on 2 January 1985. She studied the licenciate degree in journalism in the University of the Basque Country. She then studied the bachelor's degree in Dramatic Art at the Getxo Theatre School. There she met the actors Lander Otaola, Alvar Gordejuela and Alex Ygartua. With the latter he represented ¡Ay, Carmela! for several years.
After that, for 7 years, she took numerous interpretation, dance, and singing courses, both in Spain and in Argentina. She began by being part of the hACERIA and Pabellón 6 in Bilbao.
In 2014 she received the Award for Best Leading Actress at the Biescas Theatre Festival for her role of Carmela in the play ¡Ay, Carmela!. In 2018 she was nominated for the Ercilla Award for best revelation performer for the plays Lyceum Club and La casa de Bernarda Alba. During the years 2018 and 2020 he represented the work Simplicissimus, directed by Patxo Tellería.
In 2019 they won the Ercilla Award for Best Basque Production 2019 for the play ¡Ay, Carmela!. In 2020 she was nominated for Best Stage Actress at the Union of Basque Actors and Actresses Awards for the work ¡Ay, Carmela!.
In 2021 she was one of the presenters of the Max Awards. In 2023, she was part of the cast of the original production of the Teatro Arriaga La lucha por la vida, a play based on the works by Pío Baroja and directed by Ramón Barea.
In 2023, she performed the play ¿Do you let me give him the bottle? , together with his father Jon Ander Gamboa, written by Patxo Tellería and co-directed by Patxo Tellería and Mikel Losada. The stage production was awarded the Álex Angulo Award conferred by Pabellón Nº 6 and the Bilbao City Council and also received the Audience Award.
In 2023 she performed the play Festen, a stage production of the Arriaga Theatre, directed by María Goiricelaya, about sexual abuse within the family. In 2024 she was a candidate for Best Actress at the Max Awards for her performance in the stage production Festen. That same year she won the Award for Best Stage Actress at the Union of Basque Actors and Actresses Awards for her performance in the production Festen, which was praised and described as "shocking".
In 2024 Ganboa was awarded the Performing Arts Award for her professional career, in the 13th Edition of the AixeGetxo! Awards, awarded by the Getxo City Council.
In 2025, she joined the cast of the play Who Shot Us?, a stage production of the Arriaga Theatre, directed by Ramón Barea, 2013 National Theatre Award, a play about uprooting and disappointment, based on real events, about an immigrant family from Romania.

Private life

He currently lives in Bilbao. He is in a relationship with actor Mikel Losada. In 2016 he and Ganboa represented Los amantes del Casco Viejo, a theatre production of the Arriaga Theatre. They also recorded the series Etxekoak together, on ETB 1, in full confinement due to the COVID pandemic in 2020.
His father is Jon Ander Gamboa, lawyer and sports executive, former General Secretary of the Basque Football Federation between 1993 and 2014.

Filmography

Film

  • 2021, Carnívoro , dir. Lander Castro
  • 2017, Ziren, dir. Aitzol Saratxaga
  • 2016, We Are Pregnant, dir. Juana Macías
  • 2013, Tres mentiras, dir. Ana Murugarren

Television

Stage

Awards

Max Awards">Premios Max">Max Awards

YearCategoryFor workResultRef.
2024Best ActressFesten

Ercilla Awards

YearCategoryFor workResultRef.
2018Best New PerformerLyceum Club and La casa de Bernarda Alba
2019Best Basque Stage Production¡Ay, Carmela!Won

Union of Basque Actors and Actresses Awards

YearCategoryFor workResultRef.
2020Best Stage Actress¡Ay, Carmela!
2024Best Stage ActressFestenWon

Short Theatre Awards

YearCategoryFor workResultRef.
2023Álex Angulo AwardDo you let me give him the bottle?Won
2023Audience AwardDo you let me give him the bottle?Won

Other awards and recognitions

  • 2024, Performing Arts Award, for the professional career, in the AixeGetxo! Awards
  • 2014, Award for Best Leading Actress, for ¡Ay, Carmela!, at the Biescas Theatre Festival