Ugalde made his debut in the cinema in
Fill Me with Life. He then featured in
Volverás (2002), playing a good student who is about to leave home, when he met his criminal brother (
Tristán Ulloa), thus leaving the "right way" and trying to help him to reach emotional maturity during a night. The same year, Ugalde had a supporting role in the film
Bellas durmientes by Eloy Lozano. In 2003, Ugalde starred in the controversial film
Diario de una becaria by Josecho San Mateo, director of Ugalde's first film. That year, he was about to premiere
Equus in the theatre, playing the same role for which
Peter Firth was nominated for an
Oscar: a young aggressive, on the brink of madness, with a great fear of the outside world (similar to the teenager who played in
El grupo) who is overcome by shyness and emotional instability. Finally the work was suspended. However, this failed attempt highlighted the fact that Ugalde was specializing in violent youth with a good heart, as he plays the role of Gorilo in
Héctor (
Gracia Querejeta, 2004). That year the director Paul Malo, with whom he had worked on a short film, offered him a starring role in
Frío sol de invierno. Two months after the release of the latter, Ugalde received a nomination for the
Goya Awards for his performance in
Héctor, as well as a new nomination in the Unión de Actores Awards. In 2005, he premiered
Queens, in the role of a man about to marry his boyfriend (
Daniel Hendler) in the first Spanish
gay wedding who could not support his castrating mother. In his next film,
Alatriste, he played the son of a fellow of
Viggo Mortensen who died in
Flanders. While recording he received the news that
Daniel Brühl was to play
Salvador Puig Antich in
Salvador, to the detriment of his own candidacy. When he completed his role in
Alatriste, Ugalde recorded his third international film, this time in English.
Miloš Forman asked him to play the brother of
Natalie Portman in ''
Goya's Ghosts'' along with
Javier Bardem,
Randy Quaid,
Stellan Skarsgård, Eusebio Lázaro,
Blanca Portillo,
José Luis Gómez, Andrés Gértrudix and Fernando Tielve. He combined the filming of his last two works with the promotion of
Shooting Star which led him, among other places, to the
Berlin Film Festival and in 2005 to the Festival of Seville. In 2006, before premiering
Alatriste, he filmed
Savage Grace with
Julianne Moore, playing one of Tony Baekeland's lovers. In 2007, he played a young Florentino Ariza in the
film adaptation of the book
Love in the Time of Cholera. Then he starred in
La buena nueva, in which he plays a priest who spends the
Spanish Civil War in the navarrese town of
Alsasua and who will witness with horror the atrocities being committed in the name of religion. In this film, Ugalde stars with
Guillermo Toledo and fellow Basque actress
Barbara Goenaga, among others and is directed by Helena Taberna. In 2008, Ugalde played the role of Roberto "El Vaquerito" Rodríguez in
Che Part 1: The Argentine, the first part of the two-part
biopic about
Ernesto "Che" Guevara. The film is an American production inspired about Guevara's life during the
Cuban Revolution and directed by
Steven Soderbergh. In 2010, Ugalde filmed three films:
Cefalópodo directed by Rubén Imaz, a Mexican film about overcoming a break-up in a couple;
Bon Appétit an opera prima that was directed by David Pinillos and shot in
Zurich, Switzerland, and filmed in English, in addition the film won the
Goya Award for Best New Director; and finally
No controles directed by Borja Cobeaga,
Pagafantas director. In 2011, Ugalde premiered two films, the first being
There Be Dragons, directed by
Roland Joffé and based on
Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer's life as a catholic priest and founder of
Opus Dei. The film has been the best second of Spanish cinema on its first week-end, the record goes to
Torrente 4; the second film is
Tequila: Historia de una pasión by Sergio Sánchez Suárez, Ugalde's second role in Mexican cinema. Ugalde shot scenes for a play entitled
Olaguílbe 1808 by Patxi Basabe. In addition, Ugalde starred in
Baztan by Iñaki Elizalbe, a Spanish film that was shot in
Basque.
Baztan had its premiere during the
60th San Sebastián International Film Festival, the film garnered positive reviews and critical acclaim. Finally, in december Ugalde premiered TV film
El asesinato de Carrero Blanco in
ETB and 2012 in
TVE. In 2012, Ugalde starred in
Dracula 3D, a horror film directed by
Dario Argento, shooting in English, Ugalde plays
Jonathan Harker, one of the main protagonists.
Dracula 3D was shown during the
65th Cannes Film Festival and the film was greeted with largely mixed reviews from critics. Next year, Ugalde shot two films. The first is
Bypass, Ugalde's second raid in
Basque language; the other film is
Somos gente honrada. In addition, Ugalde joined the cast of the third season of the drama series
Gran Reserva. == Work ==