His first approach to acting was after finishing high school when he made a play with some classmates, the comedy
Charlatanes by Julio F. Escobar. In the early 1980s he acted in a commercial for
Cinzano. He debuted on television in 1980, with
Los hnos. Torterolo and then was part of
Historia de un trepador. In 1985 he filmed his first film,
El telo y la tele, also participated as an extra in the film
Los caballeros de la cama redonda starring
Alberto Olmedo and
Jorge Porcel. He participated in other television series of the 1980s, such as
El infiel, playing the role of Felipe for a year. In 1986, he filmed three films, among them
Camarero nocturno en Mar del Plata and
Las colegialas. He also acted in television series, such as
El lobo and
Juegos prohibidos. His career as a television and film actor continued during the following years with films such as
Los pilotos más locos del mundo,
Paraíso relax and
Bañeros II, la playa loca, which had its third part in 2006. His first big hit on television was telecomedy
De carne somos, broadcast by
Canal 13 in 1988. After this strip he starred in
Dalo por hecho, broadcast by
Canal 13, playing an Argentine
chanta (a scammer). Francella also made two TV series that were very popular at the time,
La familia Benvenuto and
Un hermano es un hermano, with
Javier Portales. In 1989 he starred in one of his greatest successes on film, the
action comedy Los extermineitors, which worked mainly as a spoof on the action films of the 1980s. The following year, he filmed
Extermineitors II, la venganza del dragón, the sequel and second part of the "Extermineitors saga" of comedy films; that same saga eventually became spawned into the 1992 action-comedy series
Brigada Cola, an
Extermineitors spinoff where Francella played the protagonist, Francachella.
Brigada Cola was a big rating success that even became a short-lived theater version of the show with the same cast. During the early 1990s, Francella starred in two more sequels for
Los extermineitors, with the saga coming to an end with
the fourth part in the southern summer of 1992. When he returned to work on TV his fame had grown exponentially, even internationally, which is why his next series,
Naranja y media was translated into English and broadcast in several countries under the title
My Better Halves. His next movie,
Un Argentino en New York, was filmed in
Spain and
United States; starring alongside the Uruguayan actress/singer
Natalia Oreiro, it became one of the greatest
Argentine cinema hits. 1999 came with a new challenge as an actor, the series
Trillizos, dijo la partera with the actress
Laura Novoa. On this occasion, he had to play three Buenos Aires brothers, Luigi, Marcelo and Enzo, that integrated a classic family of Italian roots, but in turn, each with a different personality that characterized them. In 2000 he filmed
Papá es un ídolo it was translated in
English with the name of
Daddy is My Idol in this movie Manuel Bandera and Millie Stegman. He returned to television in 2001, in one of the most definitive roles of his career, in the comic program
Poné a Francella, where he took part in several sketches next to his cast. He had two seasons and aired until December 2002. There he shared the cast with
Gabriel Goity,
Alberto Fernández de Rosa,
Roberto Carnaghi,
Florencia Peña,
Andrea Frigerio,
Mariana Briski, Manuel Wirtz, René Bertrand, Toti Ciliberto and Cecilia Milone and with newly emerged models such as
Pamela David,
Luciana Salazar and Julieta Prandi. The repetitions were broadcast until 2006 during the weekends in
Argentina, while in other countries of
Latin America and
United States it was televised until the end of 2004. In 2003, he filmed in
Cuba,
Un día en el paraíso, movie in which Guillermo Francella played two characters, Reynaldo and Roy. That year he starred in the unit comedy,
Durmiendo con mi jefe, with
Luis Brandoni broadcast by
Canal 13. His next movie,
Papá se volvió loco, was released in 2005 and became a hit in theaters. From 2005 to 2006 he starred in the series
Casados con Hijos, an Argentine remake of
Married... with Children, playing the role of José "Pepe" Argento. For that role, in the first season, Asociación de Periodistas de la Televisión y la Radiofonía Argentinas awarded the
Martín Fierro Award to the "Best Leading Actor in Comedy", and in the second season, he was nominated again but lost to
Facundo Arana. During these two years, he starred with
Enrique Pinti at the Lola Membrives theater in
Buenos Aires and then at the Auditorium
Mar del Plata the musical comedy
The Producers, a great success with both the public and critics. It was Francella's debut in the musical genre. in 2016 In 2007 he starred in a new comic film,
Incorregibles, together with comedian
Dady Brieva and model Gisela Van Lacke. The film was a box-office success, but received negative reviews by the critics. In 2008, he made a special participation in the final chapter of the
soap opera Vidas robadas which won the
Martín Fierro de Oro Award 2008. At the end of the year, he traveled to
Mexico to star
Rudo y Cursi along with the Mexican actors
Gael García Bernal and
Diego Luna. In 2009, he starred alongside
Ricardo Darín and
Soledad Villamil in
El secreto de sus ojos which sold approximately two million tickets and became the most watched movie of the year, as well as the second most successful national film of all time in its country. The movie won an
Oscar for the best non-English speaking film. In 2011, he returned to the small screen with the TV comedy
El hombre de tu vida, where he played the role of Hugo, a man affected by a midlife crisis who decides to work professionally as a
gigolo. In addition, along with
Arturo Puig, he starred in the
Ana Katz comedy film
Los Marziano. In 2012 saw the premiere of the comedy film
¡Atraco!, starring Francella alongside
Nicolás Cabré and
Amaia Salamanca under the direction of Eduard Cortés, playing a fictional
Peronist named Merello. In addition, he had a small role in the film
El vagoneta en el mundo del cine. In 2013, he starred in the Marcos Carnevale romantic film,
Corazón de León, where he played León Godoy, a short-stature man who falls in love with Ivana Cornejo (
Julieta Díaz) a divorced lawyer. For this interpretation he received his second nomination for
Silver Condor Award, this time as Best Actor. In 2014, he starred with
Inés Estévez and
Alejandro Awada in the comedy-drama
El misterio de la felicidad, directed by
Daniel Burman. Francella plays the role of a man looking for his missing friend while falling in love with his friend's wife. In addition, Francella returned to the theater and starring along
Adrián Suar in
Dos pícaros sinvergüenzas, where he plays Lawrence Williams, a man who scams women together with his partner. In 2015 he starred in
The Clan, a crime thriller-historical film about the murders committed by the "Clan Puccio" in the early 1980s; Francella starred in the role of
Arquimedes Puccio together with
Peter Lanzani in the role of
Alejandro Puccio, and directed by
Pablo Trapero. The film was a box-office success and received an overall positive response by the critics. ==Personal life==