Santiago Segura Silva was born in
Madrid on 17 July 1965. He was raised in the city's district of
Carabanchel. After studying Arts at the
Complutense University of Madrid, he decided to pursue a career as a filmmaker and in 1989 he directed the short
Relatos de medianoche with a budget of 7000
pesetas (around
US$50). In 1992 he went on to direct his first professional short
Evilio, followed with
Perturbado in 1993. Segura is a recurring actor in the works of directors
Alex de la Iglesia and
Guillermo del Toro. In 1993, he had a small role in Alex de la Iglesia's film
Acción mutante. Two years later, he starred in
El día de la Bestia, from the same director and that role made him famous in Spain. In 1998 he directed the film that brought him to stardom,
Torrente, the Dumb Arm of the Law (1998), in which he also acted as the lead character
José Luis Torrente, a sleazy crime-fighter. Its popularity led to
a films series of five sequels and two computer games (
Torrente and
Torrente 3: The Protector).
Torrente 2: Mission in Marbella made €22,838,500 at the Spanish
box office, becoming the highest grossing Spanish film of all time.
Torrente 3: el protector, the third film in the series, was released in September 2005. Its advertising campaign parodied
Batman Begins, using the phrase "Torrente Acabado" ("Torrente Finished"). Although he declared
Torrente 3: el protector would be the last of the Torrente series,
Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis was released in 2011. In 2010, he played the title role in
El gran Vázquez, based on the life of the legendary cartoonist/wastrel
Manuel Vázquez Gallego. In 2014 he released
Torrente 5: Operación Eurovegas with
Alec Baldwin as guest star, and was the top release of 2014 in Spain. He has since made his way into American culture by making appearances in movies such as
Pacific Rim,
Hellboy,
Hellboy II: The Golden Army and
Blade II (all of them by Del Toro),
Perdita Durango (by De la Iglesia),
Jack and Jill and
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London. He has also dubbed video games to Spanish, like
Jack Black's role in
Brütal Legend. Because of his success, Santiago Segura has become a producer. He owns Amiguetes Entertainment company, he is associated with the theater in Estación del Norte in Madrid, and has produced
Promedio rojo (2004) (featuring Nicolás López) and
Aquí mando yo... y punto com. In 2018 he appeared in the third season of
MasterChef Celebrity. He was the 10th contestant to be eliminated. ==Filmography==