Victoria Abril was born in Malaga, July 4, 1959. Her real name is Victoria Merida Rojas and since 1991 she has lived in Paris, France with her two sons (Martin, the elder, and Felix, the younger) and is emotionally attached to French producer Pierre Edelman.

A popular, highly regarded Spanish performer, based in France since 1982, Victoria Abril began her career as a ballerina. Starting at seven she studied ballet, but at fourteen she reached great popularity as a model in the Spanish televisision programs "Uno, dos, tres, responda otra vez" and "625 lineas," becoming known all over Spain, and for that reason had to suspend her ballet studies for lack of time.

Her teacher encouraged her to participate in her first film, in 1974. After that, she was taken by the director 'Narciso Ibáñez Serrador' to be one of the maids in his famous TV contest _Un, dos, tres_ ('One, two, three'), and so she became to be well known all over Spain. Since 1975 she made several films in France and Italy. 1976 marked the start of her film career as she obtained the lead role in Vicente Aranda's film "Cambio de Sexo."

In Spain she had great success with Muchacha de las bragas de oro, La (1979), directed by Vicente Aranda. In 1987 she won the prize to the Best Female Performance in the Festival of San Sebastián for El Lute (camina o revienta). In 1991 she won the Golden Bear to the Best Actress in the Festival of Berlin for her work in Amantes (1991).

In 1995 she won the prize to the best actress in the Festival of Cannes for her work in Nadie hablará de nosotras cuando hayamos muerto (1995).

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