The actress Aitana Sánchez-Gijón has been awarded the Goya of Honor 2025. The Film Academy made public this Thursday the name of the person, the ninth woman who will receive, by decision of the board of directors, the highest recognition for a lifetime dedicated to cinema. Next February 8 in Granada at the 39th edition of the Spanish film awards.
As the president of the Academy recalled, Fernando Méndez-Leitethe actress has not received any Goya award to date, although she has assured that “we expect many great performances from her” since, as she has assured, “she is in her best moment.” The interpreter, as Méndez-Leite has recalled, was the first woman president of the Film Academy in 1998.
The board of directors of the Film Academy has decided to give this award to the actress for “being a great companion”, with 38 years of experience behind her. “A serious, competent, dedicated, approachable actress who knows how to give her work truth, sincerity and depth,” the president announced.
Sánchez-Gijón has revealed that he received the news before the theater performance of the play The Mother in Guadalajara. “It has been difficult for me to keep the secret from my loved ones,” the actress joked at the press conference, where she confessed that at first she felt “offended” by the decision because she believed that it should fall to “an older person with greater trajectory”. “I am overwhelmed and very happy,” said the actress, who assured that this recognition “exceeds” her.
“An injection of life and love; a stimulus to move forward,” said Sánchez-Gijón, the honorary Goya. “I get emotional remembering all the people I have grown up with. I have had the privilege of working with great actors, from whom I have drunk, and I have also worked with young actors and actresses, and this generational exchange is very important,” he said. underlined.
Among the names of his professional life, these two have stood out: Teresa Hermida and Óscar Vidal, his first teachers. With Vidal she had “the epiphany” of wanting to dedicate herself to acting, she said, emphasizing that “I just wanted to be an actress.” “Devoting yourself to this profession is very hard; it must be a real vocation, that of needing to tell stories. I have been privileged: I am part of that 7% of actors and actresses who can make a living from this,” she recalled.
A life on stage and the big screen
Born in Rome in 1968, she made her television debut in the series Second teachingby Pedro Masó, at only 16 years old, after which he played several small roles in theater and film, it was not until 1989, at the age of 21, that he rose to fame with the film Get down to the Moorby Fernando Colomo. Throughout his career he has participated in more than 40 feature films, with the help of filmmakers such as Pedro Almodóvar, Pilar Miró, Bigas Luna and Fernando Fernán Gómez. But also internationally he has worked with Gabriele Salvatores and Brad Anderson.
She was nominated for the Goya in 2021 for Best Supporting Female Performance for her role in Madres Paralelas and in 1999 she was recognized with the Silver Shell for Best Actress at the San Sebastián Festival for her role in They flew awayby Bigas Luna.
She also has extensive experience in the television world with roles such as Ana Ozores in the series The Regent (La 1) or Blanca Soto’s in Velvet (Antena 3), has recently starred in the Netflix production, Breathe.
Regarding her career, the actress has highlighted that all the colleagues who have shared the stage with her have been fundamental. “I am reviewing my entire life and remembering all these people with whom I have grown up and who have been fundamental. Since I was a child I have had the privilege of filming with colleagues, actors and actresses, from different generations and I will also remember of my theater teachers and of so many people that I cannot list them,” he emphasized.
In the last edition of the awards, the award went to the director of photography, film restorer and Catalan researcher Juan Mariné and in 2023 it went to the filmmaker Carlos Saura, who died just the day before the Goya gala and received a heartfelt tribute during the ceremony. Other names that have received the award have been José Sacristán, Ángela Molina, Ana Belén, Antonio Banderas and Marisa Paredes.
