Born in Camagüey province, the actress graduated of Acting at the National School of Art. Since then, she has enjoyed a career of unstoppable achievements and major awards thanks to her ability to unfold on the stage no matter how difficult it may be.
Santos is known in Cuba and abroad for her performances in such films as Se permuta (1984), Clandestinos (1987), Adorables mentiras (1993), La vida es silbar (1998), Miel para Oshún (2000), Barrio Cuba (2005), Vestido de novia (2014) and El mundo de Nelsito (2022), just to name a few motion pictures.
With unparalleled histrionic qualities, she has represented Cuba at festivals in Europe and Latin America, served as juror at international film festivals and given workshops and lectures at film schools and universities in Mexico, Bolivia and Havana, among others.
With an extensive career in film and television, her awards include the Golden Toucan for best female performance at the First International Film, TV and Video Festival in Rio de Janeiro for the film Se permuta, and the award for female performance at the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema.
To the extensive list must be added, among others, the Award of the International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, for Clandestinos; and the prize for the best female performance in film at the contest of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), for Adorables mentiras (Adorable Lies).
Her ability to embody with equal virtuosity the most diverse characters is undeniable. On the challenge of whether or not she compares herself with a chameleon, she said in an interview:
You have to be like a chameleon because you live many lives, you enter many people’s worlds, each world is different and if you do it the same there is no good actor there, I do try to be one, whether I achieve it or not is another thing.
Among the female talents that inhabit Cuba’s artistic universe, those multiple faces that come to life in the skin of Isabel Santos invade until they captivate the senses of those who admire her and thank her for these years in which she has brought acting to success.
jg/arm/mgt/am
