ACTORS from Peru

Top 7

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Peruvian Actors of all time. This list of famous Peruvian Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Fernando Fernán Gómez (1921 - 2007)

With an HPI of 56.20, Fernando Fernán Gómez is the most famous Peruvian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages on wikipedia.

Fernando Fernández Gómez (28 August 1921 – 21 November 2007), better known as Fernando Fernán Gómez, was a Spanish actor, screenwriter, film director, theater director, novelist, and playwright. Prolific and outstanding in all these fields, he was elected member of the Royal Spanish Academy in 1998. He was born in Lima, Peru while his mother, Spanish actress Carola Fernán-Gómez, was making a tour in Latin America. He would later use her surname for his stage name when he moved to Spain in 1924. Fernán Gómez was regarded as one of Spain's most beloved and respected entertainers, winning two Silver Bears for Best Actor at the Berlin International Film Festival for The Anchorite and Stico. He was also the recipient of the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, the National Theater Award, the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts, the Gold Medal of the Spanish Film Academy, and six Goya Awards. He starred in 200 films between 1943 and 2006, working with directors including Carlos Saura (Ana and the Wolves, Mama Turns 100), Víctor Erice (The Spirit of the Beehive), Fernando Trueba (Belle Époque), José Luis Garci (The Grandfather), José Luis Cuerda (Butterfly's Tongue) and Pedro Almodóvar (All About My Mother). He directed over 25 films, among them El extraño viaje (1964), and Life Goes On (1965), both great classics of the Spanish cinema that were very limited distribution due to Franco's censorship and made him a "cursed" filmmaker in his country. His film Voyage to Nowhere (1986) earned critical acclaim, becoming the most awarded Spanish film at the 1st Goya Awards ceremony.

2. Henry Ian Cusick (b. 1967)

With an HPI of 50.92, Henry Ian Cusick is the 2nd most famous Peruvian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 38 different languages.

Henry Ian Cusick (born 17 April 1967) is a Peruvian-Scottish actor of television, film, and theatre and a television director. He is best known for his role as Desmond Hume in the ABC television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. He also starred as Jesus in The Gospel of John, as Stephen Finch in the ABC political thriller series Scandal, as Marcus Kane in The CW science fiction series The 100, as Dr. Jonas Lear in The Passage on Fox, and as Russell "Russ" Taylor in the CBS action drama MacGyver.

3. Nathalie Kelley (b. 1985)

With an HPI of 43.96, Nathalie Kelley is the 3rd most famous Peruvian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Nathalie Kelley (born 3 March 1984) is a Peruvian-Australian actress, known for her role as Neela in the 2006 action film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and for her roles in various television series including Body of Proof (2011–2012), Unreal (2015), The Vampire Diaries (2016–2017), Dynasty (2017–2018) and The Baker and the Beauty (2020).

4. Christian Meier (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 42.85, Christian Meier is the 4th most famous Peruvian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Christian Dietrich Meier Zender (born 23 June 1970) is a Peruvian actor and singer in Latin America, the U.S. Hispanic market, and around the Spanish-speaking world.

5. Salvador del Solar (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 35.93, Salvador del Solar is the 5th most famous Peruvian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Salvador Alejandro Jorge del Solar Labarthe (Spanish pronunciation: [salβaˈðoɾ ðel soˈlaɾ]; born 1 May 1970) is a Peruvian actor, film director and politician. He served as Prime Minister of Peru from March to September 2019, in President Martín Vizcarra's administration. Born in Lima, from a very young age he showed passion for acting. At first, he pursued a career in law, graduating from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in 1994. After working one-year as a lawyer, he decided to pursue a career in acting. Enrolled in Alberto Ísola's workshop, he starred in a variety of national classical theatre productions. Subsequently, he starred in three television series' directed by Luis Llosa. He gained international fame in 2000 for his portrayal of "Captain Pantaleón Pantoja" in Captain Pantoja and the Special Services film adaptation of Mario Vargas Llosa's classical novel, directed by Francisco J. Lombardi. The film was selected as Peru's 72nd Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film Award submission, but was not nominated. Del Solar took a brief hiatus of acting as he travelled to New York to pursue a master's degree in international relations at Syracuse University. Upon finishing his graduate studies, he acted in a variety of television productions, and ultimately relocated to Colombia and Mexico. Among other works, he starred in The Missing Elephant in 2013, and debuted as film director with Magallanes in 2014. After years dedicated to cultural promotion in his country, President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski appointed him Minister of Culture in a cabinet reshuffle on 5 December 2016, switching the previous Minister of Culture to Defense. In his one-year tenure as minister, he took a prominent role in promoting Peruvian cinema, and relaunching renowned museums throughout the country. He tendered his resignation on 27 December 2017, alongside other cabinet ministers in protest of president Kuczynski's pardon of former President Alberto Fujimori, imprisoned for murder and aggravated kidnapping. Upon César Villanueva's resignation as Prime Minister of Peru, Del Solar was appointed by president Martín Vizcarra as Villanueva's successor, on 11 March 2019. As tension arose between the executive branch and the Fujimorist dominated Peruvian Congress in the months of his premiership, Del Solar and Vizcarra worked towards finding a solution to the ongoing political crisis. The situation escalated when Congress convened a new election of the Constitutional Court magistrates, prompting Del Solar to appear before Congress asking for a vote of confidence to modify the magistrate's election rules for institutional preservation. The majority of Congress ignored his presentation, and proceeded to elect the new magistrates. President Vizcarra interpreted the election as factual denial of confidence, ultimately dissolving Congress by constitutional decree on 30 September 2019. Due to the denial of confidence against the cabinet, Del Solar tendered his resignation on the same day. He was succeeded by Vicente Zeballos. Del Solar is the first Peruvian politician to be heavily involved in the film industry and acting as a career. He is also the youngest prime minister of Peru, and the first one to be born after the multiple coups in Peru in the mid-20th century. He is viewed by pundits as potential presidential hopeful for the next general election cycles due to his positive experience as Prime Minister during the escalation of the 2017–2021 Peruvian political crisis but on 31 July 2020, he announced that he will not run for President.

6. María Julia Mantilla (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 33.35, María Julia Mantilla is the 6th most famous Peruvian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

María Julia "Maju" Mantilla García (born 10 July 1984) is a Peruvian actress, dancer, model, teacher and beauty queen who won Miss World 2004 in China.

7. Magaly Solier (b. 1986)

With an HPI of 30.52, Magaly Solier is the 7th most famous Peruvian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Magaly Solier Romero (born 11 June 1986) is a Peruvian actress and singer. Magaly Solier Romero was born on 11 June 1986 in to a Quechua family, the province of Huanta, in the region of Ayacucho in Peru. She speaks the indigenous language of Quechua, as well as Spanish. Solier has publicly spoken about the importance of supporting indigenous language, traditions, and culture. In 2003, she won the Festival de la Canción Ayacuchana with her singing. A year later, she made her debut as an actress in the film Madeinusa. In June 2017, Solier was declared an Artist of Peace by UNESCO in Paris, France.