Santiago Cabrera is an international star on both stage and screen. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, to a Chilean diplomat father and mother who was a homemaker, he grew up in London, Romania, Toronto and Madrid. When he was a teenager, the family moved back to Chile where Cabrera focused on athletics until his high school teacher encouraged him to try drama. Santiago trained at London’s prestigious Drama Centre under renowned instructors Yat Malgrem and Christopher Fettes, whose students include Sir Sean Connery and Sir Anthony Hopkins.
Concurrent with his final year at the Centre, he made his television debut with small roles on British television. His first role after graduating from drama school was “Montano” in Shakespeare’s “Othello,” at the London Greenwich Theatre, directed by Rupert Gold. He also played “Romeo” on stage in London’s Middle Temple Hall production of “Romeo and Juliet.”
His film credits include “Love and Other Disasters,” “Haven” and “The Life of Fish,” which received a Goya for Best Foreign Language film. His American television debut was the lead role of “Octavius” in the epic miniseries “Empire.” Most notably, he is known for his breakthrough role as painter “Isaac Mendez” in “Heroes,” followed by his role in the critically acclaimed Steven Soderbergh feature “Che.” He also plays “Lancelot” in a recurring role on the popular BBC series “Merlin.” He recently completed the feature film “Cristiada,” a chronicle of the Cristeros War, starring opposite Peter O’Toole and Andy Garcia, as well as the HBO film “Hemingway and Gelhorn” as famed photographer Robert Capa. Both projects are scheduled for 2012.
Although he considers Santiago, Chile, his hometown, he currently splits his time between London and Los Angeles. In addition to his native Spanish language, he is fluent in English, French and Italian.
