Santiago Segura

Santiago Segura Silva was born in Madrid on 17 July 1965. He was raised in the city's district of Carabanchel. After studying Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid, he decided to pursue a career as a filmmaker, and in 1989 he directed the short, Relatos de medianoche, with a budget of 7,000 pesetas (around US$50). In 1992 he went on to direct his first professional short Evilio, followed with Perturbado in 1993.

Segura is a recurring actor in the works of directors Alex de la Iglesia and Guillermo del Toro.

In 1993 he had a small role in Alex de la Iglesia's film Acción mutante. Two years later he starred in El día de la Bestia by the same director and made a name for himself in Spain. In 1998 he directed the film that brought him stardom, Torrente, the Dumb Arm of the Law (1998), in which he also played the lead character José Luis Torrente, a sleazy crime-fighter. Its popularity led to a film series of five sequels and two computer games (Torrente and Torrente 3: The Protector).

Torrente 2: Mission in Marbella made €22,838,500 at the Spanish box office, becoming the highest-grossing Spanish film of all time. Torrente 3: el protector was released in September 2005. Its advertising campaign parodied Batman Begins, using the phrase "Torrente Acabado" ("Torrente Finished"). Although he declared Torrente 3: el protector would be the last of the Torrente series, Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis was released in 2011. In 2010 he played the title role in El gran Vázquez, based on the life of the legendary cartoonist/wastrel Manuel Vázquez Gallego. In 2014 he released Torrente 5: Operación Eurovegas with Alec Baldwin as guest star,, and it became the top release of 2014 in Spain.

He has since made his way into American culture by making appearances in movies such as Pacific Rim, Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and Blade II (all of them directed by Guillermo Del Toro); Perdita Durango (by De la Iglesia); Jack and Jill; and Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London.

He has also dubbed video games into Spanish, like voicing Jack Black's role in Brütal Legend.

Because of his success Santiago Segura has become a producer. He owns the production company Amiguetes Entertainment, is associated with the theater in Estación del Norte in Madrid, and has produced Promedio rojo (2004) (featuring Nicolás López) and Aquí mando yo... y punto com.

In 2018 he appeared in the third season of MasterChef Celebrity. He was the tenth contestant to be eliminated.