Guillermo Héctor Francella (Latin American Spanish pronunciation: [giˈʃeɾmo fɾanˈtʃela]; born 14 February 1955) is an Argentine actor and comedian. Besides a long history of working as a television leading man, he also has a varied theatrical and film career. Francella is widely regarded by experts and critics of performance as one of the most influential and popular actors of his country.
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Biography
Guillermo Francella is the second of two brothers, children of Ricardo Héctor Francella, a bank employee, gym teacher and weightlifting coach at Racing Club and Adelina Redondo. He spent his first two years of life in Villa del Parque, Buenos Aires, Argentina and later the family moved to Béccar, a northern neighborhood of Greater Buenos Aires where Francella lived for the rest of his childhood. The house was located next to that of his paternal grandparents, Domenico and Zaída; his grandfather was an Italian immigrant in Argentina who had arrived in Argentina from Falconara Albanese, Calabria and whose original last name was Frangella.
He attended and received a bachelor's degree from the Institute June 20 of San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1972. Later, although he wanted to study theater, he continued studying journalism. He got a journalist's degree after studying for three years and later started working for the magazine Gente, where he served as a journalist for three months before being fired. He also worked as a clothing seller in a store, as an insurance salesman and as a member of a real estate company with his uncle. His father died when Francella was twenty-six years old, which was "a very strong blow" to his family.
Francella is a catholic.
Career
His first approach to acting was after finishing high school when he made a play with some classmates, the comedy Charlatanes by Julio F. Escobar. In the early 1980s he acted in a commercial for Cinzano. He debuted on television in 1980, with Los hnos. Torterolo and then was part of Historia de un trepador. In 1985 he filmed his first film, El telo y la tele, also participated as an extra in the film Los caballeros de la cama redonda starring Alberto Olmedo and Jorge Porcel. He participated in other television series of the 1980s, such as El infiel, playing the role of Felipe for a year. In 1986, he filmed three films, among them Camarero nocturno en Mar del Plata and Las colegialas. He also acted in television series, such as El lobo and Juegos prohibidos. His career as a television and film actor continued during the following years with films such as Los pilotos más locos del mundo, Paraíso relax and Bañeros II, la playa loca, which had its third part in 2006. His first big hit on television was telecomedy De carne somos, broadcast by Canal 13 in 1988. After this strip he starred in Dalo por hecho, broadcast by Canal 13, playing an Argentine chanta (a scammer). Francella also made two TV series that were very popular at the time, La familia Benvenuto and Un hermano es un hermano, with Javier Portales.
In 1989 he starred in one of his greatest successes on film, the action comedy Los extermineitors, which worked mainly as a spoof on the action films of the 1980s. The following year, he filmed Extermineitors II, la venganza del dragón, the sequel and second part of the "Extermineitors saga" of comedy films; that same saga eventually became spawned into the 1992 action-comedy series Brigada Cola, an Extermineitors spinoff where Francella played the protagonist, Francachella. Brigada Cola was a big rating success that even became a short-lived theater version of the show with the same cast. During the early 1990s, Francella starred in two more sequels for Los extermineitors, with the saga coming to an end with the fourth part in the southern summer of 1992. When he returned to work on TV his fame had grown exponentially, even internationally, which is why his next series, Naranja y media was translated into English and broadcast in several countries under the title My Better Halves. His next movie, Un Argentino en New York, was filmed in Spain and United States; starring alongside the Uruguayan actress/singer Natalia Oreiro, it became one of the greatest Argentine cinema hits.
1999 came with a new challenge as an actor, the series Trillizos, dijo la partera with the actress Laura Novoa. On this occasion, he had to play three Buenos Aires brothers, Luigi, Marcelo and Enzo, that integrated a classic family of Italian roots, but in turn, each with a different personality that characterized them. In 2000 he filmed Papá es un ídolo it was translated in English with the name of Daddy is My Idol in this movie Manuel Bandera and Millie Stegman. He returned to television in 2001, in one of the most definitive roles of his career, in the comic program Poné a Francella, where he took part in several sketches next to his cast. He had two seasons and aired until December 2002. There he shared the cast with Gabriel Goity, Alberto Fernández de Rosa, Roberto Carnaghi, Florencia Peña, Andrea Frigerio, Mariana Briski, Manuel Wirtz, René Bertrand, Toti Ciliberto and Cecilia Milone and with newly emerged models such as Pamela David, Luciana Salazar and Julieta Prandi. The repetitions were broadcast until 2006 during the weekends in Argentina, while in other countries of Latin America and United States it was televised until the end of 2004. In 2003, he filmed in Cuba, Un día en el paraíso, movie in which Guillermo Francella played two characters, Reynaldo and Roy. That year he starred in the unit comedy, Durmiendo con mi jefe, with Luis Brandoni broadcast by Canal 13.
Personal life
Since 1989 he has been married to Marynés Breña, with whom he has two children, Nicolás Francella (born on October 22, 1990) and Johanna Francella (born on December 4, 1993).
