Manuel Jesús Fernández Serrano (11 January 1964 – 30 July 2026), better known as Manolo Solo, was a Spanish actor.
Solo started off as a musician in the Sevillian rock scene, and later turned to acting. He achieved a late recognition as a leading actor after persevering in many middle and minor roles in tens of features, shorts and series, including his portrayals of Judge Ruz in B, la película (2015) and a small-time dealer in The Fury of a Patient Man (2016), for which he won the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor. After his performance in Close Your Eyes (2023) he landed other leading roles in his final years in The Portuguese House (2025) and Face to Face (2025). His television work includes performances in 30 Coins, Celeste, and The Anatomy of a Moment.
He was the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Goya Award and four Actors and Actresses Union Awards.
Contents
Early life and education
Manuel Jesús Fernández Serrano was born in Algeciras on 11 January 1964. His parents were teachers. His father died when he was a toddler. He was raised in neighbouring Los Barrios until age 6, later moving to Seville with his family. The missing of his father influenced on the choices of the stage name Manolo Solo ('alone') when he started a musical career when he was 16–17 and on his university degree, even if he never worked as a teacher.
Part of the Sevillian musical scene in his youth, he was bassist-singer of Hacienda Somos Todos and Libertad Provisional. He later joined Arden Lágrimas and became the vocalist of rock band Los Relicarios, sharing stage with Santi Amodeo. In 1991, Los Relicarios released the album Detentebala.
Solo earned a licentiate degree in Education Sciences from the University of Seville and trained his acting chops at the Seville's Instituto de Teatro.
Acting career
After debuting as a stage actor in 1989 and making a number of television appearances, he landed his feature film debut in the drama Everything in Place, released in 2002.
In addition to screen performances, he also worked as a dubbing actor in Dragon Ball, providing the voices for characters such as Tao Pai Pai, Mr. Popo, Android 17, and Beerus.
He appeared as the subordinate of the cruel Captain Vidal in Pan's Labyrinth (2006).
In 2011, he appeared in 17 Hours, a film about the 1981 coup attempt in Spain, portraying Fernando Castedo the then director of Radiotelevisión Española.
Under the direction of fellow Andalusian Alberto Rodríguez, he appeared in supporting roles as a director of a youth detention center in 7 Virgins (2005), as a journalist for El Caso during the Transition in the thriller film Marshland (2014) and as inquisitor general Celso de Guevara in the 16th century-set series The Plague.
In the legal drama B (2015), Solo portrayed Pablo Ruz, the judge of Spain's Audiencia Nacional who presided over the Gürtel case and the Bárcenas case, opposite to Pedro Casablanc (Luis Bárcenas).
His only Goya Award came for his supporting performance as El Triana, a small-time dealer, in The Fury of a Patient Man (2016). He employed a dysphonic voice he improvised during one of the first readings of his lines that the director Raúl Arévalo liked so much that he was asked to keep it.
Solo featured in the play Smoking Room, a stage adaptation of the 2002 film by Roger Gual and Julio D. Wallovits. It debuted at the Teatro Pavón Kamikaze on 12 October 2017 and won Solo the Actors and Actresses Union Award for Best Theatre Actor in a Secondary Role. Solo's career onstage continued with his participation in Mrs. Dalloway, based on the novel by Virginia Woolf, portraying Peter. It debuted at the Teatro Español on 28 March 2019.
