Stéphanie Magnin_Credit_Spain SOT 2023_Online crop copy

Source: Caterina Barjau

Stéphanie Magnin

Stephanie Magnin’s calling card was 2018 short Grandfather (Abuelo). Determined to forge a career in acting — while studying law as a fallback — she wrote and starred in the story about the loneliness of old age. “I had to make something myself to be able to show my work as an actress,” says Madrid-based Magnin.

A casting director spotted her, leading to Aritz Moreno’s 2019 debut feature Advantages Of Travelling By Train, which made waves in Spain with its playful take on genre. “I have been lucky to combine mainstream productions [such as comedy How To Become A Modern Man] with more auteur cinema”, Magnin says. “One allows you to reach a wider audience and the other gives you the chance to experiment.”

Roles followed in time-hopping sci-fi series The Ministry Of Time and Carlota Pereda’s Sundance 2022 title Piggy. Magnin also had a small part in the first episode of season five of Netflix’s The Crown, in which she plays a tour guide — a role she adopted off-screen when taking the cast out to see the sights of Cadiz.

Magnin spent her childhood in Malaga with her French father and Morocco-born mother of Italian descent, a family background that means she is fluent in French, English and Italian.

Now the actress has finished shooting Isaki Lacuesta’s feature Segundo Premio (English-language working title Saturn Return), about Spanish rock group Los Planetas. It is Lacuesta’s follow-up to Berlinale and San Sebastian 2022 title One Year, One Night. Magnin has also been cast in Yolanda Centeno’s debut feature Tras El Verano.

“Work has given me the chance to play characters such as Dora Maar [Picasso’s muse, in The Ministry Of Time] and take part in a breakthrough film like Piggy,” says Magnin. “Not so much because of my part, which was a supporting one, but because it is a film made by women talking about topics that are not often discussed.”

Contact: Alvaro Luis Calles, ALC‑Actores