Mike Amigorena

Mike Amigorena

Mike Amigorena (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmaik amiɣoˈɾena]; born May 30, 1972) is an actor and Argentine television personality.

Life and work

He was born Ricardo Luis Amigorena in Maipú, Mendoza Province, to a Basque Argentine father and an Italian Argentine mother in 1972.^[1] Amigorena was especially restless as an adolescent and was expelled from a number of secondary schools. He left Maipú for Buenos Aires in search of fame in 1992, and initially struggled in a variety of menial jobs, living hand-to-mouth in a tenement for a number of years.^[2] He was eventually discovered by a modeling agency and in 1992, was given a small role in leading local comic Guillermo Francella's sitcom, La familia Benvenuto. He later appeared in the popular teen drama, Montaña rusa ("Rollercoaster"), and in the mid-1990s, enrolled in a theatre school, mentored first by Santiago Doria, and later, Alfredo Zemma, of the Argentine Actors' Association. He first appeared in Buenos Aires' vibrant theatre scene in 1995 and became a prolific stage actor, notably in a 1998 local production of German playwright Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening, and in a compressed Shakespeare production from 2004 to 2006, which earned him Argentine ACE and Clarín Awards.^[3]

He was given his first film role by directors Florencia Di Baja and Germán Drexler, as the leading man in their comedy, Tus ojos brillaban (Bright Eyes), in 2004, and was reunited with Francella in 2005 in his top-rated sitcom, Casados con hijos ("Married with Children"). Two comedy film roles, in Gabriel Condrón's Un peso, un dólar (2006) and as the lead in Tatiana Merenuk's romantic comedy, Yo soy sola (I'm Alone, 2008), were followed by his role as Martín Pells in the primetime Telefe sitcom, Los exitosos Pells, which premiered in May 2008 and for which he received a Martín Fierro Award.^[4]

Amigorena was among the Argentine actors asked to appear in Francis Ford Coppola's production set in Buenos Aires, Tetro (2009), and is the lead vocalist in his indie rock band, Ambulancia.^[1]

References