
Acting
Francesc Orella
Born
1957-06-11 (69)
Place of birth
Barcelona, Spain
Known for
Acting
Credits
89 titles
Francesc Orella i Pinell is a Spanish actor born on 11 June 1957 in Barcelona, Catalonia. He studied acting at the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona and later continued his training at the Herbert Berghof Studio in New York. Active in film, television, theatre and voice acting since the early 1980s, he is especially known for playing philosophy teacher Merlí Bergeron in the television series Merlí. His work also includes El ministerio del tiempo, Los ojos de Julia and The Invisible Guest, and he received the Max Award for Best Actor for An Enemy of the People.
Known for
7.1Recounts the experiences of a middle-class family, the Alcántaras, during the last years of the rule of Francisco Franco and the beginning of the Spanish Transition to democracy.
Cuéntame cómo pasó
2001
7.6A soldier from the 15th century, a university student from the 19th century and a nurse from the present join the secret 'Department of Time', a secret department within the Spanish government with the ability to travel through time. Their mission is prevent changes in history.
The Ministry of Time
2015
4.8No synopsis available yet.
El comisario
1999
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Al cotxe!
2017
7.5During a mysterious thunderstorm, Vera, a young mother, manages to save a life in danger, but her good deed causes a disturbing chain of unexpected consequences.
Mirage
2018
8.1Barcelona, Spain. Adrián Doria, a young and successful businessman accused of murder, meets one night with Virginia Goodman, an expert interrogation lawyer, in order to devise a defense strategy.
The Invisible Guest
2017
Film credits
2020s · 9 titles
6.5Inspector Amaia Salazar confronts the origins of her nightmares as she unfolds the darkest secrets of the Baztan valley. Part 3 in the Baztan Trilogy.
Offering to the Storm
2020
6.9Julio Blanco is the proprietor of Básculas Blanco, a Spanish company producing industrial scales in a provincial Spanish town, which awaits the imminent visit from a committee that will decide if they merit a local Business Excellence award: everything has to be perfect when the time comes. Working against the clock, Blanco pulls out all the stops to address and resolve issues with his employees, crossing every imaginable line in the process.
The Good Boss
2021
6.1Cheating the tax man was just too tempting for Andrés. Besides, what are the chances of him getting caught? Well, as it turns out, pretty high! And that’s exactly what happens when a couple of tax inspectors turn up at his company to inform him that he owes the IRS a lot of money.
From Good to the Hood
2024
5.9Barcelona, Spain, 1912. The disappearance of a girl from a wealthy family triggers a series of events that will shake the weak foundations of a hypocritical society.
The Barcelona Vampiress
2020
7.0Candela, the headmistress of an elite school, after a traumatic divorce, returns to her old high school to lead a group of rebellious students through chess. There she will learn that in chess, and in life, it doesn't matter if you are a king or a pawn, because everyone ends up in the same box.
Checkmates
2024
4.0It tells how 14 characters travel in a mysterious vehicle that they cannot easily get out of. Along the way, they fabricate about their identity and travel through unreal landscapes on a journey between life and death, sleep and wakefulness. According to the synopsis, "a tragicomedy with no certainties".
Emergency Exit
2025
4.7A coming-of-age story set across the lush wine country of both Australia and Spain, a young man explores the nature of father-son relationships and the pathway toward understanding and forgiveness.
Chasing Wonders
2021
5.7No synopsis available yet.
Toscana
2022
6.0A rural community awakens to a crime scene in the middle of the forest. Gradually, a series of previous situations show us the conflicts that occurred in the same place.
Where the pines lament
2024
2010s · 21 titles
7.5During a mysterious thunderstorm, Vera, a young mother, manages to save a life in danger, but her good deed causes a disturbing chain of unexpected consequences.
Mirage
2018
8.1Barcelona, Spain. Adrián Doria, a young and successful businessman accused of murder, meets one night with Virginia Goodman, an expert interrogation lawyer, in order to devise a defense strategy.
The Invisible Guest
2017
6.7Julia, a woman suffering from a degenerative sight disease, finds her blind sister Sara hung in a basement. Despite all signs pointing to suicide, Julia decides to investigate what she intuitively feels is a murder case.
Julia's Eyes
2010
6.6Inspector Amaia Salazar must return to the Baztan valley in order to solve a series of suicides that seem to follow a similar pattern.
The Legacy of the Bones
2019
7.3The film tells the true story of Elisa Sánchez Loriga and Marcela Gracia Ibeas, two women in 1901 Spain who fell deeply in love. To overcome societal and legal barriers to their relationship, Elisa assumes a male identity, enabling the pair to marry in secret. Their daring act makes them the first recorded same-sex couple to marry in Spain, but their love is tested as they face relentless persecution and sacrifice.
Elisa & Marcela
2019
6.5When the naked body of a teenage girl is found on the banks of the River Baztán, it is quickly linked to a similar murder one month before. Soon, rumours are flying in the nearby village of Elizondo. Is this the work of a ritualistic killer or is it the basajaun, the ‘invisible guardian’ of Basque mythology? Inspector Amaia Salazar leads the investigation, taking her back to the heart of the Basque country where she was born, and where she hoped never to return. Shrouded in mist and surrounded by impenetrable forests, it is a place of unresolved conflicts and a terrible secret from Amaia’s childhood that will come back to haunt her. Faced with the superstitions of the village, Amaia must fight the demons of her past to confront the reality of a serial killer on the loose. But as she is drawn deeper into the investigation, she feels the presence of something darker lurking in the shadows…
The Invisible Guardian
2017
7.0Tomás, who lives in Canada, travels to Madrid, Spain, to visit his old friend Julián. Both of them, accompanied by Truman, Julián's faithful dog, will share many surprising and emotional little moments, triggered by the hard situation Julián is going through, for just a few days.
Truman
2015
5.9The family, the tenant, the wedding, the businessman, the neighbors, the poor child and the run over. 7 black comedy stories of a dysfunctional society.
7 Reasons to Run Away (from Society)
2019
5.9During a brief rule towards the end of the 19th century, the Italian duke Amadeo of Savoy occupied the Spanish throne. However, confined to the safety of life within the palace walls, the lonely, frustrated king and his servants succumb to playful adventures focused more on pleasure than his duties.
Falling Star
2014
5.1Russian front, winter 1943. Soldier Arturo Andrade and Sergeant Fernando Espinosa are commissioned to investigate a mysterious murder while the Spanish Blue Division of the German Army endures the fierce counterattack of the Red Army.
Frozen Silence
2012
4.3A powerful international army assigns a regiment the task of guarding a mysterious man, held in a maximum security prison in the middle of the desert. Soldier Salome, daughter of Commander Antipas, becomes obsessed with him... Eros and Thanatos together reminding us that truth is based on beauty and love.
Love Me Not
2019
5.9When Carlos invites his father and his brother to spend a pleasant New Year in a strange house isolated in the forest with him and his wife Ana. But what promised to be a quiet family dinner, suddenly is interrupted by the presence of a peculiar vagabond, dwarf and very bad man, who claims to be God.
Killing God
2017
4.9Madrid, Spain, December 27, 1870. General Juan Prim i Prats, president of the Council of Ministers and Minister of War gets involved in a treacherous ambush, is mortal injured and dies three days later. A mystery, a conspiracy, a murder that was never solved.
Prim: el asesinato de la calle del Turco
2014
NRJacint Verdaguer, poet and priest, had an exciting life, lived literary glory and became the most prestigious poet of his time. But circumstances and his indomitable and proud character caused his downfall.
L'enigma Verdaguer
2019
6.0In October 1983, members of ETA Lasa and Zabala disappear in Bayonne. Twelve years later, their bodies, tortured and buried in quicklime by the GAL (Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups) are identified. Then begins a process in which the lawyer for the two families (Unax Ugalde) and his assistant try to justice and that the murderers sit on the dock.
Lasa & Zabala
2014
6.0A couple of loving parents wake up his son in the middle of the night. They must talk about something urgent and horrifying that will change his life forever.
Interior. Familia
2014
6.1Alex,Gabi and Oki, three teenagers living in a big city, are completely unknown to their parents, to their teachers and for themselves. Their emotional isolation, led to the limit, will have unexpected and terrible consequences that will shake society.
The Wild Children
2012
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Tocant el mar
2012
4.0During an ordinary car ride to a friend's house, father and son share a conversation about their estranged relationship.
I Know Nothing About You
2019
7.0Thirty years after exile, Francesc Lamban journalist returns to the city where he was born to reunite with an old friend, attorney Ernest Salesa. The event takes place on the beach that saw the end of their relationship, and this fact is not accidental: Salesa has a business at hand transcendental and mysterious and has to convince Lamban to be part of it, at whatever price . While that behave remove ghosts from the past and the terrible memory of a love lost tragically common.
Radiacions
2012
NRThe film raises the contrast between the plain corrupted (the Low) and uncontaminated mountain (High Land). The protagonist, Manelic, a simple, primitive, Marta wants to marry a girl from the Low Country that until then had been forced to be intimate with his master, Sebastian.
Terra baixa
2011
2000s · 17 titles
5.9In 17th century Spain, Diego Alatriste, a brave and heroic soldier, is fighting in his King's army in the Flandes region. His best mate, Balboa, falls in a trap and, when near to his death, asks Diego to look after his son and teach him to be a soldier.
Captain Alatriste: The Spanish Musketeer
2006
6.1Santi, a young high-school student with a serious physical reaction to sunlight, is forced by his health to move with his single mother to a shadowy, isolated village in the mountains of Spain where the inhabitants begin to reveal themselves as strangely xenophobic. When terrible, violent events begin to occur, Santi becomes first a pariah at school and then strongly suspected by the police of hideous murders. Santi himself, however, wonders if he is not the next victim.
Shiver
2008
5.6The tumultuous and adventurous life of Michelangelo Merisi, controversial artist, called by Fate to become the immortal Caravaggio. A violent genius that will dare to defy the ideal vision of the world imposed by the Renaissance painters. A provoker that scandalized patrons and institutions, raising the altars the outcast figures he knew so well: drunkards, vagrants and prostitutes.
Caravaggio
2007
8.0Barcelona, 2002. A coffin is carried to the cemetery of Montjuïc in a chariot drawn by horses. The lifeless is Pep Grau, an old fisherman found drowned and subject to his boat by a complicated knot sailor. The Pep voiceover Grau, portrayed with affection and humor the curious characters he met in life, recounts the difficult moments of his childhood during the Civil War, and finally, we are introduced to Lola, the woman of his life , which has a fish stall in the Boqueria Market beautiful and, after the death of Pep, begins receiving anonymous gifts. Silvia, a teenage ambitious and attractive, is the attorney for the insurance company. Mario, her boss and lover, asked to investigate the strange circumstances surrounding the death of the fisherman. Silvia's inquiries aa allow us to know other characters, like the maverick Dr. Cipriano Mera, Pep old comrade, and his son Gabino Mera.
Nudos
2003
5.8The Spanish branch of an American company is obliged to enforce the ban on smoking in their offices. From now on, those who want to smoke during working hours must do so in the street. Ramirez, one of the employees of this small office composed mainly of men, decides to begin collecting signatures against what he considers unfair. What Ramirez intends is to be use an unoccupied office as smoking room
Smoking Room
2002
4.3Laura is a fifteen-year-old teenager who receives a letter from her mother, of which she had no news a decade ago. Laura decides to try to go to Holland to meet her, in need of answers and alternatives to the hostile environment that surrounds her. For that, he will have to face Angela, his older sister, a young policewoman who, as a child, was forced to take the reins of the family when she was orphaned. Angela will try, by all means, to keep Laura with her and not be alone. Little by little the violence that surrounds him will make him lose control.
Mi dulce
2001
6.4Three Days with the Family deals with the relationship between three brothers and one sister, and with their wives and children, whose father has just died. They don't see each other often, and their different opinions about common problems soon become a problem itself.
Tres dies amb la família
2009
5.3No synopsis available yet.
Clara y Elena
2001
3.3The life of Fabian, an attractive and famous magistrate, is cut short by some strange circumstances. Since then a series of incidents follow. His apparently happy and successful life turns out to be a spiral of deceptions and appearances. All the people who are around him during his last years, take part, in one way or another, to destroy him. They are the important pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that will show the feelings, weaknesses, frustrations and the real personality, not only of the magistrate, but also of all the characters around him who, while trying to search their hapiness, they only found lies and decptions. Lies that will be revealed as the story goes on.
Mentiras
2005
6.0In a particularly hot summer, Sister Consuelo, superior of an order dedicated to caring for the sick, decided to transform the dilapidated hospital into a modern nursing.
El año del diluvio
2004
5.4Arián, a young Basque girl, idealistic but naive, joins a ruthless terrorist gang and, hoping to prove her commitment, volunteers to participate in the kidnapping of the daughter of an important businessman.
The Journey of Arián
2001
6.3If one person's destiny were altered (in this case, not dying), how might that event change the lives of numerous other people, or in this case, prevent seven others from dying.
To Die (Or Not)
2000
7.2Amparo, a lawyer working as an advisor in an insurance company in Madrid is grieving over a traumatic event in her past. She will have to react, however, to the world surrounding her when a young man of her acquaintance dies mysteriously while working in a mine. Amparo will take over his case and discover in the process a world of corruption and illegal measures taken by the company that the young man worked for.
Sleeping luck
2003
10.0A man is consumed with the idea of acquiring a chair from a bric-a-brac shop.
La silla
2006
5.9Adrian (Leonardo Sbaraglia) is a young man who has spent years running away from himself, constantly changing city and work, looking for people to relate to the least possible and all for one reason: he has the ability to see things that have not yet occurred, is a precog. He learned it when he anticipated the death of his parents and could not do anything about it. Adrian tries, unsuccessfully, to flee from his gift
Utopia
2003
5.0The story follows Angel (González), twenty years old and barely employed, a man of few friends and a not too promising boxing career. Angel and his mother scrape out a living in Madrid. Enter Vidal, a professional bank robber and a real charmer, just back from Argentina. A former boxer with past ties to Angel's mother and his deceased father, he offers Angel a way out of his dead-end life. Along the way, Angel will have to decide who he truly wants to be and, more importantly, what he's willing to give up.
The Good Boy
2005
5.6Yoyes, the first woman to hold responsibility positions within ETA, returns from exile in Mexico and try to rebuild her life. But her return is not easy.
Yoyes
2000
1990s · 8 titles
7.3Summer 1936: young unemployed communist David Carr leaves Liverpool to join the fight against fascism in Spain. He joins an international group of Militia-men and women, the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista). After being wounded, he goes to Barcelona, where he joins another group of fighters.
Land and Freedom
1995
5.6Sofía, a dentist, and Tristán, owner of a shoe store, live in the same building but have never met or even seen each other. Disenchanted with love, both have sworn never to fall in love again, until they finally meet.
Boom boom
1990
5.2Minimalistic frieze fifteen episodes about human behavior (desire, submission, love, jealousy, wisdom, honesty, sincerity, passion, faith, ...) located between two fantastic stories about the will and doubt.
What's It All About
1995
7.8This music-themed drama is set in Barcelona of the mid-'80s. When famed composer Lluis Doria visits a transvestite club, he learns his lifelong friend Albert Rossell is the house pianist. A flashback takes the tale four decades into the past, where the younger Rossell rejoins Teresa after having spent years in prison for helping anti-Franco anarchists. The story continues into Paris of the '30s, the period when Doria and Rossell first met, sharing a mutual interest in music and Teresa, before civil war sent them in different directions.
The Pianist
1998
4.9A female professor, a writer, and an orchestra conductor--three characters, two couples--attend a grand literary cocktail party. The writer has just won the prize for his book "Warsaw Bridge." The winner answers the journalist's questions one after another, but he is unable to come up with a synthesis of the plot of his book. They will simply have to read it.
Warsaw Bridge
1990
7.5In 1909, the Rigau brothers are the owners of the most important textile factory in Feixes. When Francesc dies, Julià, a dark and ambitious ex-military man, takes over the steamer and confronts everyone to make uniforms for the Spanish army that is fighting the war in Morocco.
La teranyina
1990
No synopsis available yet.
Laia, el regal d’aniversari
1995
7.5No synopsis available yet.
Subjúdice
1998
1980s · 4 titles
9.0In the middle of the first world war, Barcelona is the center of multiple operations related to war, although Spain is a neutral country.
Victòria! La gran aventura d'un poble
1983
4.0No synopsis available yet.
Victòria! 2: La disbauxa del 17
1983
6.5Film adaptation of a real event that occurred on May 23, 1981, in which a TV broadcaster, director of a major newspaper, and a deputy were involved
Assault at Central Bank
1983
10.0No synopsis available yet.
Victòria! 3: El seny i la rauxa
1984
Undated · 1 titles
Series credits
7.1Recounts the experiences of a middle-class family, the Alcántaras, during the last years of the rule of Francisco Franco and the beginning of the Spanish Transition to democracy.
Cuéntame cómo pasó
2001
7.6A soldier from the 15th century, a university student from the 19th century and a nurse from the present join the secret 'Department of Time', a secret department within the Spanish government with the ability to travel through time. Their mission is prevent changes in history.
The Ministry of Time
2015
4.8No synopsis available yet.
El comisario
1999
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Al cotxe!
2017
8.6He’s surly, unorthodox, unapologetically blunt, and he’s about to change your life. Meet the new philosophy teacher, Merlí, who will help his students view the world in a whole new light, both in and out of the classroom.
Merlí
2015
7.2After two parents report that their 12-year-old daughter Asunta is missing, the investigation soon turns against them.
The Asunta Case
2024
8.2In this drama set at a university, a wayward philosophy student navigate life on campus while seeking guidance from an intriguing new professor.
Merlí. Sapere Aude
2019
6.0No synopsis available yet.
Jet Lag
2001
6.9As the life of Charles of Habsburg is told since his arrival to Spain, it can be seen how the heir to the crowns of Germany, Burgundy, the Netherlands, the Free County, Artois, Nevers and Rethel, of the territories of the Crown of Aragon and its related Italian territories, and of the territories of the Catholic Monarchs in Castile, North Africa and the Americas, matures as a statesman and gets stronger in face of menaces around him and good and bad advice from his counselors.
Carlos, rey emperador
2015
7.1A secret unit of cops is assembled to stop a terrorist band from attacking Spain after their leader is arrested there.
La unidad
2020
10.0No synopsis available yet.
Estació d'enllaç
1994
NRCrònica negra is a gripping anthology crime series based on the short stories of renowned Spanish author Andreu Martín. Inspired by actual, real-life headlines from the crime and mystery sections of local newspapers, each self-contained episode masterfully blends reality with fiction. The series delves into the shadows of everyday life, reconstructing the unexpected events, psychological motives, and human tragedies behind some of the era's most shocking crimes.
Crònica negra
1988
7.8After Eva Perón’s death in 1952, her corpse is held for three years awaiting the construction of a mausoleum — a resting place that would never be built. In 1955, the military seized control of Argentina and hid Perón’s body from the public, fearing that it would unite the country against them. But they never imagined that in doing so she would become more dangerous in death than she was in life.
Santa Evita
2022
6.2Inés Suárez, a young, humble woman from Extremadura who sets out for the New World to look for her husband, lost on the other side of the Atlantic along with his dreams of glory. Once there, Inés does not find her husband, but she does find the passionate love of Pedro de Valdivia, Francisco Pizarro's Field Master.
Inés of My Soul
2020
8.3Explore the healing journey of five strangers, each dealing with the loss of a loved one, whose lives intersect in a group therapy session.
When You Least Expect It
2022
5.8Cris and Diego just broke up and agree they want to stay friends. But that gets tricky when they move back in with their parents. The grandparents are eager to treat them like kids again. It doesn't matter that Cris and Diego are over forty years old, or have a five-year-old daughter, Cloe.
Shared Custody
2025
8.9In Barcelona’s Raval neighbourhood, the family-run restaurant “Can Mosques” faces eviction after an investment fund buys the building. The family’s fight to survive escalates, pushing them to cross any and all boundaries.
Ravalear: Not for Sale
2026
NRNo synopsis available yet.
La gran il·lusió, relat intermitent del cinema català
2019
6.0A biographical miniseries of Spain's Juan Carlos I, covering 1948 to 1993.
El rey
2014
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Còmics Show
2016
No synopsis available yet.
En el círculo del asesino
—
2.0No synopsis available yet.
Mario Conde: los días de gloria
2013
NRNo synopsis available yet.
El llop
2022
NRSince he arrived in Sao Felix do Araguaia, in Brazil, the Catalan bishop Pere Casaldàliga fights for the disadvantaged and the indigenous peoples. Casaldàliga must confront the landowners of the region and rethink the role of the Catholic Church.
Barefoot on Red Soil
2014
2.0No synopsis available yet.
Alakrana
2011
6.2It centred on the murder of two prominent businesspeople in Catalonia.
Terra alta
2025
No synopsis available yet.
Tres días de abril
2010
4.2Catalan miniseries.
Ermessenda
2011
NRCatalan miniseries.
Les veus del Pamano
2009
