Mario Casas

Casas acquired a larger clout owing to his appearance in the television series Los hombres de Paco, as part of a popular love triangle together with Hugo Silva and Michelle Jenner. His early film career, featuring in box-office darlings such as Sex, Party and Lies (2009), Brain Drain (2009), and Three Steps Above Heaven (2010), consolidated after his performance as bad boy Hache in the latter title, which earned him wide popularity in Spain. He also starred in television series El barco (2011−13). He went on to feature in starring roles in films such as Unit 7 (2012), I Want You (2012; the sequel to Three Steps Above Heaven), The Mule (2013), Witching & Bitching (2013), Ismael (2013), My Big Night (2015), Palm Trees in the Snow (2015), Toro (2016), The Invisible Guest (2016), The Bar (2017), The Skin of the Wolf (2017), The Photographer of Mauthausen (2018), Bye (2019), The Occupant (2020), and The Paramedic (2020). He also appeared in English-language international projects Eden and The 33. Casas' leading performance in Cross the Line (2020) earned him his first Goya Award for Best Actor. He made his debut as a director with Caged Wings (2023). He received renewed industry recognition for his leading role in Away (2025).

Casas was born in A Coruña to a 19-year-old father (an ébéniste) and a 17-year-old mother. He moved to Barcelona at the age of 4. After featuring as a child actor in some commercials (Cola Cao, Scalextric, Telepizza), he moved to Madrid at age 17−18 with his family, going on to combine odd jobs with acting training at the Cristina Rota acting school.

Casas began appearing in soap operas from 2005 at age 19, before earning minor roles in several Spanish films. Mario Casas began his acting career with episode appearances in television series Obsesión (English: Obsession), Motivos personales (Personal Motives) and Mujeres (Women). He came to domestic media attention with his film debut in the 2006 film El camino de los ingleses (Summer Rain), directed by Antonio Banderas. That same year he joined the cast of LaSexta series SMS. Casas then reached international audience as Aitor Carrasco in the Antena 3 series Los hombres de Paco (Paco's Men), which he starred from 2007 to 2010. In 2009, Casas appeared in two hit films, Fuga de cerebros (Brain Drain) opposite Amaia Salamanca, and Mentiras y Gordas (Sex, Party and Lies) with his best friend Yon González, Ana Maria Polvorosa, Ana de Armas and Hugo Silva. Both managed to lead the box office over the weekend of its release. In 2010, Casas starred in Carne de neón (Neon Flesh) directed by Paco Cabezas. Later that year in December 2010, he starred in Tres metros sobre el cielo (Three Steps Above Heaven) opposite María Valverde. It was eventually the highest-grossing Spanish film of the year. A sequel Tengo ganas de ti (I Want You), which stars Casas, Valverde and Clara Lago, premiered in 2012. He also appeared in Miedo (2010), directed by Jaume Balagueró.

• Illustration — Casas in January 2011, during the presentation of Carne de neón Since 2011, Casas has starred the Antena 3 series El barco (The Boat), he also starred in Tengo ganas de ti (I Want You), premiered in 2012. During the late 2013 and early 2014, he went to Colombia and Chile for his second film project in English called Los 33 (The 33) with Antonio Banderas and Juliette Binoche, a story based on the Chilean mining accident that occurred in 2010. In 2015, Mario also starred in two other films: the new Álex de la Iglesia comedy film My Great Night, and also in the romantic drama film Palm Trees in the Snow, where he reunited with the director of the films Three Meters Above The Sky and I Want You, Fernando Gonzalez Molina. In 2016, he performed in Oriol Paulo's mystery thriller film The Invisible Guest which became a commercial success, although the film had opened to mixed critical responses. The film grossed US$3.9 million in Spain and CN¥172.4 million in China. In 2018, Casas starred in The Photographer of Mauthausen which tells the story of Francisco Boix, a Spanish Republican photographer who was sent to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex during World War II. Casas lost around 12 kilograms (26 pounds) to play Boix during his imprisonment. In October 2022, Casas began to shoot his debut as a feature film director, My Loneliness Has Wings, written alongside Deborah François and starring his brother Óscar. For his leading role playing a foreign man getting on in life in Utrecht in Away (2025), the directorial debut of his coach Gerard Oms, Casas landed another Goya nomination and won the Gaudí Award for Best Actor. In April 2026, his sophomore directorial effort A puño descubierto (starring Casas and his brother Óscar) began filming. Set against the backdrop of mixed martial arts, the story accounts "how two brothers relate to violence".

Mario Casas is the older sibling of actor Óscar Casas, who has sometimes played younger versions of Mario's characters in some works. Mario Casas is reported to have been in relationships with several fellow castmates including Erika Sanz, Amaia Salamanca, María Valverde, Berta Vázquez, Blanca Suárez, and Déborah François.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes — Reference(s)

• 2005 — Motivos personales — Cameo — Episode: "¿El fin de Victoria Castellanos?"

• Obsesión — Nicolás "Nico" Castillo — 7 episodes

• 2006 — Mujeres (Women) — Episode 1. Casas appears in a television screen which airs an episode of Obsesión

• 2006–07 — SMS: Sin miedo a soñar — Javi Llorens — 184 episodes

• 2007–10; 2021 — Los hombres de Paco (Paco's Men) — Aitor Carrasco — 79 episodes

• 2011–13 — El barco (The Boat) — Ulises Garmendia — 43 episodes

• 2018 — Paquita Salas — Himself — Episode: "El secreto"

• 2019 — Instinto — Marco Mur — Miniseries; 8 episodes

• 2021 — El inocente (The Innocent) — Mateo Vidal — Miniseries; 8 episodes

* Year — Award — Category — Work — Result — Reference(s)

* 14th LesGaiCineMad Festival — LesGai Performance Award — Sex, Party and Lies — Won shared with Ana Polvorosa

* 20th Actors and Actresses Union Awards — Best New Actor — Los hombres de Paco

* 61st Fotogramas de Plata — Best Film Actor

* Latin ACE Awards — Best New Actor

* 62nd Fotogramas de Plata — Best Television Actor — El Barco

* 1st Neox Fan Awards — Best Actor in Spanish Cinema — I Want You

* Best Supporting Actor — Witching & Bitching

* Best Actor — Nominated

* 69th CEC Awards — Best Actor

* 3rd Feroz Awards — Best Supporting Actor — My Big Night

* Best Actor — The Photographer of Mauthausen

* 26th Forqué Awards — Best Actor

* 8th Feroz Awards — Best Actor in a Film

* 35th Goya Awards — Best Actor

* 13th Gaudí Awards — Best Actor

* 30th Forqué Awards — Best Actor in a Film — Escape

* 28th Málaga Film Festival — Silver Biznaga for Best Actor — Away

* 31st Forqué Awards — Best Actor in a Film

* Best Actor

* Best Actor

* Best Film Actor in a Leading Role

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