BIOGRAPHY:

MARIANA PEÑALVA

Actress Mariana Peñalva was born in Mexico City, daughter of Mexican Painter and Mexican Opera Singer.

At an early age she moved to Cuernavaca, where she first studied acting with Esther Orozco. By the age of 17 she started her Professional Acting Career with the Mexican Telenovela "Mirada de Mujer" produced by Epigmenio Ibarra, with Argos and TV Azteca, which was a complete success in Mexican television.

Later she studied acting in Centro de formacion Actoral with Héctor Mendoza y Raúl Quintanilla.

She got her first approach to films, when she was asked to be Angelina Jolie camera double at "Original Sin"

In 2000 she travels to Europe and establish in France to finish her degree in Arts, in the almost 4 years she spent in Europe she got the opportunity to work in some Independent Films such as "Girl with a Pear Earring" with Scarlett Johansson.


At her return to México she worked in some Mexican Television programs like; "La vida es una cancion", "Heredera", "Tormenta en el Paraiso" and "El Pantera".

Up to dis date, Mariana Peñalva have worked in nine short films, just to mention a few, Vil; The Effect of Causes, oficial selection of the Valdivia International Film Festival.
She recently won an Award as Best Actress for the short film "1956" in the Proyeccion Corta Film Festival 2010’s Edition, witch also was part of the official selection of the Guadalajara international film festival and the short film "Angustia" witch have been selected to participate in the Short film Corner at Cannes 2011.

On 2007 she got the opportunity to make her first role in the Mexican Blockbuster Film "Tear this heart out" as Mercedes, working with the renowned Mexican actor Daniel Gimenez Cacho and Ana Claudia Talancon with whom she worked again recently at the Mexican TV Series "Terminales" as Vanessa Herrera.

In 2008 she obtained her first starring role in the Independent Film "Written in blood" as Nina, were she co-starred with Carlos Ortega and the Uruguayan actress Cecilia Cósero.

In the present she is support actress in the Feature Film "Return", produced and directed by Mexican Film Director Alejandro Gonzalez Padilla, were she will be sharing credits along the renown Actor Jaime Camil, Blanca Soto, Victor Huggo Martin, Daniela Schmidt and the spanish actor Javier Tolosa, this film recently earned the Award of the Best Entertaining Picture at the Monaco Charity Film Festival in its 2010 edition and is in the oficial selection of the New York International Latino Film Festival 2010

In the actuality she is part of the main cast in a independent british production. It's a promising black comedy & horror movie. Shooting will start this september 2013 in southern france, country where she resides since 2012.

Among her interests, besides her acting career, she is also interested in Film-making  there for Mariana Peñalva it’s also dedicated to Film Production, coproducing from 2009 to 2011, three short films with her company Fuffá Films Producciones, "In self defence" based on a story by Guillermo Arriaga, "All 4 Nothing" starring Silverio Palacios, with 6 nominations from witch 2 awards won in the Festival Pantalla de Cristal and her latest co-production in the short " Tell me about meat", directed by Dolores Otero and starring Tenoch Huerta.

Besides her professional career and her achievements as a public figure, Mariana in her personal life is a engaged in humanitarian and ecological issues, committed to philanthropic causes, going from fundraising for NGO's, doing workshops for street children to classes for maximum security prisoners.

With many other projects a head, this young actress and producer is definitely one great promise of the Film Industry scene.