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Actor

1964-09-16 · Palma, Spain · Female

14 series in the catalog

Rosa Elena García Echave (born 16 September 1964), known professionally as Rossy de Palma, is a Spanish actress and model. She is well known for her roles in films by Pedro Almodóvar such as Law of Desire, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Kika, The Flower of My Secret, Julieta, and Parallel Mothers.

Life and career

Born in Palma de Mallorca, her parents are from Avilés, Asturias where she spent summers in her childhood. One of her nephews is TPA journalist Giuseppe Montoto. In the 1980s, during the Movida cultural movement, she moved to Madrid.

In 1984, she founded the pop music group Peor Impossible, for which she was a singer and a dancer. In 1986, she met Pedro Almodóvar in a café in Madrid. He was impressed by her performance during one of the group's concerts. He proposed a role in his next film, Law of Desire. Rossy lent some of her personal dresses to Carmen Maura, who was playing the lead trans female character of the film, Tina Quintero.

Her first major role was in 1988, in Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and she went on to be one of Almodóvar's recurring collaborators. She modeled for designers Jean-Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, and Sybilla. She then appeared in Robert Altman's 1994 satirical fashion film Prêt-à-Porter, and in the music video of George Michael's "Too Funky" song.

She has two children and currently lives in Paris, where she acts and models. As of 2010, she is a theater actress, charity spokeswoman for the Ghanaian charity OrphanAid Africa, and the face of luxury ad campaigns. In 2007, she released a perfume line under her name with État libre d'Orange. In 2009, she posed nude in an information campaign on breast cancer for the magazine Marie Claire. She was selected to be on the jury for the main competition section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. In 2022, Rossy de Palma was appointed UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for cultural diversity.

Other work

She is an ambassador for the charity OAfrica, which advocates for a family for every child in Ghana, West Africa, and the closure of illegal orphanages.

In 2011 she was one of the contestants during the first season of Danse avec les stars. With her partner Christophe Licata she finished in the 7th position (second-to-last).

In 2018 she collaborated with singer Rosalía for her second studio album El mal querer writing the song "Preso" with her and Ferrán Echegaray. Her vocals were also used in the song.