Milena Smit

Elisabeth Milena Smit Márquez is a Spanish film and television actress. She gained initial recognition through her debut role in the feature film Cross the Line (2020), which earned her a nomination for the Goya Award for Best New Actress. Since her debut, she has appeared in several notable Spanish film and television productions.

Smit was born in Elche on 5 October 1996 and raised in Torrevieja, Torre de la Horadada, and Murcia. She is of mixed Dutch and Spanish descent, with a Dutch father and a Spanish mother. At the age of 15, she began working as a fashion model. She moved to Madrid to pursue career opportunities, working various jobs including as a waitress, shop assistant, babysitter, and subway information assistant.

To prepare for an acting career, Smit trained at the Cristina Rota acting school. She was also coached by Bernard Hiller, an acting instructor known for working with actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. Her initial acting work consisted of appearances in several short films, including Diagonales, Innermost, Chimichanga, and Adentro.

Smit made her feature film debut in the 2020 film Cross the Line, directed by David Victori and co-starring Mario Casas, after being discovered by the film's casting team on Instagram. Following this role, she was cast by director Pedro Almodóvar in his film Parallel Mothers, appearing alongside Penélope Cruz and Aitana Sánchez-Gijón. In the film, she portrays a woman who unexpectedly becomes pregnant and bonds with another mother in a maternity ward.

Her performance in Parallel Mothers earned her a nomination for the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress. Almodóvar praised her acting, noting her emotional intelligence and sincerity. Following this success, Smit secured major roles across television and film, including a lead role in the 2021 Netflix original series The Girl in the Mirror, directed by Sergio G. Sánchez.

Smit's subsequent film projects include Luc Knowles's debut feature Dragonflies (2022), in which she played the character Cata alongside Olivia Baglivi, and the 2023 horror film Tin&Tina, which she filmed alongside Jaime Lorente starting in July 2021. She also stars as reporter Miren Rojo in the 2023 Netflix crime series The Snow Girl.