Najwa Nimri

Najwa Nimri Urrutikoetxea is a Spanish actress and singer who became a well-known figure in Spanish cinema during the 1990s and 2000s. She later gained broader global recognition through her television roles on major streaming platforms. Over the course of her career, she has earned numerous accolades, including nominations for three Goya Awards, three Feroz Awards, a CEC Award, and a Forqué Award.

Born in Pamplona, Spain, to a Spanish mother and a Jordanian father, Nimri grew up in Bilbao alongside her brother, half-brother, and two half-sisters. Following her parents' separation when she was eleven years old, she relocated to Madrid at age seventeen. There, she studied acting and began performing musically as a vocalist in a funk group.

Nimri made her professional feature film debut in 1995 starring in Daniel Calparsoro's Jump into the Void (Salto al vacío). She was married to Calparsoro from 1995 until 2000. Alongside her early acting work, she launched a music career, collaborating with producer Carlos Jean in 1996 to establish the duo Najwajean. The group released No Blood, an early entry in Spain's trip-hop music scene. Beyond her band work, Nimri has released three solo music albums.

Throughout the late 1990s and 2000s, Nimri established herself in Spanish film through a series of prominent performances. She appeared in Passages (1996), Blinded (1997), Asfalto (2000), Fausto 5.0 (2001), The Method (2005), and Anything You Want (2010). She earned significant critical acclaim for her roles in films directed by Julio Medem, playing Ana in Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998) and Elena in Sex and Lucia (2001). Additionally, she shared the screen with Eduardo Noriega in Open Your Eyes (1997) and The Method.

In 2018, Nimri received a nomination for the Goya Award for Best Actress for portraying the amnesiac diva Lila Cassen in Quién te cantará. Her international visibility expanded substantially when she took on the role of Zulema in the prison drama series Locked Up (2015–2020), later reprising the character in the spin-off series Vis a vis: El Oasis (2020) alongside Maggie Civantos. She achieved further global recognition playing police inspector Alicia Sierra in the heist series Money Heist (2019–2021). She also lent her voice to the character Kate Laswell in the 2019 video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Nimri's recent screen projects include joining the second season of the religious horror series 30 Coins as Haruka, a paranormal investigator and video podcaster. In 2024, she played Aurora Rodríguez in the film The Red Virgin. That same year, she appeared in the hospital drama series Breathless, playing the right-wing President of the Valencian Community.