Macarena García (Madrid, 38 years old) started her career almost at the end, with awards and applause that usually take years to arrive. Since her debut with Blancanieves in 2012, with which she won a Goya and a Silver Shell, she has not stopped working in film, television, and theater, although that triumphant debut also ended up becoming, as she confesses, a pressure that took her time to dismantle. We meet in Barcelona, where she is shooting a project she cannot say anything about and on the threshold of one of the few free weekends that summer has left her. This year she has premiered two projects: the film Un hijo and the series Se tiene que morir mucha gente. In them, she shows her two sides: an innate melancholy, evidenced by a gaze that always seems on the verge of emotion, and an unsuspected comic vein.
Question. Has this first half of 2026 been a return to the front line?
Answer. I don’t see it that way, but I do feel it’s a special moment. An actor’s career has many ups and downs: times of less exposure, proposals that come or not, characters that shine more or less. The two projects I have premiered this year are special. I am starting to work in a different way. I feel I have taken a step forward.
Q. Translated: did you suffer too much when acting before?
A. Yes, the suffering has decreased a lot. I have learned to relate differently to myself and my work. The camera always sees everything. Before, when I saw myself, I noticed my fears. Now I see more relaxation and lightness.
Q. Does it have to do with a different personal moment?
A. Yes. It’s a profession very linked to what you live, at least in my case. I went through a strange personal moment and that allowed me to change the focus. My dark side has diminished. I am calmer and enjoy more.
Q. I hear you are a very diligent student, one of those who review the script until minutes before shooting.
A. I have always been very hardworking. My scripts can’t contain the amount of notes I write. Whatever the character, I seek the greatest depth and truth. But it’s true that so much control makes you be more in your head than in your body. I am learning to let go, in life and fiction, and to trust more. I feel there is less noise now.
Q. We thought of you as a great melancholic and it turns out you are a great comic actress. Had we not looked at you properly?
A. That comic vein was always there, although people don’t find me funny. I go through life laughing a lot at myself. I am very clumsy and have a great talent for ending up in absurd situations. I had a psychologist who encouraged me to do comic roles because he laughed a lot at my silliness.
Q. Your brother, Javier Ambrossi, calls you for almost all his projects and just leaves you out of the film that wins an award at Cannes. From zero to ten, how much resentment do you hold?
A. None [laughs]. I am very happy and proud of the success of La bola negra. I have seen up close the talent and work there, the intensity and passion with which they work. My brother and I have a very healthy relationship. We love each other absolutely. It would be normal to have rivalry, because these are human things, but there isn’t any.
Q. He has admitted that he was envious that you succeeded first.
A. Yes, at first there was more comparison because we both tried to find our way. Mine started very easily, and his was harder. There were complicated moments, but they were always well managed, through dialogue and love, putting our relationship first. There were no big family scenes. Now we are very clear that we accompany each other in life and in our profession.
Q. As a child, you did artistic gymnastics. Did it teach you to smile while something hurts?
A. You hit the nail on the head. I did it as an extracurricular at my school, which was Opus. I learned from a young age to endure what happened to me and keep going. And many times to do it with a big smile, while repeating to myself: “I can, I can, I can.” As you grow up, you understand that you have the right to lower your guard. Showing vulnerability is the healthiest thing in the world.
I learned from a young age to endure what happened to me. And many times to do it with a big smile, while repeating to myself: ‘I can, I can.’ As an adult, you learn to lower your guard”
Q. What is hardest to shake off from an Opus education?
A. There are things from childhood that will always be there and you have to learn to live with them. There are issues, like guilt or the feeling of always having to be up to par, that are hard to let go of. But I also take positive things. And those that aren’t, well, I will keep working on them in therapy…
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Q. With Blancanieves you won a Silver Shell and a Goya. Was starting so high a bad professional education?
A. Blancanieves is one of the most beautiful things that have happened to me in life, but when it’s the first thing you do, your body ends up associating work with validation. And when the reality of this profession appears later, with all its ups and downs, sufferings arise that are hard to understand and place. I related to my work from the feeling of having to prove something all the time, to confirm that first success. I felt I could disappoint, that I wouldn’t be up to it. Over time I have gotten rid of all that and I am more relaxed. If I feel like doing a romantic comedy, then I do it…
Q. Be honest: did it go to your head a little?
A. I would swear not. I have rather sinned the opposite: pulling myself down. That first experience sharpened my self-demand a lot.
Q. Of all your characters, which one annoys you most to admit resembles you?
A. When Paco León saw Se tiene que morir mucha gente, he sent me an audio saying: “My doubts shoot up about whether she has more to do with you than you yourself think.” Elena doesn’t resemble me much in her way of seeing the world because she lives in a bubble, but there is something of her madness and boldness that has more to do with me than I thought.
Q. It’s true you do very well as a snob. Are you one?
A. I don’t think I have anything snobbish, but I do feel I have breathed it, that I have had it close, and that there was a part of my childhood related to that world. I have observed it a lot.
Q. After more than 15 years of career, aren’t you tired of still being asked about your exes in every interview?
A. I no longer feel it happens so much, except at some photocall. It’s true that those headlines end up taking up a lot of space, but right now I don’t care too much.
Q. In Un hijo you play a psychologist. Are you one of those who psychoanalyze friends for free?
A. I’m trying to stop doing it, but yes, I have done it a lot. There comes a time when you think: “Why don’t you apply it to yourself, beautiful?” In general, I increasingly believe it’s better not to give your opinions all the time.
Q. In Juana de Arco you played Carlos VII, who had to decide whether to believe that young woman who claimed to hear voices. How are you with voices in your head?
A. Wow, I have an amazing amount of voices. In fact, in this interview, I have had many. But now I am a bit calmer. I think I am managing to silence them.
Q. Have you spoken badly to yourself?
A. Yes. I have spoken very badly to myself. But now I treat myself better. And, above all, I have much more fun.
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