Assumpta Serna

María Asunción Rodés Serna (born 16 September 1957), better known as Assumpta Serna, is a Spanish actress and author. Born in Barcelona, Serna has performed in 20 countries in six languages and is the recipient of more than 20 international awards.[1]

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Rodés and the second or maternal family name is Serna.

Assumpta Serna
Serna in 2018
Born
María Asunción Rodés Serna

(1957-09-16) 16 September 1957
Barcelona, Spain
OccupationActress
Years active1978–present
Spouse
​
(m. 1993)​

Biography

Serna was born in Barcelona, Spain.[2] She studied law until she was 19, after which she "preferred being an anarchist" and joined the Barcelona's School of Dramatic Arts.[3]

In 1993, she married her co-star in Sharpe's Company, Scott Cleverdon, who portrayed Lieutenant Harry Price in the film.[4]

Acting career

In her career as an actress, Serna felt she was more successful in foreign countries than in her own country. Speaking in a 2016 interview,[5] she said:

Film

Serna is known for her starring role in I, the Worst of All (1990) portraying the Mexican poet, philosopher and proto-feminist Sor Juana. She co-starred with Antonio Banderas in Matador (1986), one of the first films by Pedro Almodóvar,[6] and she appeared in such films as Wild Orchid (1990), Chain of Desire (1992), Nostradamus (1994), The Shooter (1995), The Craft (1996) and Kiss & Tell (1997).

Although she predominantly played European roles, Serna has also played Colombians in the films Managua with Louis Gossett Jr. and Drug Wars in Michael Mann's series.[7]

Her most recent movie is ¡He matado a mi marido! (filmed October–November 2016) directed by Francisco Lupini, with María Conchita Alonso and Eduardo Yáñez.[8][9]

Television

Serna is known for portraying a Spanish guerrilla in the first four of ITV's Sharpe series of television films based on the novels of Bernard Cornwell,[10] Anna Cellini in Falcon Crest[11] and Catherine of Aragon in Henry VIII opposite Helena Bonham Carter and Ray Winstone. She also acted on the popular Spanish TV series Aquí no hay quien viva. From 2011 to 2014, Serna played one of the female leads, Vannozza dei Cattanei, mistress of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, in Tom Fontana's historical drama Borgia.[12]

She co-produced with Wildcard UK a documentary called Fresco Fiasco and acted in the movie Behold the Monkey, two films about the famous restoration of the Ecce Homo which attracted more than 200,000 visitors from 170 countries to the little town of Borja to see the painting. Both projects were seen in February 2016 on the Sky Arts network in the UK.[13][14][15]

Educator and other work

Serna has written two books on acting technique: Screen acting or El trabajo del actor de cine (1999), which was the first book to be written in Spanish regarding the craft of film-acting,[16] and Monologues in V.O. (2001), a resource for auditioning actors.

Serna currently teaches courses on communication and leadership in English and Spanish. Serna and Cleverdon developed the first university Master course for actors on "Screenacting". With the collaboration of more than 70 international organizations and workshops around the world, they teach the courses "Directing Actors" and "The Script and the Actor".

They formed Fundación First Team[17] and, since 2000, have taught 4,000 students in 6 countries in collaboration with various film schools and film festivals. The last workshop was at the Guadalajara International Film Festival in Mexico.[18] Foundation First Team always include disabled and under-privileged people in their courses.[19]

Through Foundation First Team, Serna has published First Female directors of Spanish movies, written by Conchita Martínez Tejedor.[17]

Serna served as President of AISGE (Actores e Intérpretes – Sociedad de Gestión de España), Spain's society of managing intellectual property rights for actors.[20]

She has volunteered in many organizations, such as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), where for four years she helped select foreign movies for the Oscars. She was a board member of the European Film Academy (EFA) for eight years, and raised 1.8 million euros to bring the European film awards to Catalunya in 2004.

During the lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic she and her husband Scott Cleverdon began to do a daily livestream on the subject of actors, acting and all aspects of the film industry from the point of view of actors working in the audiovisual. They created a community together with their followers called "La Familia de Cine".

They have interviewed notable film makers such as Rodrigo Cortes, Juamna Bajo Ulloa and Phillip Noyce.

They are currently working on a 3 volume book on film acting

References
  1. Nuria Vidal (1993). Assumpta Serna. Icaria Editorial. p. 167. ISBN 9788474262117. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  2. "María Asunción Rodés Serna, * 1957". Geneall.net. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  3. GOLDSTEIN, PATRICK (17 July 1988). "Love, Anarchy--Passions of Assumpta Serna". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  4. "revista hola nº 2598 año 1994. carlona de monac – Comprar Revista Hola en todocoleccion – 53514169". Todocoleccion.net. 23 April 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  5. "Assumpta Serna: "La menopausia me costó un año de depresión y otro para salir de ella"". El Español. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  6. Pauline Kael (2 August 2011). 5001 Nights at the Movies. Henry Holt and Company. p. 470. ISBN 9781250033574. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  7. Prouty (2016). Variety TV REV 1991–92 17 – Prouty (PDF). p. 280. ISBN 9780824037963. Retrieved 2 December 2016. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  8. "Crew — ¡He matado a mi marido!". Hematadoamimarido.com. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  9. "Los Amadores Del Cine: La Actriz Española Assumpta Serna Protagoniza La Comedia "He Matado A Mi Marido", De Francisco Lupini-Basagoiti". Amadoresdelcine.blogspot.com.es. 6 November 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  10. "TP" (JPG). Islantillacineforum.files.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  11. "Falcon Crest Opening Complete Guest Cast". YouTube. 1 June 2014. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  12. ""Borgia" llega a Cosmopolitan TV". Mundoplus.tv. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  13. "Estreno del Documental "Fresco fiasco"". YouTube. 7 July 2016. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  14. "SKY Box Sets". Go.sdky.com. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  15. "El Eccehomo de Borja salta a la televisión británica". Abc.es. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  16. Serna, Assumpta (1999). El trabajo del actor de cine [The Work of the Actor] (in Spanish). Catedra. ISBN 978-8437617053.
  17. "Cursos Interpretación Cinematográfica : Escuela actores first team". Fundacionfirstteam.org. 20 June 2014. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  18. "Programa de Actividades" (PDF). Talentsguadalajara.com. 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  19. "El sector de la discapacidad pide no quedar fuera de las series de TV". Europapress.es (in Spanish). 21 May 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  20. César Iglesias Rebollo (January 2002). Bibliografia espańola sobre Propiedad Intelectual 1987–2000. Editorial Reus. p. 129. ISBN 9788429013788. Retrieved 2 December 2016.

Further reading
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