Guillermo Francella

Guillermo Francella (born February 14, 1955 in Buenos Aires, Argentina), sometimes credited as Guillermo Franchella, is a famous actor and comedian. He is one of Telefe's most well known personalities.

Apart from being a television figure, he also has had a long theatrical acting career. Francella has travelled around his native Argentina with some of his country's distinguished actors to participate in a long list of plays.

Francella made his television debut in 1984, participating in "Historia de un Trepador" ("A Golddigger's Story"). In 1985, he made his first feature film, "El Telo y la Tele" ("Telo and Tele"). He also participated in the television series, "El Infiel" ("The Cheating Man") as "Felipe" during that year.

1986 was a very busy year for Francella: he filmed three movies, including "Camarero Nocturno en Mar del Plata" ("Nightshift Steward at Mar Del mPlata") and "Las Colegialas" ("College Girls"), as well as one television series, named "El Lobo" ("The Wolf").

Francella's television and movie acting career continued on with such movies as "Los Pilotos mas Locos del Mundo" ("The World's Craziest Pilots"), "Paraiso Relax" ("Relax Paradise, released as "Casa de Masajes" in Argentina) and "Baneros II:La Playa Loca" ("Beach Bums II:Crazy Beach"); as well as television series like "De Carne Somos" ("We are Made of Meat") and "La Familia Benvenutto". The aforementioned works were among Francella's acting experiences during the late 1980s.

In 1989, Francella participated in one of his biggest hits to date, "Los Exterminaitors", a movie that offered a satirical look at action movies such as Terminator. Francella's next project was a sequel to that film. "Los Exterminaitors II", filmed in 1990, was Francella's first acting job of the 1990s. In 1990, he also played a character whose name could be considered a homage to Francella ("Francachella") in the "Brigada Cola" ("Last Brigade") television series.

Two more sequels to "Los Eterminaitors followed, and then Francella took some time off from acting on screen.

When he returned to act in front of the cameras, international interest in his shows and movies had grown, and his first work in three years, 1997's "Naranja y Media", was released in various English speaking countries, under the name of "My Better Halves".

His next movie, 1998's "Un Argentino en New York", was filmed in Spain and the United States. It was also a major Argentine cinema hit.

In 2000, he participated in one of Telefe's most viewed shows, "Papa es un Idolo", a show that would also reach English speaking countries under the name of "Ddaddy is my Idol".

Francella began acting in 2001 in what perhaps may be, his career's defining work: The Telefe series "Pone a Francella" ("Put on Francella"), a comedy show which he hosts and where he participates in comic sketches. As of 2004, the series was being televised for the third year in a row; in Latin America, for a television series (not including telenovelas) to last longer than one year, it has to be considered a major hit. "Pone a Francella" reached the United States by DirecTV satellite transmissions.

Cuban president Fidel Castro is a fan of Francella. Upon learning that the 2003 movie, "Un Dia en el Paraiso" ("A Day in Paradise") was to include Francella, he gave the producers full permission to film the movie in Cuba. Francella played two characters in that movie, "Reynaldo" and "Roy".

Francella's next movie, "Papa se Volvio Loco" ("Daddy Went Crazy!"), is due to be released sometime in 2005.