Explore Madrid With Rising Actress Irene Escolar

Date 12 July 2019

Will Irene Escolar be the next Spanish actress to seduce Hollywood? The 30-year-old Madrileña cut her teeth in national theater. Her family has been acting in the theaters of this city for six generations. She recently won Spain’s prestigious Goya Award for Best New Actress, for her role in the film Autumn Without Berlin. And she just debuted in an English movie, alongside Rupert Everett.

She’s heading to LA as we speak to her. Just saying. For now, Irene is telling us, conspiratorially, about her hometown of Madrid. “Come in the spring,” she says. As she poses breezily for a couple of photographs, we can’t help thinking the same about her. Irene indulges our fantasies of friendship by describing the Madrid weekend we might have had, if only she wasn’t about to get on a plane…

Campo del Moro Garden

“First, I would take you to a nice park not many people know about called Campo del Moro, at the Royal Palace. You can see the palace, peacocks walking around… you can find all kinds of birds there.”

El Rastro

“On Sunday, we have El Rastro, where everyone sells their things on the street. If you live in Madrid, you go there. It’s a great place to meet people, and to see Madrid life.”

Teatro del Barrio

“We’d go to Lavapiés, the multicultural area where I live. There are so many interesting things going on—like Teatro del Barrio, a very small theater with live music every Friday and Saturday. They play Spanish jazz.”

Los Porfiados

“My favorite restaurant nearby, Los Porfiados, serves typical Spanish food, very, very cheap and homemade. I always get the tataki de atún (tuna tataki).”

Matadero Madrid

“Not far from Lavapiés is Matadero, which used to be an abattoir and is now a wonderful place with exhibitions and two theater spaces for acting and dance. It’s a nice place for us to walk around. There are concerts sometimes, too.”