Barcelona already has a town crier for its main festival: Emma Vilarasau, one of the most beloved and respected actresses of Catalan theater and television, will be in charge of kicking off the Mercè 2025 with the traditional proclamation from the balcony of the City Hall.
Trained at the Institut del Teatre and with studies in Paris and seminars with masters such as John Strasberg, Vilarasau has starred in more than fifty plays since 1982, including La infanticida, Un tramvia anomenat Desig, Agost, Els dies feliços, Medea and La cabra, o qui és Sylvia? Her versatility has taken her from classical to contemporary drama with an unmistakable stage presence.
In television, she marked an era with unforgettable roles in series such as Secrets de família, Nissaga de poder, Majoria absoluta or Ventdelplà, and recently in Ser o no ser, of RTVE Playz. In cinema she has participated in films such as Para que no me olvides, La fossa and the acclaimed Casa en flames, for which she has received this 2025 the Gaudí, Feroz and Días de Cine awards for best leading actress.
What films of hers do you have to see?
That Emma Vilarasau is one of the most important faces of Catalan cinema is a no-brainer, but as often happens with the classics, we don’t always know her work well, so we tell you which are the must-see films you have to see to get to know her.
Emma Vilarasau’s most recent success has been with Casa en flames ( 2024), a tragicomedy directed by Dani de la Orden, where she plays the matriarch of a family in crisis that has become the most watched film in Catalan in the last decade, only surpassed by Alcarràs, and earned Vilarasau awards such as the Gaudí and the Feroz for best leading actress.
In addition to the latter, in 1995, her role in Els sense nom won her the award for best actress at the Sitges Festival, and in 2004 she was recognized with the Sant Jordi de Cinematografía and a Goya nomination for Patricia Ferreira’s Para que no me olvides.
As for the series, we have already mentioned them, but there is no Catalan of a certain generation who has not grown up watching Ventdelpla or Nissaga de poder, so if you want to recover any of these in 3Cat, you can relive your childhood or get an honor’s degree in Catalan.