Guillermo Toledo Monsalve (born 22 May 1970), also known as Willy Toledo, is a Spanish actor and theatre producer. He gained popularity in Spain for his television role as Richard in sitcom 7 vidas from 1999 to 2002, advancing further public recognition for performances in films such as The Other Side of the Bed (2002), Football Days (2003), and Ferpect Crime (2004).
Besides his acting career, he is also noted as a polemicist and for his political activism. He has claimed to suffer a veto by the Spanish film and television industry limiting his job opportunities due to his off-screen activities.
Biography Guillermo Toledo Monsalve was born in Madrid on 22 May 1970, to a well-off family, son of a prestigious surgeon pioneer in thoracic surgery. He studied at the Colegio Estilo in El Viso. He trained as an actor in Spain and the United States.
He made his feature film debut in You Shall Die in Chafarinas. Together with Alberto San Juan, Nathalie Poza and Ernesto Alterio, Toledo founded in 1996 the theatrical group Ración de oreja, which presented the theatrical staging Animalario. Ración de oreja later merged with Andrés Lima's Riesgo to create the theatre company , named after Ración de oreja'''s debut work.
His breakout role came in 1999 with his performance as 'Richard' in the television series 7 Vidas from 1999 to 2002.
His performance in the 2002 musical film El otro lado de la cama earned him a nomination to the Goya Award for Best New Actor, whereas his performance in Álex de la Iglesia's Crimen ferpecto (2004) earned him a nomination to the Goya Award for Best Actor.
After years of an alleged "veto" of the Spanish film and TV industry on granting roles to Toledo, Toledo returned to fiction in the Netflix's series The Minions of Midas'', premiered in November 2019.
Activism He was noted for his activism in Spain against the Iraq War and for his support to the Sahrawi liberation movement. Distinguished as deliverer of controversial statements and for the "disrespectful" way of defending them, he has also voiced himself in favour of the Cuban regime, against the Spanish monarchy, against Podemos and against La Sexta.
Toledo was arrested for allegedly causing "damage" during the . He was released and the case against him was closed.
In November 2020, he was acquitted after being tried for blasphemy by the Catholic far-right lobby Abogados Cristianos, after writing a Facebook post "shitting on god and the virgin" as way of criticising the opening of oral proceedings against three women who in 2014 paraded a large vagina in Seville under the banner "The Unsubmissive Pussy".
He appeared in the last position of the list of the CUP-led electoral list for the 2023 local elections in Badalona. It is a show of symbolic support, it would be improbable that he became a councilor.
In 2026, he co-signed alongside other Spanish artists a text urging the United Nations and the governments of the world to actively work towards the release from prison of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti.
Filmography
Film Year Film Role Notes 1995 Morirás en Chafarinas Film debut 1995 La Ley de la frontera 1998 Mensaka Ricardo 1999 El Réfor 1999 La mujer más fea del mundo (The Ugliest Woman in the World) Lafuente 1999 La lengua de las mariposas (Butterfly's Tongue) O'Lis 2000 El otro barrio (The Other Side) Vicente 2000 El sapo 2001 2001 Juana la Loca (Mad Love) Capitán Corrales 2001 The Old Man Who Read Love Stories Onecen 2001 Intacto Horacio 2002 El otro lado de la cama (The Other Side of the Bed) Pedro 2003 Al sur de Granada (South from Granada) Paco 2003 El misterio Galíndez Ricardo 2004 Las voces de la noche (Voices in the Night) 2004 El asombroso mundo de Borjamari y Pocholo Pelayo 2004 Seres queridos Rafi 2004 Crimen ferpecto (The Ferpect Crime) Rafael González 2006 Los 2 lados de la cama Pedro 2007 Blinkers José Luis Ratón Pérez 2008 Santos El antropomosco 2008 La buena nueva (The Good News) Antonino 2009 After Julio 2010 2012 Los amantes pasajeros (I'm So Excited!) Ricardo Galán 2013 2014 Historias de Lavapiés Ernesto 2018 Black Is Beltza Teniente Muñoz Voice work Viva (Alive)
Television Year Film Role Notes 2020 Los favoritos de Midas (The Minions of Midas) Inspector Conte 2023 (In Love All Over Again) Pablo El grito de las mariposas (The Cry of the Butterflies) Asier Oyamburu Romancero Teodoro
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