Rafael Nadal is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players ever and is called the king of clay. The Spanish national has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles and holds the record of winning 13 French Open Championships. He also has one Australian Open, two Wimbledon and four US Open titles to his name.
Oona Chaplin, granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, is best known as Talisa Maegyr from the iconic series Game of Thrones. She had started as a Shakespearean theater actor. She has also been seen in series such as The Hour and Taboo, and has been cast in the upcoming Avatar sequels.
Spanish-German actor Daniel Brühl began his career with the soap Verbotene Liebe. Raised trilingual, he is now fluent in six languages. Hollywood knows him best as Fredrick Zoller from Inglourious Basterds, while he first made waves with the German film Good Bye, Lenin! He later co-owned two bars.
Diego Velázquez was a Spanish painter who served as the most important artist in King Philip IV's court. The leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, Velázquez's work served as a model for impressionist and realist painters of the 19th century. In the 20th century, personalities like Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso re-interpreted some of Velázquez's most iconic images.
Spanish singer Aitana first gained attention with her YouTube covers and then with the reality show Operación Triunfo. She then released her gold-certified debut single, No Puedo Vivir sin Ti, and later continued to release hits such as Lo Malo and Telephono. She is also known as the Spanish Princess of Pop.
Peter Claver was a Spanish Jesuit missionary and priest. His lifelong work with African slaves made him the patron saint of slaves. Peter Claver was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1888. Many organizations, religious congregations, schools, missions, parishes, and hospitals have been named in his honor.
John of the Cross was a Spanish Catholic priest, mystic, and Carmelite friar. One of the 36 Doctors of the Church, he is a major figure of the Counter-Reformation in Spain. He was a prolific writer and poet, and his writings are counted among the greatest works of all Spanish literature. He was beatified in 1675 by Pope Clement X.
Ignacio Ponseti was a Spanish-American orthopedist. He is remembered for his service during the Spanish Civil War, where he treated wounded soldiers for three years as a medic. After the war, Ponseti joined the University of Iowa, where he came up with the Ponseti Method, a pioneering treatment for the clubfoot defect; the treatment achieved popularity as it was non-surgical.
Touted by the media as a representative of Spanish culture in the global music scene, classical guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas has performed in over 40 countries. He has also earned awards such as the Radio Nacional de España’s Ojo Crítico Award and has performed for the Spanish royal family.
Seventeenth-century Spanish mystic and priest Miguel de Molinos propagated an extreme type of Quietism through his book Spiritual Guide. He believed people should sacrifice their individual wills to make way for God’s will. He was eventually imprisoned for heresy and died in custody, amid rumors of sexual misconduct.
One of the world’s most significant flamenco musicians, Paco Peña is remembered for his albums such as Azahara and Flamenco. He has also collaborated with the likes of the Flamenco Dance Company and Argentine guitarist Eduardo Falu. Starting to play the guitar at 6, he began his musical career at a London restaurant.