Manu Baqueiro sneaks into Spanish homes every day from the counter of the El Asturiano bar. He has been playing Marcelino Gómez for almost 18 years, one of the leading characters in the soap opera Amar es para siempre (Antena 3) and before that he was in Amar en tiempos revueltos (La 1). The actor also participated in the latest edition of Masterchef celebrity, where he was second behind Lorena Castell.
Tomorrow, Saturday, Baqueiro (46) premieres the play One week nothing else in Estepona, together with Marina San José and Javier Pereira. “We start in Estepona and we will add new locations and I hope we can represent in Segovia.” The actor, although born in Madrid and with Galician origins, has his weekend refuge in the Segovian town of La Granja de San Ildefonso. “Only an hour from the center of Madrid, where I live, I disconnect in a brutal way by taking good walks in the mountains and enjoying good gastronomy… It’s wonderful,” he says.
As a lover and great connoisseur of the area, Whiskey Dyc invited him a few days ago to visit his distillery located in Palazuelos de Eresma and a typical meal at the José María restaurant in Segovia. An experience that Dyc offers parents and children to share throughout the weekend of March 18 and 19 on the occasion of Father’s Day. “I am a big fan of the brand. After a good walk through the mountains, climbing the Silla del Rey, my favorite route or enjoying the local gastronomy in any of its restaurants, I love getting home to light the fireplace, prepare a whiskey on the rocks and drink a good book. For me that is extreme happiness”, explains Baqueiro enthusiastically, who from time to time changes Segovia for Tarifa to practice kitesurfing.
Manu Baqueiro feels lucky to be able to work regularly as an actor since September 26, 2005, when the first episode of Amar en tiempos revueltos aired. In 2013, the daily series changed channels and was renamed Amar es para siempre. “We are like a real family,” he explains. We have been together for many years and there is a lot of chemistry with Itziar Miranda, who plays my wife Manolita, and with José Antonio Sayagués, who plays Pelayo, Marcelino’s father, and who even when we’re not filming calls me his son”. And he adds: “Besides, we are not little stars, we enjoy the series and we don’t cause problems.”
Baqueiro thanks the series producer for allowing him to make filming the series compatible with theater tours or with Masterchef “which is also from another chain,” he says. Regarding his experience as a culinary talent, he comments: “I like to cook and I have knowledge, that’s why I dared to participate. It was an intensive course of nine or 10 hours a day cooking for three months, with teachers and then practicing at home, because I was obsessive. The truth is that we do not know how far our limits can go”.
The world of gastronomy is not alien to the actor. He owns a restaurant in Madrid, Decadente, and a chain of breweries, La Tía Feli, along with actor Aaron Guerrero (Chechu in Family Doctor). “They are tapas places, which is the essence of Spain, to eat and socialize around a good wine or a beer. It’s my plan B, and I take great care of it.”
Few know that Manu Baquiro studied Law and worked for a year as a lawyer, before becoming an actor: “It has helped me to have discipline when I study a script, to analyze it and to document a lot about my character.”
Manu Baqueiro is very close to his parents, who separated when he was little and whom he convinced to attend the latest Masterchef program together. “I did a job for them”, he comments, laughing. With them he enjoys both Madrid and Galicia, where they come from and have homes.
He is also very close to his younger brother, the actor Alfonso Bassave (43), born from his mother’s second marriage: “There is no rivalry between the two of us. We support each other a lot and we are very happy about each other’s achievements. We both know it’s a very thankless race, but we’re doing well. I in a series, which is safer and he in more risky jobs. He assures that Masterchef has asked him to convince Alfonso to participate in the next edition. “He cooks less than me and says that although he enjoys watching the program, at the moment he doesn’t see himself presenting a dish to Jordi Cruz and Pepe Rodríguez and that they can crush him,” he concludes.
