Albert Espinosa

Albert Espinosa i Puig (; born 5 November 1973), educated as an industrial engineer, is a Spanish screenwriter, playwright, writer, actor and director of cinema. He also works as a newspaper columnist at El Periódico de Catalunya.

Biography

Espinosa was born in Barcelona, Spain, on 5 November 1973. At the age of 14, he was diagnosed with cancer and spent the next ten years in and out of hospitals. He lost a leg, a lung and part of his liver. Espinosa's memoir The Yellow World is an account of his battle with cancer. At the age of 24, he left hospital to train as an industrial engineer at Technical School of Industrial Engineering in Barcelona (ETSEIB), part of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. It was at this time that he began to write screenplays and act in television series for Televisió de Catalunya.

The author of several screenplays and novels, he has also written and acted in plays and television series. He is also director, writer and stage actor in his theater company Pelones and a columnist for El Periódico de Catalunya.

His work has been described as combining the fantastic, tenderness and humour. Espinosa's experiences of growing up in hospital have marked his creative work; "I always say that I have to live my life as well as those of my friends who did not beat cancer. I'm living 4.7 lives". And finally his new book, Compasses That Seek Lost Smiles (2013).

The Yellow World is a memoir about Espinosa's years with cancer. Of it, he said: 'I do not talk about cancer, I talk about what I learned from cancer, everything it taught me for everyday life.'

Recent works in television and radio In 2010 he embarked on a new project with Pau Freixas, director of Héroes (2009), the television series Polseres vermelles (known in English as The Red Band Society), created by Espinosa himself. The story and the script are the responsibility of the author and Pau Freixas is responsible for the direction, the series is also co-produced by both.

Polseres vermelles tells the everyday story of a group of teenagers who meet at a hospital because of their illnesses, and talks, always with humor and tenderness, the value of friendship, the will to live and the desire to excel. As it did in the movie 4th Floor (2003), Albert Espinosa used his own life experience to recreate the Polseres vermelles hospital environment.

The original script, based on the aforementioned novel The Yellow World (2008), by Espinosa himself is designed for four seasons, and time series (co-produced by Castelao Productions and Television of Catalonia) after the remarkable success of audience and critical of the 1st season (issued between January and May 2011, the regional channel TV3), already renewed for a second, which would consist of 15 new episodes. In addition, the 1st season was dubbed into Castilian and issuance began 9 July 2012 in Antena 3 with a large audience, surpassing even the harvested data in Catalonia with the original pass.

Besides Season 2 of Polseres vermelles, currently Espinosa is preparing a movie: 5th Floor, a kind of sequel to the hit 4th floor.

In National Radio Spain, he worked in the morning Affections evening program, led by Jordi Tuñón, with a weekly section about interesting scientific studies until 2012 when the program ended.

Filmography

Television

Super3 Club (children's program, 1996–1997) (writer) El joc de viure (series 1997) (writer) Xou com sou (contest, 1999) (writer) Xat TV (youth program, 1999–2000) (writer) Viladomat (series, 2000) (casting) Casting (contest, 2000) (writer) The Bus (reality show, 2000) (writer) Acrobats and clowns (documentary, 2001) (writer) Psycho Express (series, 2001–2002) (writer) El cor de la Ciutat (Series 2002–2003) (writer from seasons 2 to 4) Histories of Catalonia (documentary, March 2003) (writer) Tempus fugit (TV movie, 2003) (writer) Jet Lag (Series 2003–2004) (writer seasons 3–4) Majoria absoluta (series, 2003–2004) (writer of season 3) Autoindefinits (competition, 2004–2005) (writer) Buenafuente (program 2005) (writer) The Christmas Eve (TV movie, 2005) (actor) Nit Suite (TV movie, 2005) (actor) Summer Grandma (series, 2005) (actor and writer) The Holy Family (series 2010) (writer) Polseres vermelles (series 2010) (writer and producer) La Trinca: unauthorized biography (TV movie, 2011) (actor) Polseres vermelles, 2nd Season (ESIS, 2013) (writer and producer) Los espabilados (Alive and Kicking) (2021) (creator)

Film Floor 4a (2003) (scriptwriter) Your life in '65 (2006) (screenwriter) You're going to see that nobody is perfect (2006) (scriptwriter) Strong Apache (2007) (actor) Destination: Ireland (short, 2008) (actor and producer) Do not ask me to kiss you, because I will kiss you (2008) (actor and director) Heroes (2010) (screenwriter) Fifth Floor (in production) (director)

Theatrical and literary works The Pelones (theatre, 1995) A rookie in the ETSEIB (theatre, 1996) Posthumous Words (theater, 1997) The Story of Marc Guerrero (theatre, 1998) Fragments (theater premiered at the Barcelona Teatre Malic room in September 1999). 4 dances (theater, premiered at Teatre Malic in Barcelona in February 2002) Your life in '65 (theater; premiered at Teatre Malic in Barcelona in September 2002). This is not life* (theatre, co-written with Sergi Belbel and David Plana for the company T de Teatre, and released in December 2013) Don't ask me to kiss you because I'll kiss you (theater; premiered at the alternative theater hall, Tantarantana in Barcelona in January 2004) The club of straw [Catalan] (theater; premiered at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya in March 2004) Idaho and Utah (lullabies for naughty children) (theatre; premiered in the Hall of Alternative Theatre Tantarantana, Barcelona in February 2006). The great secret (theater; co-written with Joan Font and released in the National Theatre of Catalonia at December 2006). The little secret (theatre; co-written with Joan Font and released in January 2007). Our Tigers Drink Milk [Catalan] (theater; premiered at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya in January 2013). The Yellow World (autobiographical fiction, 2008). All that we could have been you and I if we weren't you and me (Novel, 2010). If you tell me to come I abandon everything...but tell me to come (novel, 2011). Compasses that search for lost smiles (novel, 2013).

Books translated into English The Yellow World: Trust Your Dreams and They'll Come True (2012) [translated from El Mundo Amarillo (2008)]

Awards

2003 – Butaca prize for best theatrical text for the act Your life in '65. 2004 – Basque Film Award for Best Screenplay for 4th floor. 2004 – SAG Award for Best Screenplay for TV movie for Tempus fugit. 2004 – Golden Nymph for Best Screenplay at the Monte Carlo Television Festival by Tempus Fugit. 2006 – Award for the work BCN Theater Idaho and Utah (Lullabies for Sick Babies). 2007 – Award Barcelona Cinema for Best Screenplay for Your Life in 65.