Early life
Vega was born in Seville, AndalucÃa and takes her stage name from her grandmother. After attending a performance of Federico GarcÃa Lorca's La casa de Bernarda Alba at the age of 15 she was convinced that she wanted to become an actress. After completing compulsory education at 16, she was accepted at the prestigious Centro Andaluz de Teatro stage school. After two years at the stage school and two more years studying media studies, Vega moved to Madrid hoping for a lucky break into the acting world.
TV career
Vega made her television debut in the Spanish TV series Menudo es mi padre, which starred pint-sized rhumba singer El Fary. After appearing in two other series in 1997 - Mas que amigos and teen drama Compañeros - she went on to grace the silver screen in 1999 in Zapping. The same year she also had a minor role in the David Menkes movie I Will Survive (Sobrevivire) alongside Emma Suarez, Juan Diego Botto and a cameo from Boy George.
Yet it was with the series 7 Vidas (also in 1999) that her really big break came. The series was billed as a Spanish Friends and went on to become one of the country's best-loved domestic sitcoms. Vega played Laura, a perky Andalucian girl who had come to stay in the flat of David, who had recently come out of a coma. The series was broadcast on Telecinco and finished April 12, 2006, albeit without Vega.
Film career
After seeing Vega on 7 vidas, film maker Mateo Gil was so taken with her that he gave her a substantial role in his film Nadie conoce a nadie, scripted and soundtracked by Alejandro Amenábar (who was later to be instrumental in the transatlantic success of Penelope Cruz and successful internationally in his own right as director of The Others and The Sea Inside).
The next Spanish film maker to be captivated by Vega was Julio Medem. Vega was chosen to play the title role in his "provocatively sensual" project Sex and Lucia (LucÃa y el sexo), a split-narrative tale of a young lady who becomes involved with a writer and the unexpected turn events take when a discovery he makes is followed by tragedy. In order to concentrate on the role, Vega had to leave 7 vidas. The film, an erotically charged piece of work, soon became an international success, winning Vega a Goya (Spain's answer to an Oscar) for Best Female Newcomer.
In 2001 she appeared alongside Sergi López as a battered wife in the brutal Solo mÃa and in 2002 no less than Pedro Almodovar, gave her a part in his film Talk to Her (Hable con ella). The film also starred her 7 vidas co-star Javier Cámara and went on to win an Oscar for Best Screenplay, almost unheard of for a foreign-language film. Soon after, she co-starred in the musical romantic sex comedy, The Other Side of the Bed (El otro lado de la cama, 2002).
In 2003 Vega played the feisty Andalucian cigarette-girl Carmen in Vicente Aranda's film of the same name, alongside Argentina's Leonardo Sbaraglia. As was Bizet's famous opera, the film was based on Prosper Merimee's 1845 novella of passion and jealousy.
In 2004, she starred in the James L. Brooks comedy Spanglish alongside Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni. The film was successful in theatres.
In 2006, Vega starred in 10 Items or Less with Morgan Freeman, a groundbreaking film that was the first in history to be legally available for download while it was still in theaters. This was possible through Freeman's online entertainment company ClickStar.
In 2007, she starred as Saint Teresa of �vila in Teresa, el cuerpo de Cristo, a biopic directed by Ray Loriga.
