José Condessa is a 25-year-old actor from Portugal whose career has taken off in the last few years, making him one of the most resounding talents to come out of his country. He’s the star of Netflix’s 2023 drug mystery series Turn of the Tide, as well as part of the ensemble of Pedro Almodóvar’s 2023 western short Strange Way of Life, where he plays a younger version of Pedro Pascal’s character.
Following his start in the theater in the Portuguese town of Cascais, Condessa made his television debut in 2015 in the soap opera Jardins Proíbidos, alongside Warrior Nun‘s Alba Baptista, and hasn’t stopped working since. He slowly built his career outside the soap opera world through small parts in series like 2017’s Filha da Lei and films like 2016’s Mother Knows Best.
In 2018, Condessa would start adding bigger and better roles to his resumé, like the antagonist in the boxing film Gabriel. In the soap Valor da Vida he shared the screen with The Suicide Squad and Fast X‘s Daniela Melchior. In 2020, he branched out internationally with a stint in the soap Run For Your Lives as Juan De La Piedra – a role which, although popular, was cut short by the pandemic.
The best year of the Portuguese actor’s career was arguably 2023, when he landed the leading role in a new television series adaptation of the Eça de Queirós classic O Crime Do Padro Amaro. In the show, his romantic interest is played by his real-life girlfriend since 2018, Portuguese actress Bárbara Branco, whom he met while they were both in drama school. 2023 also brought the aforementioned roles in Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life and Netflix’s Turn of the Tide.
Strange Way of Life premiered at Cannes – where Condessa was in attendance alongside the director, and castmates Ethan Hawke, Manu Rios, and others – with favorable reviews. Turn of The Tide became Portugal’s most successful Netflix title just two days after its premiere, making its way to the Top 10 of more than 30 countries.