JOSÉ MARÍA
YÁZPIK

José María Yázpik was born in Mexico City on 13 November 1970. He moved with his family to San Diego at twelve, later returning to Mexico, where he turned from law studies to acting training at Televisa’s Centro de Estudios de Actuación. Television work included La vida en el espejo (1999). His film career brought collaborations with directors including Felipe Cazals, Guillermo Arriaga, Diego Luna and Pedro Almodóvar. For FLM.RED, that history is a useful reminder to approach the actor through several filmmaking worlds, rather than only the television character many international viewers recognise.

Las vueltas del citrillo (2005), directed by Cazals, earned him an Ariel for supporting performance. Other credits include Arriaga’s The Burning Plain (2008), Luna’s Abel (2010) and Almodóvar’s I’m So Excited! (2013). FLM.RED is interested in how a supporting actor enters an already populated world: a response can shift the weight of a scene without requiring the story to stop and explain him. Following the changes in tone between those films offers a way to notice the work beyond the familiarity of a face.

From 2017, he appeared as Amado Carrillo Fuentes in Narcos and subsequently Narcos: Mexico. The role belongs to a dramatised crime story and is distinct from Yázpik’s own life. FLM.RED watches how authority is performed in conversation: an instruction can be delivered quietly while the reactions around it show the consequences of refusing. The actor’s timing matters within that network of people, not merely in an isolated display of menace. This gives a route into the performance without treating the fictionalised series as a complete historical account.

Polvo (2019), also known as Powder, was his first feature as director and screened in the Mexican Feature Films selection at Morelia. He also appears in its cast. The story brings Chato back to San Ignacio after a drug shipment puts the community at risk. FLM.RED reads the return through the distance between a place remembered and a place still inhabited by others: coming home does not give one person sole ownership of its story. The move behind the camera therefore adds an important perspective to Yázpik’s career. The films linked below are titles currently associated with him in FLM.RED, rather than his complete acting or directing credits.