Celso Bugallo Aguiar (1 January 1947 – 20 December 2025) was a Spanish actor from Galicia. Recognized as a supporting actor, he featured in films such as Mondays in the Sun, The Sea Inside (for which he won the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor), The Night of the Sunflowers, and The Good Boss.
Life and career Bugallo was born on 1 January 1947 in Vilalonga, Sanxenxo, where he was raised until he was 10. Upon the liberation of his father from the Francoist regime in the 1950s, he moved with his family to Bilbao, and then to Logroño. In Logroño, he began to develop an acting career on stage. He returned to his native Galicia in 1978.
In 1999, he made his big screen debut at age 52 in Butterfly's Tongue, playing a priest in the time of the Second Spanish Republic. Demonstrating a knack for "dry and bitter" characters, Bugallo continued his film career with supporting roles in titles such as Lena (2001), Mondays in the Sun (2002), The Carpenter's Pencil (2003), and Your Next Life (2004). In Mondays in the Sun, he played an alcoholic former shipbuilding worker suffering from social isolation, winning a Mestre Mateo award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.
He won the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of José Sampedro (Ramón Sampedro's brother) in The Sea Inside (2004). He played a Guardia Civil corporal in The Night of the Sunflowers (2006). He also appeared as the father of Salvador Puig Antich in Salvador (2006). In Wrap Up, he featured as a Galician immigrant to Argentina coming back home.
Bugallo landed leading roles in (2008) and Amador (2010). In the former, he starred as a villager in a struggle against a thermal power station polluting a valley, inhabiting a character "full of life, energy, and purpose". In the latter, he played an old man taken care of by an immigrant woman.
His film career also included performances in 53 Days of Winter (2006), Modesty (2007), Guts (2009), Palm Trees in the Snow (2015), and The Art of Return (2020). For his small role as a loyal employee in the social satire The Good Boss (2021), he earned a nomination for a Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Bugallo died in Pontevedra on 20 December 2025 at the age of 78.
Selected filmography
Year Title Role Notes La lengua de las mariposas (Butterfly's Tongue) Cura () Feature film debut 2002 Los lunes al sol (Mondays in the Sun) Amador La vida que te espera (Your Next Life) Severo Mar adentro (The Sea Inside) José Sampedro 2006Salvador Pare de Puig Antich () La noche de los girasoles (The Night of the Sunflowers)Amadeo 2007Abrígate (Wrap Up)Coco Sultanes del sur (Sultans of the South) El Tejano Federico La isla interior (The Island Inside) Juan Agallas (Guts) Raúl 2010Amador Amador (Death of a Fisherman) Padre de Caldas () Palmeras en la nieve (Palm Trees in the Snow) Kilian mayor () El practicante (The Paramedic) Vicente (The Island of Lies) Paco El arte de volver (The Art of Return) Marcos 2021 El buen patrón (The Good Boss) Fortuna Loli Tormenta (Stormy Lola) Tomás Estación Rocafort (Last Stop: Rocafort St.) Elías
Accolades Year Award Category Work Result 19th Goya Awards Best Supporting Actor The Sea Inside Best Film Actor in a Secondary Role Best Supporting Actor in a Film The Good Boss Best Supporting Actor
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