Alba Flores

Alba Flores — Biography

Spanish actress Alba Flores is best known for playing Nairobi in the heist series La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), a role that brought her international recognition and an Iris Award for Best Actress. Born Alba González Villa on 27 October 1986 in Madrid, she comes from a family of Romani performers.

Her father was composer and guitarist Antonio Flores, her mother theatre producer Ana Villa; her grandmother was singer Lola Flores, her aunts singers Lolita and Rosario Flores, and her cousin is actress Elena Furiase. She began training in acting and piano at thirteen and took her first stage roles between 2005 and 2007.

She made her film debut in El Calentito and reached wider audiences in 2013 playing a Moroccan servant in El Tiempo Entre Costuras. Between 2015 and 2019 she drew attention as an imprisoned Romani woman in Vis a Vis, earning a shared television award and a supporting-actress prize from the Spanish actors' union.

A self-described vegetarian, she has campaigned publicly for animal rights and in 2022 signed an international feminist solidarity manifesto. More recently she has appeared in the series Holy Family and remains active in groups promoting Romani culture.