Spanish actress, the most ubiquitous and international of her generation. The first of her films to make an impact was Vicente Aranda's Cambio de sexo / Sex Change (1977), in which she played a male-to-female transsexual. In the first decade of her career she made no less than thirty-one films, in Spain and abroad, notably in France. In the state-supported Spanish cinema of the 1980s she became a regular feature of any prestige production, adding intelligence and energy to sometimes dull literary adaptations. She also appeared in more commercial projects, where her talents were underused. But it was with Pedro Almodóvar that she achieved international fame. ¡Atame! / Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989) is perhaps her quintessential role, combining sensuality with wit, sentimentality with autonomy. Even when bound to the bed and gagged with tape, she gives a more eloquent performance than her stolid aggressor Antonio Banderas. At the moment when she finally asks to be tied up she subtly manages to suggest a woman strong enough to overcome the man who professes to dominate her. In Tacones lejanos / High Heels (1991), however, as the neurotic daughter who loves her negligent mother too well, she seems immobilized by Almodóvar's heavy-handed melodrama. Sold abroad on its graphic sex scenes, Aranda's Amantes / Lovers (1990) saw her successfully make the transition to an older woman initiating a young man's sexual education. Finally invited to the US, she supported Joe Pesci as the kooky love interest in Jimmy Hollywood (1994). Rumoured to be the highest paid Spanish actress, and certainly the most exportable, Abril embodies a gravely elegant and intelligent sensuality, while her recent French films—such as Gérard Jugnot's Casque bleu (1994) and Josiane Balasko's Gazon maudit (1995)—have also drawn on her talent for light comedy.