Luis Gnecco

Prolific Chilean film and TV Luis Gnecco in 2016 played the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda in "Neruda." Born and raised in Santiago, Chile, Gnecco started acting professionally in his home country in the late 1980s. Throughout the '80s and '90s, he appeared in numerous Chilean telenovelas, becoming one of South America's most highly visible TV stars. Gnecco continued appearing in telenovelas throughout most of the 2000s, before landing his big break in 2008. That was the year Gnecco nabbed the lead role in the Chilean version of "The Office," known as "La Ofis." On the series, which ran for 12 episodes, Gnecco played the same role made famous by Ricky Gervais in Britain and Steve Carell in America. Gnecco's appearance in "La Ofis" only added to his star power in South America, while also making him a bankable talent outside his home country. Before long, Gnecco started appearing in internationally recognized movies and TV shows, including the HBO series "Profugos" (HBO, 2011-13), and the Academy Award-nominated drama "No" (2012). Over the next few years Gnecco continued appearing in movies and on TV, with roles in the films "The Stranger" and "Aurora," both of which were released in 2014, as well as a series regular role on the Spanish language comedy series "Chipe Libre" (2014-15). In 2015 Gnecco nabbed a small part on the critically-acclaimed Netflix drama "Narcos" (Netflix, 2015- ), before landing the biggest role of his career as the star of the 2016 bio pic "Neruda." The biographical drama about Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was released in December of 2016.