Asumpta Serna originally set out to become a lawyer, but after three years of study, she quit school and joined the anti-Fascist theater working toward the demise of the Franco regime. After Franco died in 1975, she migrated from her native Barcelona to Madrid, where she began acting on stage. Filmmaker Carlos Saura gave Serna her first big break when he cast her in "Sweet Hours" (1981). Although numerous Spanish and French films followed, Serna earned international recognition as the femme fatale of Pedro Almodovar's "Matador" (1986; released in the USA in 1988), which also launched Antonio
