Antonio Hortelano Hontanga was born in Valencia on 16 September 1975.[1][2] He landed his television debut in 1986 in Turno de oficio [es], followed by other minor television roles in Médico de familia, Más que amigos [es], and Manos a la obra.[3] Hortelano landed his big screen debut in a starring role in El seductor (1995) alongside María Barranco.[3][4] For his role as bad boy Joaquín "Quimi" Verdet in 94 episodes of the television series Compañeros and the spin-off film No te fallaré [es] (2000), he became very popular in Spain.[3][5] His film career continued in the 2000s with credits in Más de mil cámaras velan por tu seguridad [es] (2003), The Witch Affair (2003), Diario de una becaria (2004), Desde que amanece apetece (2005), and Condón Express (2005).[6]
For his theatre debut,[4] he featured in the play Olvida los tambores [es] directed by Víctor Conde, which premiered at the Teatro La Latina [es] on 20 September 2007.[7][8] From then on he leaned on the stage scene, with participations in plays such as Burundanga, Nuestras mujeres, Dos más dos, La fuerza del cariño, and La Cuenta.[8] He also appeared in television series such as SMS, Punta Escarlata, El don de Alba, and Sin identidad.[6]
He made his directorial theatre debut in 2020 with Llámame.[9] In 2023, he made a return to film with a role in Víctor Conde's Venus.[10]
