Paulina Urrutia

Paulina Marcela Urrutia Fernández (born 15 January 1969) is a Chilean actress, academic, director, trade union leader, and politician.

She was a State Minister of the first government of President Michelle Bachelet.

Born into a middle-class family, Paulina Urrutia grew up in the San Miguel district of the Chilean capital.

Her parents worked in public administration and separated when she was fifteen years old.

She studied at the Company of Mary school on Seminario Street in the municipality of Providencia.

Her first introduction to theater was as a girl, in a school workshop.

Later, after graduating from high school, she entered the discipline at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

The exercise of her profession began very early.

The first play in which she performed was Esperando la carroza (play), in 1987, under the direction of Raúl Osorio.

Her career in television began in a Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) series in 1989, thanks to an invitation from the producer Sonia Fuchs.

She played, with great success, Juanita Fernández Solar, who was later declared the first Chilean saint under the name Teresa of the Andes.

A year later she participated, also on TVN, in El milagro de vivir (Chilean TV series), her first telenovela.

Her film debut came in 1993, in the movie Johnny 100 Pesos by local filmmaker Gustavo Graef Marino.

In 1994, after starring in the television series Jaque mate (telenovela), she joined the Television Corporation of the Catholic University of Chile (UC TV), where she remained until 2002.

A highlight of that period was her performance in Fuera de control (telenovela), as Sarita Mellafe, considered by critics as one of the best villains seen on Chilean television.

Urrutia quickly became involved in the political world by actively participating in the Chilean Actors Union (Sidarte), becoming its general secretary and its president in 2001.

In 2003 she returned to TVN, appearing in the telenovela Puertas adentro, but would return to UC TV the following year, acting in Tentación (telenovela) and Gatas y tuercas.

During the first government of Michelle Bachelet, she was appointed president of the National Council of Culture and the Arts in 2006.

This is equivalent to the position of culture minister in other countries.

Under her administration as minister, a set of reforms to intellectual property law was drafted and discussed.

It was approved unanimously by the National Congress on 13 January 2010, and promulgated as Law No. 20,435 on 4 May of that year, during the government of Sebastián Piñera.

Gongora had been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease since 2014.

She has no children, but two step-children with him.

In May 2017 she assumed the direction of the Camilo Henríquez Theater, succeeding the playwright Ramón Griffero.

Urrutia was married to journalist, producer, and director Augusto Góngora, until his death in May 2023.

Between 2018 and 2022 the chilean film maker Maite Alberdi followed the couple in and outside their home to create a full-length documentary film, The Eternal Memory, showing how they coped with Góngora's illness in daily life.

The film was awarded the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and had its European premiere in the Panorama Section at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2023.

On May 19, 2023, Gongora died.