Personal life

Cardona was born in Popayán, Cauca, Colombia on April 25, 1977. At the age of seven, Cardona's family gave him "Manolo" as a nickname. This would later be used as his name as an actor. When he was 18, he moved to Cali, Colombia, to finish his studies. Manolo studied finances and international relations. Manolo's mother, Nancy Molano, is a psychologist, merchant and astrologer. His father, Javier Enrique Cardona, has devoted his life to politics, and was the mayor of Popayán. Cardona has two brothers. The elder, Francisco, is an agent and engineer, and the younger, Juan José, studied film direction in the University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain. One of his greatest passions is playing football (soccer).

Career

Cardona began modeling at a very early age. It was his elder brother who introduced Manuel to a modeling agency; he was then quickly signed on to a contract. At the age of fourteen he shot his first television commercial and began modeling professionally for TV commercials, photography, and including runways for several agencies in Colombia. When Cardona was eighteen, in 1995, he began his acting career on a popular Colombian Television series called Padres e Hijos in which he starred for three years. Then in 1998 he won his first lead role in the television soap opera Carolina Barrantes. A year later he became even more prominent for his role in the successful soap opera Porque Diablos?, portraying a young man who becomes part of a drug organization so he can avenge his friend's death. Later in 2001 came Amor a Mil, a highly popular soap opera in Colombia. In 2002 he signed an exclusive contract with Telemundo and Argos Comunicación, and a year later in 2003 he starred in his first Mexican soap opera, Ladrón de Corazones. In it he portrayed Gustavo Velazco, a man who returns to his home town in Mexico after ten years to avenge his father's death and clear his name. He was the host of Telemundo's Spanish version of Temptation Island. He is also known for his role as Sebastián on the Mexican telenovela Gitanas. In 2005, the film Rosario Tijeras, Cardona's big-screen debut, was released in Colombia. The film was based on Jorge Franco's book of the same name. Cardona worked opposite Flora Martinez (playing Rosario Tijeras) and Unax Ugalde and was directed by Emilio Maille. The film was nominated for a Goya Award for best foreign film. In 2005 the film had its North American premiere at the American Film Institute Festival, in Hollywood.

In 2005 he starred in the film La mujer de mi hermano opposite Bárbara Mori and Christian Meier which was released in the United States in 2006. In 2006 he finished filming "Madrid-Mexico" with director Enrique Renteria. Cardona is working, with his brothers, on his two production companies "11-11 and Miramas".

After two years of absence, Cardona returned to work for Telemundo and Argos on the Telemundo soap opera production Marina, replacing Mauricio Ochmann as Ricardo. The soap opera was filmed in Acapulco, Mexico.

On September 27, 2007 Cardona was awarded the "Latin Pride Award" in the Back Bay Events Center in Boston. The award honors the accomplishments of Hispanics of different areas and is a production of the Latin Pride Magazine. Cardona appeared in the 2008 Disney film Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

In 2008, Cardona was in a series, El Cartel de los Sapos for Caracol TV where he played a drug dealer. The series was filmed in Miami, New York, Colombia, Panamá and Madrid. The series was followed by a film of the same name. The series and film were based on a book written by Andres Lopes alias Florecita, who wrote the book while in prison. The series was screened at the LA Screenings and the series aired in 2008 in Colombia. Caracol TV will air the series of 40 episodes starring Cardona, Karen Martinez, Diego Cadavid and Robinson Diaz. The series debuted on Caracol TV on June 5, 2008 continuing until October 2008. Since it premiered on July 2008, El Cartel was the highest rated show on Colombian television. When it premiered on Telemundo on December 2008, it was the highest rated show in the history of the network.

In November 2008, Cardona played a lead role in Undertow (Spanish title Contracorriente) in Peru. Cardona plays the character of Santiago, a gay painter who arrives in a small town and falls in love with Miguel, a married fisherman played by Cristian Mercado who is torn between his love for Santiago and his love for his pregnant wife Mariela (Tatiana Astengo). The film is produced by Dynamo Capital (Colombia) and Calvo Films (Peru), and is directed by Javier Fuentes-León. Contracorriente also premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival on September 23, 2010. The film also had great reception in Sundance Film Festival winning the Audience Award for World Cinema Drama.

Cardona appeared in an episode of Tiempo Final titled "La entrega" in the second season of the show which also co-starred his girlfriend Katarina Sacht. Tiempo Final was a remake of the Chilean series of the same name, and aired on Fox.

He acted in La Ultima Muerte alongside Kuno Becker, in 2009. The film premiered in Mexico in November 2009.

Cardona was in third season of Spain's version of Sin tetas no hay paraiso, which aired on Telecinco. In it, he played a policeman named Martin La Roca. The series premiered in Spain in fall 2010.

He produced and directed a short film called Risas Inocentes (Innocent laughter) with his brother Juan. The short premiered in Colombia in 2009 and was produced by his company "11:11 (onceonce) films".

Awards

• 2000: "Best Actor of Colombia" from TV y Novelas.
• 2001: "The Best Colombian Leading Actor of the Year" in Houston; a tribute paid by the Hispanic community in the United States.
• 2008: "Best Supporting Actor" from Imagen Foundation Awards for Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

Filmography

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1995-1998	Padres e Hijos	Nicolas	TV Series
1998	Carolina Barrantes	David
1999	¿Por qué Diablos?	Juan "Diablo" Cantor
2001-2002	Amor a mil	Jhon Hector Afanador
2002	Viaje de tu vida	Himself	Host with Paola Rey
2003	La isla de la Tentación	Himself	Host
2003	Ladron de Corazones	Gustavo Velasco
2003	Las 25 bellezas de People en Español	Himself	Host
2004	The 2004 Billboard Latin Music Awards	Himself	Host
2004-2005	Gitanas	Sebastian Dominguez
2005	Los 50 más bellos de People en Español	Himself	Host
2006-2007	Marina	Ricardo Alarcon
2008	El Cartel	Martin "Fresa" Gonzales
2008	Tiempo Final: La Entrega	Pablo	Guest Star
2009	Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso	Martin La roca
2011	Aquele Beijo	Juan	Special Participation
2013	Covert Affairs	Teo Braga	Guest Star
2013	Reign	Tomas, Prince of Portugal	Guest Star
2015	Narcos	Eduardo Mendoza

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2005	Rosario Tijeras	Emilio	Nominated for Goya Award for Best Foreign Film
2006	La mujer de mi hermano	Gonzalo Edwards
2008	Beverly Hills Chihuahua	Sam Cortez
2009	Undertow (Spanish title Contracorriente)	Santiago
2009	La Ultima Muerte	David
2011	El Cartel de los Sapos	Martin
2013	Border Run	Roberto
2014	Fort Bliss	Luis	Post-production

[ Source: Wikipedia ]