María Purificación Josefa Cantudo Porcel, better known as María José Cantudo, is a Spanish actress, model and vedette, born in Andújar, Jaén, Andalusia, who grew up between Córdoba and Almería. Encouraged by the hotel businessman Carlos del Val, she moved to Madrid determined to embark on an artistic career.
At the beginning of the 70's, she began her career as an advertising model and actress in photo-novels, until the Romanian-born television producer and director Valerio Lazarov hired her to present the Spanish television program Señoras y señores in the 1974 and 1975 seasons.
He made his feature film debut in the fantastic genre with El Espanto Rises from the Grave (Spain, 1973), directed by Carlos Aured, starring and written by Paul Naschy, Emma Cohen and Helga Liné. That same year he released Autopsia (Spain, 1973), directed by Juan Logar, where the actress shares the bill with Juan Luis Galiardo and Jack Taylor.
The actress's first big personal success on the big screen came with the film La Trastienda (Spain, 1976), by Jorge Grau, where the actress performs the first full female nudity seen in Spanish cinema. This film labeled her in the so-called Spanish uncovering cinema of the democratic transition, without prejudice to other types of films. Paul Naschy calls her for El Huerto del Francés (Spain, 1977), which he co-stars and directs. Another fantastic film that she made in those years is The Merry Vampires of Vögel (Spain, 1975), by Juan Pérez Tabernero, co-starring with Agata Lys and Germán Cobos. He also starred again with Jacinto Molina, alias Paul Naschy, in the thriller Secuestro (Spain, 1976), by León Klimowsky.
In the 80's, the actress decided to focus on theater, starring in an adaptation of Las Leandrasthe famous Spanish musical revue, and has done so since 1978 with considerable success. Cantudo intervenes and produces some films including The Dance (Spain, 2001), by Edgar Neville. On television, she appears in series such as Cuéntame qué te pasó (2001-2023).
In 2013 she was designated as an honorary member of UNESCO for her humanitarian work as a member of different NGOs such as Fundación Madrina. Her latest film appearances are in two documentaries: Jesus Christ Superstar: A milestone in the history of the Spanish musical (Spain, 2018), by Marta García Sarabia and Mujeres sin censura (Spain, 2021), by Eva Vizcarra.
