RIP Emilio Echevarría

 

Emilio Echeverría, "El Chivo" from "Amores Perros", dies at the age of 80

The actor cemented a prolific career in the cinema of our country

El Universal

By Marianna Lebrija Clavel

1/4/2025

 

The Mexican Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMACC) confirmed, through a message of condolences, the death of Mexican actor Emilio Echeverría, who lost his life at the age of 80, and who will be remembered for his prolific career in national cinema, with characters such as "El Chivo" from "Amores Perros" and Miguel Iturbirde in "Y tu mamá también".

In the academy's publication, its official X account celebrated the talent of the actor, who throughout his career, was nominated for three Ariel awards, for his performance in film productions of the magnitude of "Dying in the Gulf" (1990) by director Alejandro Pelayo, "A Monster with a Thousand Heads" (2016) by Rodrigo Plá and "The Chosen One" (2018) by Antonio Chavarias.

And although Echeverría became known for his ease in giving life to characters of very different kinds, in reality, academically he was trained in the career of accounting, from which he graduated from the UNAM and which he practiced for many years in the administrative area of Televisa, until he joined the theater acting group "Circo, maroma and theater".

One of the first to react to his death is the screenwriter of "Amores perros", filmmaker Guillermo Arriaga, who describes Don Emilio as an admirable man and a great human being.

"Painful news for those of us who loved and admired him, Emilio Echeverría has died, a tremendous actor and best human being, a dear friend, I had the privilege of collaborating with him in several productions, a great," he wrote through his X account.

Although his career as an actor began in 1976, when he was 32 years old, it was with his role as "El Chivo", in 2001, in the film "Amores Perros" by Alejandro González Iñarritú that Echeverría earned the recognition of the public, due to his endearing performance as a former guerrilla who, in a street situation, subsists, carrying out work of an illicit nature.

"El Chivo" shows that despite abandoning his wife and daughter for trying to defend the ideals in which he believes, he is a man in solidarity with the pack of dogs that accompany him in exile, as well as when he saves "El Negro", the dog of Gael García Bernal's character, from being abandoned in the middle of the car accident that argues the choral narrative of the film.

In the seventies he made his debut in the theater and in the eighties in the cinema, with the 1986 short film "Desde el cristal con que se mira", by director María del Carmen de Lara.

Another of the performances with which he achieved worldwide projection was "Babel" (2006), also directed by Iñarritú, in which he played Emilio; his last participation on the small screen was in the film "Jacarandas" (2017), where he gave life to Ramiro.

ECHEVARRIA, Emilio (Emilio Antonio Echevarría Noriega)

Born: 7/3 1944, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

Died: 1/4/2025, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

 

Emilio Echevarría’s westerns – actor:

The Alamo – 2004 (Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana)

Three Rabbits – 2025 (Hector)