Manuel "Manolo" Julián Cardona Molano (born April 25, 1977) is a Colombian actor. Personal life Cardona was born in Popayán, Cauca, Colombia on April 25, 1977. At the age of seven, Cardona's family nicknamed him "Manolo," which later became his stage name. He moved to Cali, Colombia when he was eighteen to study finance and international relations, but later moved to Spain to study film. Manolo's mother, Nancy Molano, is a psychologist, merchant, and astrologer. His father, Enrique Javier Cardona, was a politician and was the mayor of Popayán. Cardona has three brothers and one sister. Career Cardona began modeling at an early age after his elder brother introduced him to the modeling agency where he signed his first contract. At the age of fourteen he shot his first television commercial and began modeling professionally for TV commercials, photography, and 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 telenovela Carolina Barrantes. A year later he starred in the telenovela ¿Por qué diablos?, portraying a young man who becomes part of a drug organization so he can avenge his friend's death. In 2001 he appeared in Amor a mil, another Colombian telenoevla. In 2002 he signed an exclusive contract with Telemundo and Argos Comunicación, and a year later in 2003 he starred in his first Mexican telenovela, Ladrón de Corazones, where 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 also played Sebastián on the Mexican telenovela Gitanas. Cardona made his film debut in 2005 with the film Rosario Tijeras, based on Jorge Franco's book of the same name. 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. After a two-year absence, Cardona returned to work for