Milena Smit: Movies, Awards & Box Office

Elisabeth Milena Smit Márquez (born 5 October 1996) is a Spanish‑Dutch actress and model who rose from modest beginnings to become one of the most talked‑about young talents in contemporary European cinema. Born in the coastal city of Elche in the Valencian Community and raised in the towns of Torrevieja, Torre de la Horadada and Murcia, she grew up bilingual, absorbing both Spanish and Dutch cultural influences through her parents—her father a Dutch expatriate and her mother a native Spaniard. Smit entered the fashion world at the age of fifteen, signing with local agencies and quickly learning how to navigate the demanding schedules of runway shows and photographic shoots. While modeling, she supplemented her income with a series of odd jobs—waitressing, shop assisting, babysitting and even working as an information assistant on the subway—experiences she later described as shaping her work ethic and empathy for everyday people.

Her transition to acting was fueled by formal training at the prestigious Cristina Rota acting school, where she was coached by Bernard Hiller, the same acting mentor behind stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. After several short‑film appearances such as Diagonales, Innermost, Chimichanga and Adentro, Smit made her feature‑film debut in David Victori’s Cross the Line (2020), a performance that earned her a Goya nomination for Best New Actress. The buzz surrounding her breakout attracted the attention of Pedro Almodóvar, who cast her in Parallel Mothers (2021) alongside Penélope Cruz; Almodóvar praised her “emotional intelligence and sincerity not learned in any school.” Subsequent roles in Netflix productions—including the titular series The Girl in the Mirror and the crime thriller The Snow Girl—as well as parts in independent films like Dragonflies and the horror project Tin&Tina, have solidified Smit’s reputation as a versatile performer capable of moving seamlessly between mainstream and arthouse storytelling.