Born in Madrid in 1978, Violeta Pérez studied Dramatic Arts and Art History. In 2005, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film Princesses. Since then, her professional work has received wide recognition in both cinema and theater.
At 19, Violeta was traveling through Europe on a tour that brought her, by apparent chance, It's a budapest. Unbeknownst to her, the city was home to one of the few hospitals in the late 1990s with a specialized neurosurgery unit. It was there that she underwent emergency surgery for a ruptured brain aneurysm. Violeta considers this “coincidence” to be the reason she is alive today. Her near-death experience did not transform her life because of what she saw during it, but rather because of how she came back. It took her years to fully process and speak about it—years to understand that she had truly returned from death.
“Thank you, my God,” were the first words she spoke upon waking from surgery. A phrase that may seem ordinary to many was, in her case, completely foreign. Raised in a non-believing environment, Violeta had no prior connection to spirituality or religion. Yet, that phrase marked the beginning of an unexpected spiritual awakening—an inner life that was in stark contrast to the worldview she had held until then.
What followed after her hospital discharge was emotionally intense, but through art, she found a way to process the experience. Her life had changed forever.
Here is her full story
