Carlos Iglesias was born in Quintanar de la Orden, Toledo, Spain. His parents migrated to Switzerland when he was 13 years old, and then to Madrid and Alicante, both in Spain.
He became an actor by accident while playing the part of an actor who had fallen ill in an independent theater group. He then went on to study at the RESAD (Real Academia de Arte Dramático, or Royal Academy for Dramatic Art).
He became first known for his role as Pepelu in Pepe Navarro's TV show "Esta noche cruzamos el Mississippi" (Tonight We'll Be Crossing the Mississippi, 1995-97). Later on, he played Benito, a thick-brush, sloppy painter in the TV series "Manos a la obra" (Let's Get To It, 1997-2001).
It was in this series that he finally became widely popular, as ratings were usually quite high, topping 6 million viewers in a population of 42 million.
He directed his first big-screen movie, "Un franco, catorce pesetas" (Crossing Borders),in 2006. The movie plot (about the life of a Spanish immigrant in Switzerland in the late 1960s) is based on his parents' as well as his own experience as an immigrant.
Carlos Iglesias acted mainly in both classic and contemporary theatrical venues in the 1980s. He worked in various theater plays, including Carlo Goldoni's "Arlequín, servidor de dos amos", Chejov's "Polinka", Lauro Olmo's play "Pablo Iglesias", Valle-Inclán's "Los cuernos de Don Friolera", Sergi Belbel's "Caleidoscopios y faros de hoy", Federico García Lorca's "El público", Jean Genet's "Ella", and Valle-Inclán's "Las galas del difunto", among many others.
From the early 90s onwards, Carlos Iglesias opted mainly for television shows of all different kinds: drama productions, TV series, and as main actor in various TV shows, such as "Esta noche cruzamos el Mississippi".
For the big screen, he was cast for Pedro Costa's movie "El caso Almería" (1983),Jaime Camino's "Dragón Rapide" (1986),or Pedro Pinzola's "Siempre felices" (1991). Recently, he has acted as Sancho Panza in Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón's "El caballero don Quijote" (2002) and in José Luis Garci's "Ninette" (2005),alongside Elsa Pataky.
Carlos Iglesias's first big-screen full-length movie as director, "Un franco, catorce pesetas" (Crossing Borders, 2006),was a hit among viewers, as well as a success in the various film festivals it took part in.
His second movie as director is "Ispansi!" (literally 'Spaniards!' in Russian, 2010).
