Manu Ríos
Ríos at the37th Goya Awards
Born	Manuel Ríos Fernández (1998-12-17)17 December 1998 (age 26) Calzada de Calatrava, Spain
Occupations	Actor singer
Years active	2008–present

Manuel Ríos Fernández (born 17 December 1998) is a Spanish actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Patrick Blanco in theNetflix teen drama seriesElite.^[1]

Manuel Ríos Fernández was born on 17 December 1998 inCalzada de Calatrava, a small town in theprovince of Ciudad Real.^[2] With a great passion for singing, dancing, and acting from a very young age, Ríos made his television debut at nine when he was cast in the reality showCantando en familia after his mother received a phone call from a local television looking for young talents.^[3] In the following year, he participated as a dancer in¡Tu sí que vales!, a Spanish talent show.^[4] At that age, he also began uploading covers of famous songs onYouTube, earning him the nickname "the SpanishJustin Bieber".^[5] Ríos studiedclassical ballet andstreet dance and won the Spanish Championships inhip hop dance as a member of the dance crew Sweet Babies.^[6] He was also a member ofParchís in its 2012 relaunch, a children's musical band with which he released an album and toured throughout Spain.^[6][7] In addition, he portrayedGavroche in the musicalLes Misérables at theLope de Vega Theatre inMadrid.^[8]

In 2013, Ríos signed a 6-year contract with aGrammy Award-winning music producerRichy Peña, and moved with his parents and brother to the United States to work with an American team.^[3] His work on his debutextended play (EP) has been postponed due to his acting career, but he has confirmed he will release it in the future.^[9] Ríos characterized the songs he had written asalternative pop with dark elements.^[10] He can play the guitar and piano, and has citedLorde andFrank Ocean as some of his musical influences.^[11][12]

Ríos began his acting career in 2014 as Mauricio Martínez in the comedy television seriesChiringuito de Pepe. He made his international breakthrough in 2021, when he landed the role of Patrick Blanco in the Netflix teen drama seriesElite, joining the cast for the fourth, fifth, and sixth season.^[13] In February 2023, he received a nomination for Best TV Actor at the 2022Fotogramas de Plata for his performance inElite.^[14]

Just days after attending the 2022MET Gala inNew York, Ríos began filming the Netflix psychological thriller seriesEl Silencio (Muted).^[15] He was also cast in the lead role inLa edad de la ira, an adaptation of the bestselling eponymous novel by Nando Lopez.^[16] He portrays Marcos, an introverted teenager growing up in a toxic family environment, who is accused of murdering his father.^[17] In 2022, Ríos was cast as a balladeer in short filmStrange Way of Life, directed by fellow Calzada de Calatrava nativePedro Almodóvar and which premiered at the2023 Cannes Film Festival.^[18][19]

In October 2023, Ríos and stylist Marc Forné founded theunisex fashion brand Carrer, with Ríos serving as its creative director.^[20][21]

In 2024, he was cast in themedical drama seriesBreathless for Netflix.^[22]

• Manu Rios atIMDb

• Living people
• Male actors from Castilla–La Mancha
• Singers from Castilla–La Mancha
• Spanish television actors
• 21st-century Spanish male actors
• 21st-century Spanish male singers
• 21st-century Spanish singers
• 1998 births
• Spanish male models

• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• CS1 European Spanish-language sources (es-es)
• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from July 2022
• Articles with hCards