Itziar Ituño

Before Money Heist made her famous around the world, Itziar Ituño was well known in the Basque Country for a long-running role on Goenkale, a Basque-language soap opera on the regional broadcaster EITB. When she was cast as Raquel Murillo, the police inspector leading the negotiations in the Spanish heist series La casa de papel, she was largely unknown outside Spain. By the end of the series her face was known to Netflix viewers around the world.

She was born on June 18, 1974, in Basauri, near Bilbao, in the Basque Country of northern Spain. No birth time for her has been made public, so the Ascendant cannot be calculated, but her planets reveal a lot. Her Sun is in late Gemini, the sign of intelligence, quick thinking and verbal dexterity. Gemini is curious and adaptable, and it suits an actress whose most famous character was an investigator trying to outthink a criminal mastermind across a negotiating line.

Mercury, retrograde, and Saturn share Cancer, a placement of strong attachments to roots and to the people one loves, and Saturn there suggests responsibility toward family. Raquel, in the story, was torn between her duty as a police officer, her care for her young daughter and her mother, and her growing love for the Professor, the man she was supposed to catch.

Venus in Taurus describes a warm, sensual and steady way of loving. Raquel's romance with the Professor, played by Álvaro Morte, became the emotional center of the series, and her eventual decision to join the robbers, taking the codename Lisboa, was one of its most dramatic twists.

Mars in Leo adds pride, courage and a love of performance. Leo is theatrical and wants to shine, and Mars there describes a confident creative drive.

Ituño has also worked in Basque cinema, including the acclaimed 2014 film Loreak, and she has been outspoken about Basque culture and language. She has continued to act in Basque and Spanish productions since the series ended, and she has spoken about wanting to keep working close to home rather than moving permanently to Hollywood. In interviews she has also described how Raquel's struggle between duty and love made the character feel unusually human to her, and why she was drawn to playing a woman who refuses to fit neatly into the role of hero or villain.

Jupiter in Pisces describes an empathetic, imaginative quality and growth through emotional and artistic work. Uranus in Libra, Neptune in Sagittarius and Pluto in Libra belong to her generation.

La casa de papel ran from 2017 to 2021 and ranked among the most-watched non-English-language series ever made, turning its cast into international celebrities and inspiring protests and costumes around the world. The Gemini Sun gave Ituño the quick mind of the inspector; the Cancer planets gave her the loyalty that made Raquel cross the line.