‘Elite’ Actor Dead After Collapsing on Beach: Julian Ortega Was 41

Actor Julian Ortega, known for his portrayal as the manager of La Cabana restaurant in Netflix’s hit series Elite, has died. Ortega passed away on Sunday after suffering a medical incident and collapsing on a beach in Barbate, Spain, according to The Olive Press. He was 41.

The incident occurred at around 5:30 p.m. local time on Barbate’s Zahora beach below the La Calima beach bar. After witnessing Ortega collapse, onlookers called for medical assistance. Paramedics attempted to revive the actor for approximately 30 minutes, and reportedly used a defibrillator, but were unsuccessful. Ortega was pronounced dead at the scene.

Although it was initially reported that the 41-year-old had drowned, emergency and lifeguard services clarified that Ortega “was on the shore when he went into cardiorespiratory arrest.” His death was confirmed in a statement by the Spanish Union of Actors and Actresses, which read, per The Sun, “From the Unión de Actores y Actrices, we send our most sincere condolences to the actor’s family and friends.”

Ortega, who was from Madrid and the son of Spanish actress Gloria Muñoz and actor Jose Antonio Ortega, was best known for his work on Elite, Netflix’s popular Spanish-language teen crime series. Created by Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona, the series premiered in 2018 and is set in Las Encinas, a fictional elite high school where three working-class students are sent after their school collapses. The tensions and events that follow ultimately lead to a murder.

The series has been a massive hit, with its debut season being streamed to over 20 million Netflix accounts within its first few months of release. Ortega appeared in six episodes of Season 1 as the beer and burger joint La Cabana’s manager.

His other credits include the Amazon Prime series Caronte (2020), Nunc Et in Hora (2010), and Spanish shows Velvet (2014) and Cristo y Rey (2023), per his IMDb profile. He most recently appeared as Ángel in the series 4 estrellas in 2023.

News of his sudden passing sparked a wave of tributes from his fellow actors, with Goya Award-winning actor Fernando Tejero writing, “I am broken with pain, dear colleague… what a great actor and what a beautiful person you are, Julian Ortega… fly high, hugs to your father and mother.” Actress Silvia Marso remembered Ortega as “a tremendous actor and a colleague of integrity, honesty and as good a person as his parents Gloria Muñoz and Jose Antonio Ortega.” She added, “I can’t even imagine how these parents, colleagues, so beloved in the profession, are. How horrible… I can’t take it in. Absolute sadness.”