José Mota(I)

Member of the Spanish comic duo "Cruz y Raya", together with Juan Muñoz. They met in military service in 1985, and after leaving it they decided to go to Madrid in search of adventure, where they started their first show, known as '60 personajes en busca de humor' ('60 characters in search of humor'), imitating many famous people. This first show was very successful and soon they were given the opportunity to act at 'Caribiana', one of the most important night clubs in Madrid, where they performed until they got a contract with 'Windsor' hall on Gran Vía street, where they acted for two years, until they reached the honor of being the kings of independent humor. Later, they started their radio career, with several programs ('Viva la gente divertida' (Antena 3 channel), Luis del Olmo), and Javier Sardà, who made them known to a big audience). Hugo Stuven gave them the opportunity to make their debut on TV with a slot in the program _"Pero ¿esto que es?" (1989)_ (TVE channel). After this they got a whole TV program for themselves on channel Tele 5, and finally they went back to TVE with a collaboration in Raffaella Carrà's program 'Hola Raffaella'. In 1990 they made their debut in cinema with the film Ni se te ocurra... (1991), with a warm reception from the audience. Their next occupation was TV, doing special programs such as 'Colón Pirata' and 'No Smoking', the latter being nominated for the 'TP de Oro' award as the Best Special Program of 1993. During the summer of that year they had their own program, "Abierto por vacaciones", which was #1 with audiences during its whole broadcast period. Their first 'hard' test arrived with 1993's New Year's Eve. The comic duo 'Martes y Trece' decided to rest that year and TVE asked them to do the 1993 New Year's Eve's TV Special. They accepted and made a program named 'Este año, Cruz y Raya ¡Seguro!', after which the famous 12 bell strokes were broadcast live. From that moment on Cruz y Raya have always had their own program in TVE. In 1994 they made the series 'Perdiendo el juicio', 'VayaTele' and also the summer special 'Aquí hemos venido a lo que hemos venido', all of them with great success. From September 1995 until April 1996 they entertained the audience with a 30 minute series filled with sketches mixed with imitations and music events, and this series also reached #1 in audience during Friday nights. This success was unexpected for an only-humor program, and the next year they were back with a second season, with more or less the same format. In 1998, after a well-deserved rest from TV, they were back at TVE with the series Este no es el programa de los viernes (1998), their most successful appearance so far. Their comic phrases started to be heard in people's voice here and there ('Ja me maaten', 'Le quiero, Don Puente'). 1999 saw the appearance of their new success Estamos en directo (1999), and at the end of the year they made the TVE 2000 New Year's Eve special: En efecto 2000 (1999). This program shared an incredible 50% of the audience. In 2000 they made the series Cruz y raya.com (2000), in their classic format. At the end of 2000 they made the TVE 2001 New Year's Eve special again, titled this time 2001 aunque sea en el espacio (2000), which also reached a 50% share. In cinema, they had dubbed several animation films (Goomer (1999), Mulan (1998) (José), or the parrot of 102 Dalmatiens (2000) (José, too). Juan made his debut as director with the film ¡Ja me maaten...! (2000), and José performed a little role as a beach watcher in the film Torrente 2: Misión en Marbella (2001), and also a collaboration in the soundtrack. Nowadays they both are preparing several projects on their own, but their separation is very unlikely.