Casas has four siblings. Born in A Coruña, at age four, he left with his family to Barcelona. He moved to the Spanish capital of Madrid, on an adventure, which implied his whole family making the move with him, when he was 18 years old. His parents were very young when they had him. His mother, Heidi, was only 17 and his father, Ramon, 19. A year and a half later, they had his sister, Sheila. For Mario, his father is his role model, while his mother and the rest of his siblings are his confidants. His mother raised them, and his father worked as a carpenter. Because of his work, his father had no problem moving to another city, so they decided to accompany Mario when he left for Madrid and settled with him in the city. Mario has four siblings, forming what he defines a "Sicilian family", a family with many children established around a "matriarch". Mario is the eldest. He is followed by his sister Sheila, and two other brothers, Christian and Oscar. Finally, the youngest member of the family, Daniel, was born in 2014, who he almost considers as his "nephew" because of the enormous age difference. He gets along well with all of them, although he shares a special bond with his sister Sheila, as they grew up together. Mario, a loyal tattoo lover, has one dedicated to each of his parents and siblings, with the initials of each one. He remembers his childhood as wonderful, although he had a bit of a hard time because he was given a lot of stick for being short. He developed very late. At age 15, he still had the body of the child. Even so, he has always been a flirt, and had his first "girlfriend" at age four. As a child he liked everything: singing, dancing, ping-pong, football.... He says he liked trying things out, although he admits that he would get bored easily. His professional career began advertising. He appeared in commercials for Cola Cao, Telepizza, Scalextric... He eventually decided to become an actor after he enrolled at the Cristina Rota School of Dramatic Arts He also keeps in touch with lifelong friends from school. Those who have been by his side since he moved to Barcelona. In his own words, they are the ones who keep you on track if you derail, true friends which are hard to find.
Acting career
2005–2010
Casas began appearing in soap operas from 2005 at age 19, before earning minor roles in several Spanish films. Mario Casas began his acting career with episode appearances in television series :es:Obsesión |Obsesión, Motivos personales and :es:Mujeres |Mujeres. He came to domestic media attention with his film debut in the 2006 filmEl camino de los ingleses, directed by Antonio Banderas. That same year he joined the cast of LaSexta series :es:SMS |SMS. Casas then reached international audience as Aitor Carrasco in the Antena 3 series Los hombres de Paco, which he starred from 2007 to 2010. In 2009, Casas appeared in two hit films, Fuga de cerebros opposite Amaia Salamanca, and Mentiras y Gordas with his bestfriend Yon González, Ana Maria Polvorosa, Ana de Armas and Hugo Silva. Both managed to lead the box office over the weekend of its release. In 2010, Casas starred in Carne de neon directed by Paco Cabezas. Later that year in December 2010, he starred in Tres metros sobre el cielo opposite María Valverde. It was eventually the highest-grossing Spanish film of the year. A sequel Tengo ganas de ti, which stars Casas, Valverde and Clara Lago, premiered in 2012. He also appeared in Miedo, directed by Jaume Balagueró.
2011–present
Since 2011, Casas has starred the Antena 3 series El barco, he also starred in Tengo ganas de ti, premiered in 2012. During the late 2013 and early 2014, he went to Colombia and Chile for his second film project in English called Los 33 with Antonio Banderas and Juliette Binoche, a story based on the Chilean mining accident that occurred in 2010. In 2015, Mario also starred in two other films: the new Álex de la Iglesiacomedy filmMy Great Night, and also in the romantic drama filmPalmeras en la Nieve, where he reunited with the director of the films Tres metros sobre el cielo and Tengo ganas de ti, Fernando Gonzalez Molina. Casas latest role is El fotógrafo de Mauthausen, which tells the story of Francisco Boix, a Spanish Republican photographer who was sent to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex during World War II. Casas lost around 12 kilograms to play Boix during his imprisonment.
