Jesús Vázquez Fact Sheet

Profile

Born in A Coruña, Spain, in 1965, Jesús Vázquez is a well-known Spanish artist and TV presenter, working for Telecinco, the TV channel with the largest audience in Spain.

Completed up to 3 rd year of the university, majoring in Veterinary and then studied Theatre and Dramatic Art at the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático y Danza in Madrid.

Professional career

- As a singer, he won a Golden disk with his first work in 1993;

- He also worked as a theatre and film actor;

- As a fashion model, he worked in Spain and Japan for well-known fashion labels, including Hugo Boss;

- More recently, he gained popularity as a TV presenter; presenting a programme with the Spanish actress Penélope Cruz.

Other engagements

- Supported a campaign launched in Madrid in 2005 by Amnesty International to raise awareness of violence against homosexuals in many countries.

Professional achievement

- Received for three consecutive years (2004-2006) Spain main TV award, (Premio TP); he undoubtedly is one of the most respected TV presenters in Spain.

- Received the prestigious "Ondas" Award in 2007.

- He was awarded by the prominent magazine Men´s Health for his work with UNHCR and refugees.

Engagement with UNHCR

- Appointed Special Collaborator for UNHCR´s Spanish Committee in November 2006.

-Went on a UNHCR-organized field mission to the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya in March 2007. Upon return to Spain, ha launched a multimedia campaign to raise awareness and funds through the website, mobile phones and radio announcements.

-Following this initiative, Telecinco featured spots made by Jesús Vázquez on UNHCR and refugees during the entire month of June 2007. With the spots, 250.000 Euros were raised for a radio station project in Dadaab. In terms of visibility for UNHCR, the campaign was valued at 1 million Euros.

-Jesús Vázquez hosted the launch of a series of documentaries on refugees and UNHCR (which are scheduled to continue until December 2008) at one of the channels of Telecinco. The 60-minute programmes are introduced by him and are being broadcasted a few times per month. The first programme was about his trip to Kenya.

-In addition to his continued support for World Refugee Day, he has used his privileged media access and his public influence to raise funds and awareness for refugees and to promote UNHCR branding and visibility.

- Jesús Vázquez was appointed UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador on 18th July 2008 and went back to Kenya-Dadaab with TV Telecinco at the end of July, to identify education projects to fund and get footage for elaborating new refugee programmes to be broadcast on tv for awareness/fund-raising purposes.

- GWA participated at the Pavarotti memorial ceremony in Petra on 11-12 October 2008, undertaking promotion TV spots that have helped to raise visibility for the UNHCR operations in Afghanistan.

- Jesús Vázquez has opened the collaboration of the Spanish financial entity BBVA to UNHCR being the TV conductor image for the promotion of the bank at the TV channel where he works. His relation with BBVA has prompted several fundraising and awareness initiatives with UNHCR such as i) the signing of a collaboration agreement through the Spanish Committee for UNHCR, ii) a popular marathon organized in November to raise funds for UNHCR with the participation of 6,000 runners in Madrid and iii) the support of BBVA for an art exhibition/auction REFUGI@RTE organized by the Spanish committee with art pieces donated to UNHCR by well-known Spanish artists, to raise funds to fight malnutrition (20-29 January 2009).

January 2009