'Elite' and 'Money Heist' Have These Actors in Common - Netflix Tudum

  • Explainer

    Here's Why You Recognize These Three Money Heist Stars

    These faces have been in the Netflix universe before.

    By Jean Bentley
    May 14, 2024

Two of Spain's most popular Netflix originals share more than just a country of origin. Money Heist, the tense thriller that just concluded its fifth and final season, and Elite, the soapy teenage murder mystery headed into its own fifth season, have three major cast members in common. Jaime Lorente, Miguel Herrán and María Pedraza all headlined the first season of Elite as students (and siblings of students) at a rich Madrid private school, but the TV teens actually started their Netflix journeys on Money Heist as three people caught up in a massive bank robbery — quite the departure from their school uniforms and teen sex scandals. In case you need a refresher on each of the characters these actors have played in both Spanish-language hits, we have the full lowdown ahead — plus one more place where you can catch Pedraza on Netflix.

Jaime Lorente

Jaime Lorente

On Elite, Lorente plays Nano, the older brother of new Las Encinas scholarship student Samuel (Itzan Escamilla). Just out of prison, Nano is desperate for money to pay his fines yet, somehow, manages to fall in love with ace student Marina (Pedraza). Their ill-fated love doesn't last long, and, after the second season, Nano flees the country before he's arrested for a crime he did not commit. 

His sudden disappearance in Elite was likely prompted by the fact that Lorente had starred in Money Heist as Denver, a tough twentysomething recruited to join the heist with his father Moscow (Paco Tous). While the first season of Money Heist aired on TV in Spain before Elite premiered, when Netflix picked up the show for new seasons and ordered new episodes, Lorente had to take a break from Las Encinas and head back to his Money Heist stomping grounds at the Royal Mint of Spain.

Miguel Herrán

Miguel Herrán

Herrán plays Christian, another character from the wrong side of the tracks, on Elite. The lucky recipient of a scholarship, Christian is an unlikely Las Encinas student, considering he isn't exactly pulling in As (nor does he really care much). But he does play a pivotal role when he begins a relationship with one of the school's top couples — yes, couple, this is a progressive show — and flees town in Season 2 after being gravely injured for knowing information about the murder that took place in Season 1.

Herrán then left Christian to recover in a hospital in Switzerland, probably because the actor headed back to Money Heist, where he starred as the lovestruck hacker Rio, once Netflix picked up the heist drama for more seasons. After falling in love with his fellow robber Tokyo (Úrsula Corberó), Rio accidentally complicates things for the rest of the ragtag group of heist-ers as the seasons progress.

María Pedraza

María Pedraza

The central figure in Elite's first season is overachieving high schooler Marina, played by Pedraza, who meets a tragic fate: She's found murdered in the school's pool, and the season flashes back and forth between the police investigation and the events leading up to Marina's death. 

In Money Heist, Pedraza is the most important hostage in the Royal Mint of Spain, playing Alison Parker, the daughter of Britain's ambassador. She’s the reason the robbers know that the police aren't going to risk a dangerous rescue. If anything happens to Alison, there will certainly be hell to pay. 

Unlike Lorente and Herrán, Pedraza's character did not return to Money Heist, though that’s not why she didn’t continue to appear on Elite (her exit from that show was due to the fact that her character was, you know, murdered). But she did sign on to another Netflix series.

Pedraza currently stars in the Magic Mike-meets-murder mystery Toy Boy as a young lawyer working to clear the name of a stripper wrongfully imprisoned for murder (and with whom she subsequently falls in love, obviously).

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