María Purificación Josefa Cantudo Porcel, known as María José Cantudo (Andújar, Jaén, July 10, 1951), is a Spanish actress and vedette. The hotelier businessman Carlos del Val encourages and supports her so that she can start an artistic career in Madrid. Her beginnings in 1971-1972 are as an advertising model and photo novel actress, a genre in which she acquires certain popularity. She began her film career in 1973 with the films El espanto surge de la tumba and Autopsia, but achieved her first success under Jorge Grau in La trastienda (1976), where she starred in the first female full nude (seen through a mirror) of Spanish cinema. In 1973 she married the singer and actor Manolo Otero, father of her only son, Manuel (b. 1974). Separated in 1978, she has been romantically linked to actor Pedro Ruiz and artistic entrepreneur Enrique Cornejo. In 2013 she is designated an honorary member of UNESCO for her philanthropic work.
