PORTRAIT – Since April, rumors have been circulating about the actress and her probable relationship with the French footballer. But before making headlines on this subject, the one who took the steps in Cannes this Wednesday was best known for having enjoyed dazzling success in a Netflix series.
For many, she has long been Carla, also nicknamed “the Marquise”, in the Netflix series, Very little. At the time the program was broadcast, Ester Expísito was even one of the most sought-after Spanish actresses on the Internet. After this dazzling success, she preferred to move away from the cameras, remaining more discreet in the face of media pressure. But since the beginning of April, his name has been making the rounds in the media again, especially in France. Indeed, the Spanish actress has recently been in a relationship with the famous football star, Kylian Mbappé. Since 2024, the sportsman has been playing for Real Madrid, the city where the woman who would be his new partner comes from. The daily lifeMark  had revealed that the two celebrities would have been particularly close during an evening organized at the 10e Ciel, the rooftop of the Pullman hotel in Paris.
Since then, all the movements of the actress and the athlete have been scrutinized by the paparazzi. However, the striker and the young premiere have not made any official announcement about a probable love affair. Kylian Mbappé has always been very discreet about his private life, as for Ester Expísito, since she experienced the dark side of fame, she prefers not to make waves and to keep silent about her romantic relationships. According to her, if she could have flourished as an actress without becoming famous, she would have done so. “I never dreamed of being famous. I wanted to be an actress and make a living from it, but fame was not an option,” she says in an interview forThe Country  in October 2023. “At the beginning, thanks to the help of my parents, I was able to manage the situation well. But today, it’s starting to weigh on me.”
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Architect father
His goal has always been to get on stage. Since the age of 5, Ester Expísito has been passionate about theater. Born in Madrid, she grew up in a loving family and admits to having had a privileged childhood. His father is a successful architect and his mother is a real estate manager. When she was little, she dreamed of being independent and leaving home as soon as she could afford it. “I saw children working in cinema and television and I said to my parents: “Why couldn’t it be me?†. They wanted me to go to school, study and have a normal childhood,” she told The Country. But Ester Expísito is an artist at heart. When she is young, she does everything to stand out, find her style and show her personality. This is why she didn’t like the school uniforms that were imposed on her and did everything to personalize them, rolling up the sleeves or replacing them with tracksuits when she could.
At the age of 13, she took her first steps on the stage. She enrolled in a theater school and a year later, she found an agent. In 2013 and 2014, she won the award for best supporting actress at the Madrid Community Theater Competition. Then in 2016, she received the female interpretation prize from the Carlos III University for her performance in the play The Truman Show. The same year, she made her debut in front of the cameras by participating in the film May God save us by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, but his scene was ultimately cut during editing. She also plays small roles in the series medical center or even Lock Up.
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They succeeded elite
At 17, Ester Expísito is already beginning to realize her dream of becoming an actress. She auditions for the Netflix seriesVery little and gets the role of Carla. Young heiress of a rich Spanish family, the one who is also nicknamed “the Marquise” studies at the prestigious high school of Las Encinas. Demanding, self-confident and mischievous, she doesn’t let herself be walked on even if it means letting down her boyfriend, Polo, played by Álvaro Rico. This role quickly propelled the young woman, aged 18 at the time, to the top. More than 20 million households worldwide are watching the first season of the series in its first month of broadcast, according to Netflix, reports The Country.
Fans are passionate about the character of Carla: at first unsympathetic, then fascinating, until she becomes endearing. Today, six years after his departure from the series, Ester Expísito is still questioned about this. Even if the period after Very little was difficult, she remembers this experience with joy. “It doesn’t bother me. I love it very much and I am very grateful. It gave me the opportunity to be seen all over the world, to be here and to carry out other projects that interest me,” she confided to The Country. After three seasons ofVery littlethe actress decides to leave, like many of the actors who appear in season 1. “Everything has its moment,” she declared to the Spanish media. “It no longer made sense to continue with my character. I was 20 years old and I wanted to do new things.” She also turned to a completely different genre from the program that made her known and which always fascinated her during her childhood: horror. She finds herself in Venus by Jaume Balagueró, in 2022, Lost in the Night by Amat Escalante, in 2023, which she will present the same year at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2024 she plays in The Accursed by Pedro Martín-Calero then in The Talent by Polo Menárguez. Since 2024, she also appears in the series Bandits broadcast on Netflix.
Anxiété et célébrité
But the experience Very little has consequences on the mental health of the actress who suffers from anxiety. “I’m very hard on myself. I punish myself in a somewhat toxic and negative way, and it has played very bad tricks on me. Already in high school, I went through a very difficult period. I had a lot of trouble finding myself and feeling good about myself: my friends didn’t help me, I felt quite alone and nothing motivated me,” she said.Vogue Spain  in September 2024. If this life as an actress always made her dream, she finally realized that she did not look like what she had imagined. As she told The Countryshe has always “idealized adult life”.
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“I’m starting to understand that my life will never go back to what it was. I dedicate myself to what I love, but the pressure is enormous. I am a very anxious person, and this media exposure does not help me deal with that,” explained the actress. With elite, the success is such that she finds herself confronted with the dark side of this celebrity that she cannot control. “Social media, job offers, people on the street… (There were) a million stimuli that kept me from slowing down and taking stock of myself. I was so distracted that I couldn’t stop thinking,” she explained to The Country. Après Very little“when this hubbub has calmed down a little”, she understands that she must face a certain loneliness which has “shaken” her self-confidence.
“That’s why I left for Mexico when I finished. Leaving was to escape from here, because everything reminded me of my time in the series,” she told Vogue Spain. “For me, it was very important to open myself up to other genres and to continue making cinema, an industry that I love and wanted to be a part of.” So, after Very littleshe decides to distance herself from the media, to be more discreet. “Getting there took a lot of time and sacrifice; I let long periods pass without doing anything, alone at home with my anxiety, waiting for a project that I really liked to come along,” she explained to The Country. “This process sometimes plunged me into dark moments where I felt very sad and a little empty for not doing something that fulfilled me. I am aware that it is an opportunity and a privilege, but it turned out to be complicated.”
Ester Expósito also decides to consult a health professional. “Two years ago, I started therapy and it went very well. I had to stop because I was filming abroad, but I would like to start again now,” she said, while adding that it was not easy for her to “take the plunge: go see a stranger, expose ourselves to him and talk about what makes us suffer.” “But in the end, it’s positive. I need to go back because I need to manage my anxiety. I think I can handle everything, but that’s not the case.”
Fashion and influence
Apart from her work as an actress, Ester Expósito also has a lot of success on social networks. Passionate about fashion, she was the face of the shoe brand, Doble Victoria and also an ambassador for Ralph Lauren, and more recently for Desigual. The 26-year-old is front row at many Fashion Weeks and is even starting to become a regular at the Cannes Film Festival. She took her first steps on the Croisette in 2021, then in 2023 for the film Lost in the Night by Amat Escalante. Since then, she has returned every year to the steps of the Palais des Festivals. Tuesday May 19, she was also seen in Cannes for the 79th edition. She also took the steps in majesty this Wednesday, May 20, to The Battle of Gaulle, in an elegant long dress.
Although Ester Expísito has more than 24 million subscribers on her Instagram account, she does not consider herself an influencer. “For me, it’s like a game. It’s neither my job nor my dream. I don’t consider myself an influencer. I don’t show off my life and I don’t dedicate myself to being a trendsetter. Social networks must be used for what they are, otherwise they can be toxic and dangerous,” she said toThe Country. “For me, it’s a showcase. I only show a very small part of my life, but not the best or the worst moments.” She also uses this showcase to regularly take a position on social issues. In 2024, she spoke about the migration crisis in Instagram stories.
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Pour Vogue Spainshe claimed to collaborate regularly with the United Nations Refugee Agency and was also involved with the Catalan NGO, Open Arms, dedicated to the rescue of refugees at sea. “I know that there will be people who will not agree with me and if they express it in a respectful way, that’s perfect, but most of those who spoke out did it in such a disrespectful way, insulting me in such a horrible way, that they left no doubt about their misogyny and their racism,” she declared to Vogue Spain. “In the end, they prove me right and turn out to be real misogynists and racists, which characterizes the extreme right.” In September 2025, she also participated in a demonstration organized by the “Artists with Palestine” platform in Madrid. With around ten personalities from the cultural world, she contributed to reading the names of 18,500 Palestinian children killed in Gaza during Israeli attacks.
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She defends refugees, oppressed peoples but also women. Ester Expósito speaks a lot about sexism. “I see that it is still difficult to give women control and power everywhere, and this is also true in cinema and television. Most of the directors, writers and crew members are still men, and most of the stories and main characters revolve around men,” she told The Country. “We women are still decorative satellites that revolve around men’s stories… It doesn’t matter that men are the protagonists of the stories; the problem is that they make up the majority [des histoires]. This is why we must continue; we must not give up. I’ve been very lucky, but I see that it’s still difficult for women’s ideas to be taken seriously.” With her speaking out, she runs the risk of receiving criticism, or missing out on film projects, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem for her.
