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Netflix star Jose de la Torre dies aged 37: Spanish actor who starred in Toy Boy passes away months after revealing he was struggling with critical sickness

Netflix star José de la Torre has died at the age of 37 – months after telling fans he was suffering from a serious illness.

The actor played Iván in popular series Toy Boy, a Spanish thriller series about a stripper who is jailed for a murder he did not commit.

José, from Montilla in Spain‘s Córdoba Province, had also worked as a model for a number of jewellery and fashion brands.

Reports suggest he died on Thursday December 5, and his funeral was held the following day.

Spanish actress Luisa Martín was among those to pay tribute to José, writing on social media: ‘It breaks my heart to think I’ll never hear your voice again, but I’ll keep talking to you. Love you endlessly, José.’

The actor had been diagnosed with an unspecified ‘serious illness’ in June that had kept him out of the limelight.

De la Torre was best known for playing Iván, one of the main characters in Toy Boy, which was released in 2019 and ran for two seasons.

He also acted in a number of other domestic series including Amar es para siempre (To Love is Forever), Vis a Vis: El Oasis, and Servir y proteger (Serve and Protect). 

Netflix star José de la Torre has died at the age of 37 - months after telling fans he was suffering from a serious illness

Netflix star José de la Torre has died at the age of 37 – months after telling fans he was suffering from a serious illness

His last post was on 3 June and shows him enjoying a music festival in the Canary Islands.

It is captioned: ‘The joy of arriving in the Canary Islands, seeing your friends, grabbing a mojito, and singing your heart out until you lose your voice.’

De la Torre was a graduate of the Málaga Higher School of Performing Arts in Spain and latterly made Málaga is home.

His first starring role was in a music video for a song by Nena Daconte more than a decade ago.

Actress Luisa Martín, in a written tribute, said: 

Martín wrote: ‘It breaks my heart to think I’ll never hear your voice again, but I’ll keep talking to you. Love you endlessly, José.’

De la Torre once told local media: ‘From a very young age, I found solace in cinema – though not so much in acting, at least not at first.

‘I was a child who couldn’t stop watching films, purely for the joy of it.

‘But that captivated me and planted the seed that would later grow into my desire to pursue it as a career.’