Juan Solari

Juan Solari is a British TV and film director, producer, actor, voice over artist, video journalist and Media Academic of Mexican origin.

Career
Juan Solari worked in Mexico City, from around 1984 to 1999. During this time, he performed in theatre and directed several television series and television advertisements.

In late 1999, he moved to London and in 2003 he completed a MA in AudioVisual Production (as a Film Director) at London Metropolitan University with his short film, the thriller Marionettes.

Shortly after, he founded Solar Dreams Productions Ltd. an independent TV production company in the UK. He then produced hundreds of VT news packages for an array of international media outlets from the UK, as MTV and YLE (Finland), Antena (Crece), ADN 40 (Mexico), Caracol (Colombia), Chilevisión (Chile), Telefe and El Trece (Argentina).

During this period he was the self-shooting director and Correspondent for the UK for TV Azteca Mexico, interviewing a huge array or personalities as the likes of Bill, Clinton, Tony Blair, Sting and The Police, Julio Iglesias, Hussain Bolt, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and many others. He had as well a few stints as sports correspondent in the UK for ESPN Latinamerica.

In 2006, he was nominated by the Foreign Press Association in London for a "Story of the Year" award for his documentary Iran, Behind the Door Line.

After being invited by the Universities of Cambridge and Southampton, Solari taught two film-making seminars at these institutions.

Juan Solari was hired as the live studio manager of ESPN Latinamerica for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

In 2014 he comes back to his theatre roots to direct the rehearsed reading of the award-winning theatre play Musica de Balas at Time Out's best fringe venue in London, the White Bear Theatre.

During the 2020-21 Covid Pandemic and on and off lockdowns, Solari produced and presented from his flat in London a live weekly TV show called "El Demoño Azul, Análisis de Noticias y mucho más" that ran uninterruptedly for a full year every Sunday; the streamed show was a combination of entertainment and world news analysis that he presented under the disguise of a specially created alter ego (El Demoño Azul). The show portrayed a huge array of high profile Mexican personalities from pop singers to academics and journalists.

Tennis officiating is Juan Solari's main hobby; he is an LTA certified tennis umpire and referee, and has officiated in the main draw of the Wimbledon Championships since 2015, being selected to officiate at the 2022 final disputed by Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic.

He is currently a Senior Lecturer and Course Director for the BA on Journalism at the School of Arts & Creative Industries at London South Bank University.