Emilio Fernández Romo was born on March 26, 1903, in Hondo, Coahuila, Mexico. 
He is the half-brother of the actors Fernando Fernández [1934-1981] and Jaime Fernández [1937-2005]. 
Emilio became an actor, screenwriter and director of cinema in Mexico. 
The son of a Mexican military man and Kikapoo Indian mother he dropped out of school to serve 
in the Mexican Revolution led by Adolfo de la Huerta. 
Sentenced to 20 years in prison Fernández escaped and made his way to Los Angeles finding work as a movie extra. 
With his experience in the movie industry he returned to Mexico in the 1930s where he became a director, 
screenwriter and actor. He is best known for his work as director of the film “Maria Candelaria” 
which won the Grand Prix at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. 
In the 1950s and 1960s he was relegated to acting roles such as “Return of the Seven” as Lorca and 
as General Mapache in “The Wild Bunch” (1969). Fernández died in Mexico City on August 6, 1986.