1972, Pamplona, Spain

From her early career she has combined acting and music. She debuts in 1995 with Daniel Calparsoro’s Salto al vacío, achieving Berlin Festival’s Best European Actress Award. After participating in Calparsoro’s next two projects she acts for Alejandro Amenábar in Open your eyes and in 1989 she starts her musical career with the musician and producer Carlos Jean.
She also shoots 9’8m/s2, by Alfonso Amador and Nicolás Méndez, and Julio Medem’s Lovers of the Artic Circle, being nominated to Best Main Role Actress Goya Award and winning the Ondas Aeard for that same role.

In 2000 she stars altogether with Javier Bardem Before night falls, by Julian Schnabel, and Fausto 5.0. This same year she shoots again with Calparsoro, being nominated to Goya Award for Best Song –she will get another nomination in the same category for Warriors.

After another two films with Daniel Calparsoro (one of them, Pasajes, produced by Almodóvar and released in Cannes), and Blinded (Official Selection in Venecia), she works again with Julio Médem in Sex and Lucía, getting her second Goya Nomination to Best Role Actress.
In 2002 she releases the album Selection, with Carlos Jean. She also stars in Ramon Salazar’s Stones and 20 centimeters, Daniel Azancot’s La reina del bar Canalla, María Ripoll’s Utopía, Frédéric Schoendoerffer’s Secret agents, Xabier Ribera’s A+ (Amas), and Marcelo Piñeyro’s The method.

In 2006 she records his solitaire album Walkabout and participates in Las vidas de Celia, by Antonio Chavarrías and Fernando Cámara’s Trastorno. Next year she worked with Icíar Bollaín in Mataharis and, years later, in Even the rain. In 2010 she participates in Medem’s Room in Rome, Mañas’s Todo lo que tú quieras and Ken Loach’s Route Irish. After that she records another solitaire album, El último primate. In 2011 is released Chapero-Jackson’s Verbo and Maria Matteoli’s The Wine of Summer and, in 2013, 10.000 viajes a ninguna parte, directed by Ramón Salazar. In 2018, she starred in Quién te cantará by Carlos Vermut and reunited with Julio Medem in El árbol de sangre. In 2024, Paula Ortiz’s La virgen roja is released. Najwa stars this film set in the 1930s alongside Alba Planas playing the role of Aurora, a mother who will educate her daughter to be a free and independent woman. In 2025 she shoots Lucidez, a film directed by Gonzalo Bandala.

In 2015, she began filming the Antena 3 series Vis a Vis, in which she starred for 4 seasons, and its spin-off series Vis a Vis: El Oasis. In 2018, she joined the third season of La casa de papel on Netflix, where she continued to portray the character of Inspector Sierra until its conclusion in 2021. In 2022, she leads the Netflix series Sagrada Familia, created by Manolo Caro, which has just released its sencond season. That same year, she joined the main cast for the second season of Álex de la Iglesia’s series 30 Monedas, already available on HBO Max. In 2023 she participates in Berlin, a prequel to La Casa de Papel in which Najwa reprises her role as Alicia Sierra. In 2025 she takes part in Punto Nemo, for Prime Video. Her most relevant television project is the series Respira for Netflix, which is already preparing its third season.