Paulina García Alfonso (born 27 November 1960), better known as Pali García, is a Chilean actress, stage director, and playwright.

García debuted on television with a small role in the telenovela Los títeres (1984), but she was soon known for her theatre direction and for her various performances in films such as Tres noches de un sábado (2002), Cachimba (2004), Casa de remolienda (2007) and Gloria (2013).

García has received four nominations for the Altazor Awards, winning on one occasion, and three for the APES Awards — the Chilean Arts and Entertainment Critics Awards—winning twice. In February 2013 she won the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival for her performance in the movie Gloria, directed by Sebastián Lelio.^[1][2] In 2016, she appeared in Ira Sachs' film, Little Men.

Born in Santiago, García studied acting at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where she graduated with a degree in theatre arts and later with diplomas in theatre direction and writing.

García made her debut at Catholic University's theatre in 1983 in ¿Dónde estará la Jeanette? ("Where could Jeanette be?") by Luis Rivano, a work for which she received an APES Award for best actress. Since then, she has acted in over thirty productions including Cariño malo, by Inés Margarita Stranger, El tío Vania, by Chekhov, The Trojan Women, by Euripides, El lugar común, Las analfabetas and BBB-Up.^[3]

The year following her theatre debut, García appeared on television as Adriana Godán in the TV series Los títeres, a role she shared with actress Gloria Münchmeyer.^[4]

The first work she directed was El continente negro ("The Dark Continent") by Marco Antonio de la Parra for which she received an APES Award nomination for best director in 1996. A grant from the National Arts Development Fund (Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Cultural de las Artes, FONDART) allowed for the financing of productions such as Lucrecia y Judith by the same author, and Look Back in Anger by John Osborne. She has also directed at national theatre festivals on three occasions, directing works by authors such as Alberto Fuguet and Celeste Gómez.

García has taught acting at the theatre school of the University of Chile, at Fernando González night school, at the University for the Arts, Sciences, and Communication and the University for Development. Between 1997 and 2001, she founded and formed a part of the Theatre Directors Association (Asociación de Directores de Teatro, ADT).

In television, of note is her performance in Cárcel de Mujeres ("Women's Prison") as Raquel,^[5] a role for which García received both an APES Award and the Altazor Award for best actress.^[6]

In 2002, García received an Andes Foundation grant to undertake research on conjugal violence, Golpes extraños al amor ("Blows outside love"), which led to the work Peso negro ("Dark weight"), selected for the Unipersonales de Galpón 7 Festival, and Frágil ("Fragile"), a work presented at Matucana 100 Cultural Center under her direction.

In film, García debuted in the 2002 movie Tres noches de un sábado ("Three nights of one Saturday") by Joaquín Eyzaguirre, receiving a nomination for the Altazor Awards for her interpretation of the character Mathilde. She also appeared in the 2004 film Cachimba ("Hookah") by Silvio Caiozzi, in Casa de remolienda ("Party house") by Eyzaguirre in 2007,^[7] and in Gloria, by Sebastián Lelio, for which she received the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival.^[1][2]