[1] After graduating in drama, he made his debut onstage in the play Mariana Pineda in the mid-1960s.

[1] He appeared in The Cannibal Man (1972) and A House Without Boundaries (1972), but his first major role was the protagonist of the cult film Arrebato (1979), directed by Iván Zulueta.

Another hit was the Televisión Española series Los gozos y las sombras (1982).

With Antonio Banderas, Poncela co-starred in Law of Desire (1987), directed by Pedro Almodóvar.

He has also appeared in Tuno negro (2001), Remake (2006) and Intacto (2001), by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, with Max von Sydow.