He is recognised as one of the most masterful actors in Chilean cinema[1] and is widely known in Chile for his exceptional portrayal of a mentally retarded murderer in Miguel Littín's El Chacal de Nahueltoro (1969).

After a time in Europe, he proceeded to Cuba and worked with some of the key Latin American directors of the period, such as Humberto Solás (Cantata de Chile) and Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, winning the Best Actor award for his role as 'El Conde' in Gutiérrez Alea's The Last Supper at the 1978 Biarritz Film Festival.

Villagra subsequently worked in various theatre groups in Santiago - including The council (formed by himself and four companions of the TUC) as well as on television and in seven Chilean films, most famously Three Sad Tigers (1968) and El Chacal de Nahueltoro (1969).

On 11 September 1973, his artistic career was interrupted when he was forced into exile in Paris, owing to his social and political activities in Chile.

Back in Montreal in 1989, Villagra was invited to shoot his first French-language film, taking a leading role in Corbeau, directed by Carlos Ferrand.

Also in 1992 he translated the work entitled "Le Seigneur des Lumières", and wins for the second time the Néo-Québécois Authors Contest in Montreal - a prize including dramatized readings of the play by actors from the Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui.

1992 also saw Villagra invited to audition in qualification for a bilingual Italian-French role in the film The Sarrasine directed by Paul Tana.

However, the dubbing director in Rome judged that Villagra fully dominated in phonetics and accent required and left his voice in the film, unmodified.

During 1998, the second year of the couple's residence in Chile, Villagra was invited by the National Theatre to participate in the assembly of a work by August Strindberg - Playing with Fire - directed by guest Swedish director Staffan Valdemar Holm.

Also in 1998, Villagra wrote a verse play The Farce of the Knight and Death which toured Ñuble Province, his native land, and acted in all three television movies and three films.

In theatre, Villagra - along with José Ignacio García and wife Begoña Zabala - achieved a particular success with the staging of The English Lover by Marguerite Duras, directed by Jaime Silva.