David Trueba took up Journalism at the Complutense University of Madrid and, after graduating, he moved to Los Angeles to study Film at the American Film Institute. Upon his return to Spain, he worked as a screenwriter in various films. As a director, he made his successful debut with the feature film La buena vida (1996), which was an entry to the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes and nominated for four Goya Awards. In the following years he directed the films Obra Maestra (2000); Soldados de Salamina (2003), which was part of the "Un certain regard" segment of the Cannes Film Festival; Bienvenido a casa (2006), with which he received the award for Best Director in the Malaga Festival; Madrid, 1987 (2011); Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados (2013), winner of six Goya Awards; Casi 40 (2018), winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Malaga Festival; and the documentary Si me borrara el viento lo que yo canto (2019), about the figure of Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio. A este lado del mundo is his last feature film.

He has also created and directed the television series ¿Qué fue de Jorge Sanz? (2010-2017) and has had an outstanding career as a writer, with novels such as Abierto toda la noche (1995), Cuatro amigos (1999), Saber perder (2008), Tierra de campos (2017) and El río baja sucio (2019).