Ignacio Jordà González was born in Mataró in Catalonia, Spain. His nickname, Nacho, is the common nickname for Ignacio. When he was young, Jordà moved with his family to Valencia, where part of his family originated. His family was wealthy, but ended up losing their money in the 1987 stock market crash. At 14, Vidal quit school to work to help his family. As a teenager, he was in a punk band. He also was a boxer and enlisted in the Spanish Legion in Melilla.
Career
In 1994, Vidal started working in the live porn club Bagdad of Barcelona, where he performed live sexual acts with his girlfriend, Sara Bernat. There, he met the director of the Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival, José María Ponce, who introduced him to porn films. Vidal became a protégé of Rocco Siffredi, who brought him to Hollywood in 1998. Vidal has starred in over 1,500 movies; he has also produced and/or directed many others. Although self-stated as heterosexual, he has directed gay porn films. Vidal has starred in Spanish mainstream movies and TV shows, including the Spanish TV series Los Simuladores and the Spanish movies Va a ser que nadie es perfecto,El Alquimista Impaciente and Impávido.
Legal problems
On 16 October 2012, Vidal and his sister María José Jordá González were arrested in Barcelona, suspected of involvement in money laundering and tax evasion on behalf of Chinese organized crime. When Spanish police raided over 100 businesses in Madrid and Barcelona suspected of running money-laundering and tax evasion rackets in connection with the Chinese mob, Vidal and his sister were among the approximately 80 detained. Hundreds of police were involved in serving "warrants to search 120 properties belonging to those suspected of laundering money from prostitution and extortion." While prosecutors sought to hold Vidal in jail during the investigation and subsequent trial, on 19 October 2012, National Court Judge Fernando Andreu accepted the defense's contention that, "Vidal is not a flight risk because he signed a contract to participate in a reality show for the next three months." Upon his no-bail release, Vidal announced, "Thanks to everyone for their support. I've gone without any charge." Vidal's movie studio Nacho Vidal Productions was implicated in the Spanish National Court led sting and charged with counts of flight of capital and tax evasion. The newspaper El País described Vidal as "one of the high-profile suspects arrested" and explained that he was accused along with his sister of helping the ring "by issuing false invoices from his movie production company." Vidal claimed he was innocent. On 4 June 2020, Vidal was arrested on manslaughter charges in relation to the death of a fashion photographer, José Luis Abad in July 2019. Abad died as a result of inhaling venom from the bufo toad, in a traditional ritual where Vidal is alleged to have acted as Shaman. Vidal was arrested together with two other unnamed individuals, a member of his family and an employee.
Personal life
Vidal has stated that he is open-minded, but is heterosexual in his personal life. He had his first daughter with Venezuelan Rosa Castro Camacho. On 31 May 2005, Vidal announced his retirement from pornography and married Colombian model Franceska Jaimes. They moved to a mansion previously owned by his family, located in the small town of Enguera, in Valencia, recovering it after his family's financial losses. He and his wife decided to start a family there. However, the couple separated six weeks later, and Vidal returned to porn only a few months after announcing his retirement. They have two children, and divorced in 2015. In February 2019, a Spanish newspaper stated that Nacho Vidal has HIV. Later that year, in a 12-minute YouTube video, he clarified that his test was a false positive. What he does have, he found after visits to a series of doctors, is Reiter's syndrome, a highly painful, sometimes chronic or lifelong, reactive arthritis. This inflammatory syndrome is often triggered by a prior, treatable infection which may itself resolve. In Vidal's case, he explains, it was repeated infections by the STDs candidiasis and gonorrhea contracted during his sex work, each instance having been quickly treated and cured. Because of the disease he cannot work and is seeking disability benefits.
