Fernando Montaño is from Buenaventura, an economically-deprived city on the Pacific coast of Colombia.  At the age of 14, he won a scholarship to the National Ballet School of Cuba at a considerable cost to his family who made significant sacrifices to enable the experience. In Havana, he won international competitions and then joined the Cuban National Ballet. From Havana, he went to Italy and then to the UK where, in 2006, he joined the Royal Ballet.

Fernando has performed all over the world both on Royal Ballet Company tours but also independently and often in support of  charity work. He regularly organises events to promote the arts in Colombia. In 2014, he was invited by President Santos to perform for the state visit of HRH the Prince of Wales, and in 2016 he performed as a soloist at the Opening Ceremony of the FIFA FUTSAL World Cup in Cali, where he choreographed a piece that combined his love of football and ballet in ‘Foot-ba’, a dance he enjoys sharing with school children in Colombia and Britain. That same year, Fernando served as a judge for Colombia’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

To promote local employment and responsible animal husbandry and to perpetuate an important indigenous tradition, Fernando uses his profile as a model in the global fashion world to serve as an Alpaca and Vicuñia Ambassador for industrial wool manufacturers and exporters.

Fernando is Patron of Children Change Colombia, a UK Charity dedicated to working with children who suffer poverty, violence and exclusion, including young victims of the FARC.