With his work in television in Turno de oficio (1986- 1987), Galiardo began to break away from his previous image of leading-man, accepting more dramatic roles and showing a wider range in this, the third phase of his career. He co-starred in some big projects both in film and television as in La Regenta, a production for TVE directed by Fernando Mendez-Leite. Among his most notable films are: Soldadito español (1988); Guarapo (1989), Don Juan, mi querido fantasma (1989); Madregilda (1993), Familia (1996) directed by Fernando León de Aranoa Pajarico (1997) a film directed by Carlos Saura; Adiós con el corazón (1999), a film directed by José Luis García Sánchez for which Galiardo won the Goya Award as best actor in 2000; Lázaro de Tormes (2000); El caballero Don Quijote (2001) and Miguel y william (2007). His roles in this two last films allowed him to be the only actor to play both Miguel de Cervantes and his most famous creation Don Quijote de la Mancha.