Tao Ruspoli: In January of 1998 Tao, the filmmaker, set off to Seville to study the flamenco guitar. Expecting to stay only a few weeks, he ended up living in Seville for over 6 months. In that time, he learned that flamenco had little to do with theatrical spectacles or technical wizardry on the guitar. Instead, he discovered a world, amongst the gypsies of Andalucia, full of life, passion, intimacy and friendship. He documented his entire journey with a small digital video camera.

 Paco Valdepeñas: Tao befriended this extraordinary, 78 year-old singer and dancer early on in his trip. Paco quickly became the focus of Flamenco: A Personal Journey, due not only to his remarkable talent, but also because of his death-defying energy. Tao would follow him from one gathering to another, oftentimes until the early hours of the morning, and since Paco is such an important figure in the flamenco scene, no one questioned him when he told fellow gypsies that it was ok for Tao to film their most intimate gatherings. Paco was never reserved with his ideas either, and he provides the film with many of its colorful dialogues and arguments about what flamenco means, where it comes from, and where it is going.

 Juan Del Gastor: Tao’s guitar teacher is a nephew of the legendary guitar player Diego Del Gastor. Juan’s was the only number Tao had when he first arrived in Seville, and he welcomed Tao with open arms when he arrived, confused, at his door. Recognizing Tao’s authentic love of flamenco, he took him under his wing and, in addition to teaching him more guitar in 6 months than he had learned in 6 years, he introduced Tao to many of the other personalities in the film, including Paco Valdepeñas. Juan is known as a great "festero", or someone who is an expert at bringing a party to life. Tao videotaped many of his charming performances, in which, in addition to playing sublime traditional flamenco, he would sing improvised lyrics about cooking, gypsies going to the moon, and other hilarious absurdities.

Luis Peña: Luis is a young protégé of Paco Valdepeñas’. He and Tao became great friends after he started giving Tao dance lessons. Tao and Luis spent many nights walking the streets of Seville, looking for places where flamenco may have been happening. Luis is one of the few young artists who still appreciates the traditional style of his predecessors, especially as it is embodied in the song, dance and guitar of Paco and Juan.