Best Known As: The really, really bad guy in No Country For Old Men
Spanish actor Javier Bardem won an Oscar as best supporting actor for his role in the 2007 drama No Country For Old Men. Raised in a family of actors and filmmakers, Bardem was a child actor who grew up in Madrid and appeared on Spanish television throughout his teen years. In films his breakout role came in 1992's Jamón, jamón (with young Penelope Cruz), and over the next decade he earned praise for his versatility and his strong performances in the films Boca a boca (1995), Carne trémula (1997) and Segunde piel (1999). His portrayal of a tortured Cuban writer in Before Night Falls (2000) brought him an Oscar nomination, the first ever for an actor from Spain. Bardem works mostly in European films, but his turn as a composed and persistent killer in No Country For Old Men, the Coen brothers's film version of the Cormac McCarthy novel, brought him international praise and made him a genuine movie star in America. Alternately brawny and sensitive, he followed that film with two roles as a romantic lead, in Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) and in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008, with Scarlett Johansson).
Born: Mar 01, 1969 in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain
Occupation: Actor
Active: '90s-2000s
Major Genres: Drama, Thriller
Career Highlights: Before Night Falls, Live Flesh, Jamón Jamón
First Major Screen Credit: Jamón Jamón (1992)
Biography
Possessing a chameleon-like ability to disappear into his characters, which frequently renders him unrecognizable save for his piercing eyes, it's no wonder that Javier Bardem chose to pursue a career as an actor given his family's long history in show business. Always hesitant to play the same type of character twice, the very foundation of Bardem's career is his remarkable ability to so immerse himself in character that audiences never even see the actor. Each role is a transformation that occurs both mentally and physically, and Bardem's hesitance to embrace celebrity culture and make a conscious effort to break into the American market has only served to make him more alluring to stateside filmmakers. Born the youngest member of a family of actors in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain, in 1969, Bardem's first role came at the age of six with the film El Picaro (aka The Scoundrel). Bardem was a shy boy who immediately took to acting, and numerous television roles as well as a stint touring with an independent theater company found the young rugby enthusiast increasingly dedicated to the stage. An interest in painting led Bardem to study at Madrid's Escuela de Artes y Officios, but following a series of odd jobs and the realization that he would never develop the skills to become a great artist, he eventually drifted back into acting.
Moving into the 1990s, Bardem's collaborations with such filmmakers as Pedro Almodóvar (High Heels [1991] and Live Flesh [1997]) and J.J. Bigas Luna (Jamón Jamón [1992] and Huevos de Oro [1994]) found his popularity as a Spanish screen star growing. Goya-nominated for his performances in both Jamón Jamón and Huevos de Oro, Bardem took home the award for his roles in Dias Contados (1994) and Boca a Boca (1995), and it was becoming increasingly clear that a formidable international talent was emerging. Though some may have regarded Bardem as little more than a beefcake sex symbol due to his steamy early roles, a turning point came with the release of 2000's Before Night Falls. A thoughtful look at the life of Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, Bardem took over the role after Benicio Del Toro abandoned the it, and his physical transformation stunned audiences worldwide. Arenas was an ultimately tragic figure who eventually committed suicide while living in poverty in New York City, and Bardem prepared tirelessly for the role by changing his diet, immersing himself in Arenas' works, and traveling to Cuba to speak with those who knew the writer personally and to learn the Cuban dialect. In addition to drawing the actor international accolades, the role also found Bardem making history as the first Spanish actor ever to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Though the offers came flooding in following the success of Before Night Falls, Bardem remained steadfast in his resistance to the Hollywood system. Turning down roles in such blockbusters as The World is Not Enough, it became increasingly obvious that Bardem was indeed sincere in his intentions to remain thoughtful about his career choices. Following his role in actor John Malkovich's directorial debut, The Dancer Upstairs (2002), Bardem's role as an unemployed dockworker in Fernando León de Aranoa's Mondays in the Sun (also 2002) again found the actor drawing praise. Though the film ultimately didn't take home the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, it did net Bardem another Best Lead Actor Goya in addition to being voted Best Film at the awards.
In 2004 Bardem joined forces with director Alejandro Amenabar for the euthenasia drama The Sea Inside , earning solid reviews for his work as a man fighting to die with dignity. He bolstered his status as an international leading man with Milos Foreman's Goya's Ghosts in 2006, but the following year would bring Bardem the most substantial praise of his career to that point with his work in the Coen Brothers No Country for Old Men. His portrayal of the remorseless, amoral killer earned him nearly unanimous praise and several year end accolades including the Best Supporting Actor award from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes, as well as an Academy Award nomination in the same category. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Bardem was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, the son of Carlos Encinas and the actress Pilar Bardem.[2] Bardem comes from a long line of filmmakers and actors who have been working since the earliest days of Spanish cinema; he is the grandson of actors Rafael Bardem and Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, and the nephew of screenwriter and director Juan Antonio Bardem.[3] Both his older brother and his older sister, Carlos and Mónica Bardem, are actors. His film debut was at the age of six and a half in the film El Pícaro (The Scoundrel) and he appeared in several television series before turning to painting and, eventually, sports. Before acting professionally, Bardem was a member of the underage Spanish national rugby team.[4]
Bardem won the Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his role in 2004's Mar Adentro, released in the United States as The Sea Inside, in which he portrayed the quadriplegic turned assisted-suicide activist Ramón Sampedro , who unsuccessfully brought his case to the Spanish courts, yet eventually succeeded in persuading several friends to assist him and committed suicide. That year he also made a brief appearance as a vicious crime lord who summons Tom Cruise's hitman to do the dirty work of dispatching witnesses, in Michael Mann's crime drama Collateral, which also starred Jamie Foxx. In 2007 Bardem acted in two film adaptations; the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men, based upon the novel of the same name and the adaptation of the classic Colombian novel Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. In No Country for Old Men, he played chilling sociopath killer Anton Chigurh. For that role, he became the first Spanish actor to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also won a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for Best Supporting Actor, and also won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor as well as the 2008 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Supporting Actor. Bardem's rendition of Chigurh's trademark phrase, "Call it, friendo" was named Top HollyWORDIE of 2007 in the annual survey by the Global Language Monitor that tracks the words from Hollywood that most influenced the English Language.[5] Anton Chigurh was placed in EW's 50 Most Vile Villains in Movie History in a recent issue at #26.[6]
He recently starred in Woody Allen's 2008 Oscar-winning film Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Bardem was in talks to play fictional filmmaker Guido Contini in the film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical Nine. However, it was confirmed in May 2008 that Daniel Day-Lewis would play the part.[7]
Personal life
Bardem does not know how to drive and consistently refers to himself as a "worker" and not an actor.[8] Following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Spain in 2005, Bardem incited controversy when he stated that if he were gay, he would "get married tomorrow, just to piss the Church off" (mañana mismo, sólo para joder a la Iglesia).[9] Bardem's life's work was recently honored at the 2007 Gotham Awards, produced by Independent Feature Project. Bardem began dating then co-star Penélope Cruz in 2007, although the couple has maintained a low public profile.[10]
Cinema Writers Circle Award for Best Actor
Sant Jordi Award for Best Spanish Actor
Spanish Actors Union Newcomer Award
Nominated — Fotogramas de Plata Award for Best Movie Actor
Nominated — Goya Award for Best Actor
