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, Javier Bardem was a child actor who grew up in Madrid and appeared on Spanish television throughout his teen years. His breakout film role came in 1992's Jamón, jamón (with young Penelope Cruz), and over the next decade Javier Bardem 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. Javier 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). Bardem was again nominated for an Oscar as best actor for the 2010 Spanish-language film Biutiful.
Javier Bardem "played competitive rugby for years," according to a 2010 story in The Daily Beast... The title Biutiful "refers to the orthographical spelling in Spanish of the English word beautiful as it would sound to native Spanish speakers," according to Wikipedia.
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, Rovi
Bardem was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands (Spain). His mother, Pilar Bardem, is an actress, and his father, José Carlos Encinas Doussinague, was a businessman who was involved in environmental work; the two separated shortly after his birth.[3][4] His mother raised him alone.[5] 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.[6] Both his older brother and sister, Carlos and Mónica, are actors. Bardem was raised Roman Catholic by his grandmother.[7][8] He also comes from a very political background, his uncle Juan Antonio was imprisoned by Franco for his anti-fascist films.[5]
As a child he hung around theatres and film sets.[5] At age six he made his first film appearance in Fernando Fernán Gómez's El Pícaro (The Scoundrel).[5][9] He played rugby for the underage Spanish National Team.[10][11] Though he grew up in a family full of actors, Bardem didn't see himself going into the family business. In actuality painting was his first love.[12] He went on to study painting for four years at Madrid's 'Escuela de Artes y Oficios'.[10][13] In need of money he took acting jobs to support his painting but, has expressed to have been a bad painter eventually leaving it.[12] In 1989, for the Spanish comedy show El Día Por Delante (The Day Ahead) he had to wear a Superman costume for a comedic sketch, the job made him question whether he wanted to be an actor at all.[14] Bardem has confessed to have worked as a stripper (for one day only) during his struggling acting career.[15]
Career
Bardem starred in his first major motion picture, The Ages of Lulu, when he was 20. He was propelled to fame in 1992 by his role as a potential underwear model and would-be bullfighter in Jamón, jamón, which also starred a teenage Penélope Cruz.[10] Bardem's talent did not go unnoticed in the English-speaking world. In 1997, John Malkovich was the first to approach the then 27-year-old for a role in English, but Bardem turned down the offer because his English was poor.[11][16] His first English-speaking role came in 1997, in with director Alex de la Iglesia's Perdita Durango, playing a santería-practicing bank robber. After starring in about two dozen films in his native country, he gained international recognition in Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls in 2000, portraying Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas.[10] He received praises from (his idol) Al Pacino, the message was left on Bardem's answering machine which he considers one of the most beautiful gifts he's ever received.[5] For the role he got nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, a first time for a Spaniard. Immediately after, he turned down the role of "Witwer" in Minority Report which eventually went to Colin Farrell.[17] In 2002 instead he starred in John Malkovich's directorial debut, The Dancer Upstairs. Malkovich (who first approached Bardem in 1997) originally had him in mind for the role of the detective's assistant, but since the movie took so long to get financed it gave Bardem time to learn English and take on the lead role of the detective. "I will always be grateful to him because he really gave me my very first chance to work in English", Bardem said of Malkovich.[11][16]
He credits the group AC/DC for his fluency in English as well as learning how to curse and has stated he loves heavy metal music.[12] Bardem has admitted in interviews he cannot drive, only getting behind the wheel for film roles,[10][33] and he consistently refers to himself as a "worker" and not an actor.[34]
Bardem is an atheist.[35] 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 fuck with the Church" (mañana mismo, sólo para joder a la Iglesia).[36] In May 2011 Bardem teamed up with The Enough Project's co-founder John Prendergast to raise awareness about conflict minerals in eastern Congo.[37]
Bardem began dating then co-star Penélope Cruz in 2007, although the couple have maintained a low public profile.[38] The two are famously private and won't talk about their personal lives.[12] According to the Associated Press, the two were married in July 2010 in the Bahamas.[39] On 14 September 2010, it was announced that Cruz was four and a half months pregnant with their first child.[40]The Hollywood Reporter quoted the Spanish magazine ¡Hola! that Cruz gave birth to a boy on 22 January 2011, three days before Bardem received his third Oscar nomination, for his role in Biutiful.[41] The couple's son is reportedly named Leo Encinas Cruz.[42]
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