Benicio del Toro
Encyclopedia
Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (born February 19, 1967) is a Puerto Rican
and Spanish
actor
and film producer
. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award
, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award
for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic
(2000). He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual Suspects
(1995), Dr. Gonzo
in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
(1998), Franky Four Fingers in Snatch
(2000), Jackie Boy
in Sin City
(2005), and Che Guevara
in Che
(2008). He is the third Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award.
, and grew up in Santurce
, a district of San Juan
. He is the son of Gustavo Adolfo del Toro Bermúdez and Fausta Genoveva Sánchez Rivera, who were both lawyers. He has an older brother, Gustavo, who was a pediatric oncologist at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City
. He is of Spanish
, Italian
, and Indigenous
American
ancestry.
Del Toro, whose childhood nicknames were "Skinny Benny" and "Beno", was raised a Roman Catholic and he attended Academia del Perpetuo Socorro
(The Academy of Our Lady of Perpetual Help), a Roman Catholic school in Miramar, Puerto Rico. When del Toro was nine years old, his mother died of hepatitis
. At age 12, he moved with his father and brother to Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
, where he was enrolled at the Mercersburg Academy
. He spent his adolescence and attended high school there. After graduation, del Toro followed the advice of his father and pursued a degree in business at the University of California, San Diego
. Success in an elective drama course encouraged him to drop out of college and study with noted acting teachers Stella Adler
and Arthur Mendoza
, in Los Angeles, as well as at the Circle in the Square Theatre School
, in New York City
.
and the NBC miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story
. He had a cameo in Madonna's
1987 music video clip "La Isla Bonita
" as a background character (the kid sitting on the car). Work in films followed, beginning with his debut in Big Top Pee-wee
and in the 007
film Licence to Kill
, in which 21-year-old del Toro held the distinction of being the youngest actor ever to play a Bond villain. Del Toro continued to appear in movies like The Indian Runner
(1991), China Moon
(1994), Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
(1992), Money for Nothing
(1993), Fearless
(1993) and Swimming with Sharks
(1994).
His career gained momentum in 1995 with his breakout performance in The Usual Suspects, where he played the mumbling, wisecracking Fred Fenster. The role won him an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor and established him as a character actor. This led to more strong roles in independent and major studio films, including playing Gaspare in Abel Ferrara
's The Funeral
(1996) and winning a second consecutive Best Supporting Actor Independent Spirit Award for his work as Benny Dalmau in Basquiat (1996), directed by his friend, artist Julian Schnabel
. Del Toro also shared the screen with Robert De Niro
in the big budget thriller The Fan
, in which he played Juan Primo, a charismatic Puerto Rican baseball star.
For Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the 1998 film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson
's famous book, he gained more than 40 lbs. (about 18 kg) to play Dr. Gonzo
(a.k.a. Oscar Zeta Acosta
), Thompson's lawyer and drug-fiend cohort. The surrealistic film, directed by Terry Gilliam
, has earned a cult following
over the years. Returning from a two-year hiatus after Fear and Loathing, del Toro would gain a mainstream audience in 2000 with a string of performances in four high-profile films. First up was The Way of the Gun
, a crime yarn that reunited him with The Usual Suspects screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie
, making his directorial debut. A few months later, he stood out among a first-rate ensemble cast in Steven Soderbergh's
Traffic, a complex dissection of the North American drug war
s. As Javier Rodriguez —a Mexican
border cop struggling to remain honest amid the corruption and deception of illegal drug trafficking —del Toro, who spoke most of his lines in Spanish, gave a performance that dominated the film.
His performance swept all of the major critics awards in 2001. Del Toro won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
, becoming the fourth living Oscar winner whose winning role was a character who speaks predominantly in a foreign language. Del Toro is also the third Puerto Rican actor to win an Oscar, after Jose Ferrer
and Rita Moreno
. The night he won his Oscar marked first time that two actors born in Puerto Rico were nominated in the same category (the other actor was Joaquin Phoenix
). In his acceptance speech, del Toro thanked the people of both Nogales, Arizona
and Nogales, Sonora
and dedicated his award to them. In addition to the Oscar, he also won the Golden Globe Award
and the Screen Actors Guild
award for Best Actor. Traffic was also a success at the box office, bringing to del Toro real Hollywood clout for the first time in his career. While Traffic was still playing in theaters, two other del Toro films were released in late 2000/early 2001. He had a brief role as the diamond
thief Franky Four Fingers in Guy Ritchie
's hip caper comedy Snatch, and played a mentally-challenged
Native American
man in The Pledge
, directed by his old friend Sean Penn
.
In 2003, del Toro appeared in two films: The Hunted, co-starring Tommy Lee Jones
, and the drama 21 Grams
, co-starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts
. He went on to garner another Best Supporting Actor
Oscar nomination for his work in the latter. He then appeared in the film adaptation
of Frank Miller's
graphic novel
Sin City, directed by Robert Rodriguez
, and Things We Lost in the Fire
, the English language
debut of celebrated Danish director Susanne Bier
. Things We Lost in the Fire co-starred Halle Berry
, Alison Lohman
, and John Carroll Lynch
.
In 2008, del Toro was awarded the Prix d'interpretation masculine
(or Best Actor Award) at the Cannes Film Festival
for his characterization of Che Guevara
in the biographical films The Argentine and Guerrilla (together known as Che
). During his acceptance speech del Toro dedicated his award "to the man himself, Che Guevara" along with director Steven Soderbergh
. Del Toro was also awarded a 2009 Goya Award as the Best Actor
for his depiction of Che. Actor Sean Penn
, who won an Oscar
for his role in Milk
, remarked that he was surprised and disappointed that Che and del Toro were not also up for any Academy Award nominations. During his acceptance speech for the Best Actor's trophy at the Screen Actors Guild Awards
Penn expressed his dismay stating, "The fact that there aren't crowns on Soderbergh's and Del Toro's heads right now, I don't understand ... that is such a sensational movie, Che." For the final portions of the film (shown here), del Toro shed 35 pounds to show how ill Guevara had become near the end of his life in the jungles of Bolivia
.
In 2010, del Toro starred in and produced the remake of Lon Chaney, Jr.
's classic cult film The Wolf Man.
He was chosen to be the face of the 2011 Campari
calendar, becoming the first male model to be featured in the Italian liquor company's calendar.
; this is a popular misconception.
While promoting his film The Wolfman in 2010, he described his romantic life as "in limbo." When asked if he had thoughts of settling down, he responded, "Why? Everyone says, 'Why isn’t he married?' But it’s like, F***! Why do I have to get married? Just so I can get divorced?" In an interview with The Times
he mentioned that he didn't want his West Hollywood apartment, which he described as his "cave," to be "invaded" by a wife and children.
On April 11, 2011, del Toro's publicist announced that del Toro and Rod Stewart's daughter Kimberly Stewart
were expecting their first child, although they were not in a relationship. Stewart gave birth to a daughter, Delilah Genoveva Stewart Del Toro, on August 21, 2011.
In November of 2011, he acquired Spanish citizenship
. The request was granted by the Spanish government due to his artistic talents and his Spanish roots (he has family in Barcelona
).
Puerto Rican people
A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...
and Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic
Traffic (2000 film)
Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the...
(2000). He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American neo-noir film written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey and Pete Postlethwaite....
(1995), Dr. Gonzo
Oscar Zeta Acosta
Oscar Zeta Acosta was an American attorney, politician, minor novelist and Chicano Movement activist, perhaps best known for his friendship with the American author Hunter S. Thompson, who characterized him as his Samoan Attorney, Dr...
in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a 1998 American drama film directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke and Benicio del Toro as Dr. Gonzo. It was adapted from Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel of the same name....
(1998), Franky Four Fingers in Snatch
Snatch (film)
Snatch is a 2000 crime film written and directed by British filmmaker Guy Ritchie, featuring an ensemble cast. Set in the London criminal underworld, the film contains two intertwined plots: one dealing with the search for a stolen diamond, the other with a small-time boxing promoter named Turkish ...
(2000), Jackie Boy
Jack Rafferty
Jack Rafferty is a fictional character in Frank Miller's Sin City, and a main antagonist of The Big Fat Kill. He is mainly referred to by his nickname Jackie Boy...
in Sin City
Sin City (film)
Sin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City, is a 2005 crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez...
(2005), and Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
in Che
Che (film)
Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline...
(2008). He is the third Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award.
Early life
Benicio del Toro was born in San German, on the southwest side of the island of Puerto RicoPuerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, and grew up in Santurce
Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Santurce is a district of San Juan, Puerto Rico.-Summary:Santurce is one of the top ten most populated areas of the island holding Miramar, Loíza, Isla Grande, Barrio Obrero, and Condado as main cultural hot spots for art, music, cuisine, fashion, hotels, technology, multimedia, film, textile and...
, a district of San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
. He is the son of Gustavo Adolfo del Toro Bermúdez and Fausta Genoveva Sánchez Rivera, who were both lawyers. He has an older brother, Gustavo, who was a pediatric oncologist at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He is of Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
, Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
, and Indigenous
Indigenous
Indigenous means: belonging to a certain place.Indigenous may refer to:In Ecology and Geography*Indigenous resources, resources which exist within local geography, that are not imported...
American
Americans
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
ancestry.
Del Toro, whose childhood nicknames were "Skinny Benny" and "Beno", was raised a Roman Catholic and he attended Academia del Perpetuo Socorro
Academia del Perpetuo Socorro
Academia del Perpetuo Socorro was founded in 1921 as a Catholic parochial school pertaining to the Perpetuo Socorro Parish at the Archdiocese of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The school is located in Miramar in Puerto Rico's capital city of San Juan...
(The Academy of Our Lady of Perpetual Help), a Roman Catholic school in Miramar, Puerto Rico. When del Toro was nine years old, his mother died of hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...
. At age 12, he moved with his father and brother to Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
Mercersburg is a borough in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, southwest of Harrisburg. Originally called Black Town, it was incorporated in 1831. In 1900, 956 people lived here, and in 1910, 1,410 people lived here...
, where he was enrolled at the Mercersburg Academy
Mercersburg Academy
Mercersburg Academy is an independent, coeducational boarding school for grades 9-12 located in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, United States. The school's mission is:...
. He spent his adolescence and attended high school there. After graduation, del Toro followed the advice of his father and pursued a degree in business at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
. Success in an elective drama course encouraged him to drop out of college and study with noted acting teachers Stella Adler
Stella Adler
Stella Adler was an American actress and an acclaimed acting teacher, who founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City and the The Stella Adler Academy of Acting in Los Angeles with long-time protege Joanne Linville, who continues to teach and furthers Adler's legacy...
and Arthur Mendoza
Arthur Mendoza
Arthur Mendoza was the principal acting instructor for the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting West. He has taught in Los Angeles for more than 20 years and has worked with such talents as Khandi Alexander, Sasha Barrese, Peta Wilson, Finola Hughes, Branford Marsalis, Deidre Hall, John Jopson, and...
, in Los Angeles, as well as at the Circle in the Square Theatre School
Circle in the Square Theatre School
Circle in the Square Theatre School is a non-profit, tax exempt drama school associated with the Circle in the Square Theatre and as such is the only accredited school attached to a Broadway theatre....
, in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Career
Del Toro began to surface in small television parts during the late 1980s, playing mostly thugs and drug dealers on programs like Miami ViceMiami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
and the NBC miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story
Drug Wars: The Camarena Story
Drug Wars: The Camarena Story is a 1990 TV mini-series based on Elaine Shannon’s book Desperados and the Time magazine article of the same name. It was directed by Brian Gibson and starred Steven Bauer, Miguel Ferrer, Benicio del Toro, Treat Williams and Craig T. Nelson...
. He had a cameo in Madonna's
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
1987 music video clip "La Isla Bonita
La Isla Bonita
"La Isla Bonita" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released as the fifth and final single from her third studio album, True Blue, on February 25, 1987, by Sire Records. Originally written as a lament, the song was first offered to Michael Jackson before Madonna accepted it...
" as a background character (the kid sitting on the car). Work in films followed, beginning with his debut in Big Top Pee-wee
Big Top Pee-wee
Big Top Pee-wee is the 1988 American family comedy sequel to the 1985 film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and stars Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman, Penelope Ann Miller, Valeria Golino, and Kris Kristofferson. The original music score is composed by Danny Elfman. The film is marketed with the tagline...
and in the 007
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. It marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in his brief tenure in the lead role of James Bond...
, in which 21-year-old del Toro held the distinction of being the youngest actor ever to play a Bond villain. Del Toro continued to appear in movies like The Indian Runner
The Indian Runner
The Indian Runner is a 1991 drama film written and directed by Sean Penn. It is based on Bruce Springsteen's song, "Highway Patrolman".-Plot:...
(1991), China Moon
China Moon
China Moon is a 1994 neo-noir written by Roy Carlson, directed by John Bailey, and starring Ed Harris and Madeleine Stowe.-Plot:The film opens as detectives Kyle Bodine and Lamar Dickey investigate a murder scene...
(1994), Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, a 1992 film directed by James Bond alumnus John Glen, was the last project developed by the father and son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind. It follows the events leading up to and including the voyage of Columbus to the New World in 1492...
(1992), Money for Nothing
Money for Nothing (film)
Money for Nothing is a 1993 comedy/crime film directed by Ramón Menéndez. It is based on the life of Joey Coyle, an unemployed longshoreman in Philadelphia who, in February 1981, found $1.2 million in the middle of the street after it had fallen out of the back of an armored car. The screenplay,...
(1993), Fearless
Fearless (1993 film)
Fearless is a 1993 film directed by Peter Weir and written by Rafael Yglesias from his novel of the same name. It was shot entirely in California....
(1993) and Swimming with Sharks
Swimming with Sharks
Swimming With Sharks is a 1994 American comedy drama film, directed and written by George Huang.- Plot :...
(1994).
His career gained momentum in 1995 with his breakout performance in The Usual Suspects, where he played the mumbling, wisecracking Fred Fenster. The role won him an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor and established him as a character actor. This led to more strong roles in independent and major studio films, including playing Gaspare in Abel Ferrara
Abel Ferrara
Abel Ferrara is an American film screenwriter and director. He is best known as an independent filmmaker of such films as The Driller Killer , Ms. 45 , King of New York , Bad Lieutenant and The Funeral .-Early life:Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent...
's The Funeral
The Funeral (1996 film)
The Funeral is a 1996 American crime-drama film directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Christopher Walken, Chris Penn, Annabella Sciorra, Isabella Rossellini, Vincent Gallo, Benicio del Toro and Gretchen Mol....
(1996) and winning a second consecutive Best Supporting Actor Independent Spirit Award for his work as Benny Dalmau in Basquiat (1996), directed by his friend, artist Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
. Del Toro also shared the screen with Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
in the big budget thriller The Fan
The Fan (1996 film)
The Fan is a 1996 American thriller film starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes. It was directed by Tony Scott and based on the novel of the same name by Peter Abrahams...
, in which he played Juan Primo, a charismatic Puerto Rican baseball star.
For Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the 1998 film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
's famous book, he gained more than 40 lbs. (about 18 kg) to play Dr. Gonzo
Oscar Zeta Acosta
Oscar Zeta Acosta was an American attorney, politician, minor novelist and Chicano Movement activist, perhaps best known for his friendship with the American author Hunter S. Thompson, who characterized him as his Samoan Attorney, Dr...
(a.k.a. Oscar Zeta Acosta
Oscar Zeta Acosta
Oscar Zeta Acosta was an American attorney, politician, minor novelist and Chicano Movement activist, perhaps best known for his friendship with the American author Hunter S. Thompson, who characterized him as his Samoan Attorney, Dr...
), Thompson's lawyer and drug-fiend cohort. The surrealistic film, directed by Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
, has earned a cult following
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
over the years. Returning from a two-year hiatus after Fear and Loathing, del Toro would gain a mainstream audience in 2000 with a string of performances in four high-profile films. First up was The Way of the Gun
The Way of the Gun
The Way of the Gun is a 2000 American film produced by Kenneth Kokin, written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Ryan Phillippe, Benicio del Toro, Juliette Lewis, Taye Diggs, Nicky Katt, and James Caan. It is considered a cult film. To date, this is the only film that McQuarrie has...
, a crime yarn that reunited him with The Usual Suspects screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie
Christopher McQuarrie
Christopher McQuarrie is an American screenwriter, producer and director. His screenplays include The Usual Suspects, for which he won the 1996 Academy Award, The Way of the Gun and Valkyrie....
, making his directorial debut. A few months later, he stood out among a first-rate ensemble cast in Steven Soderbergh's
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
Traffic, a complex dissection of the North American drug war
War on Drugs
The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...
s. As Javier Rodriguez —a Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
border cop struggling to remain honest amid the corruption and deception of illegal drug trafficking —del Toro, who spoke most of his lines in Spanish, gave a performance that dominated the film.
His performance swept all of the major critics awards in 2001. Del Toro won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
, becoming the fourth living Oscar winner whose winning role was a character who speaks predominantly in a foreign language. Del Toro is also the third Puerto Rican actor to win an Oscar, after Jose Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
and Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award....
. The night he won his Oscar marked first time that two actors born in Puerto Rico were nominated in the same category (the other actor was Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Rafael Phoenix , formerly credited as Leaf Phoenix, is an American film actor. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and his family returned to the continental United States four years later...
). In his acceptance speech, del Toro thanked the people of both Nogales, Arizona
Nogales, Arizona
Nogales is a city in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States. The population was 21,017 at the 2010 census. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 20,833. The city is the county seat of Santa Cruz County....
and Nogales, Sonora
Nogales, Sonora
Heroica Nogales , more commonly known as Nogales, is a city and its surrounding municipality on the northern border of the Mexican State of Sonora. The municipality covers an area of 1,675 km², and borders to the north the city of Nogales, Arizona, United States, across the U.S.-Mexico border...
and dedicated his award to them. In addition to the Oscar, he also won the Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
and the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
award for Best Actor. Traffic was also a success at the box office, bringing to del Toro real Hollywood clout for the first time in his career. While Traffic was still playing in theaters, two other del Toro films were released in late 2000/early 2001. He had a brief role as the diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
thief Franky Four Fingers in Guy Ritchie
Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie is an English screenwriter and film maker who directed Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver, RocknRolla and Sherlock Holmes.-Early life:...
's hip caper comedy Snatch, and played a mentally-challenged
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
man in The Pledge
The Pledge (film)
The Pledge is a 2001 American mystery film directed by Sean Penn. It is based on the 1958 novella Das Versprechen: Requiem auf den Kriminalroman , by Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt...
, directed by his old friend Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
.
In 2003, del Toro appeared in two films: The Hunted, co-starring Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
, and the drama 21 Grams
21 Grams
21 Grams is a 2003 American drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Danny Huston, and Benicio del Toro....
, co-starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts
Naomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. Watts began her career in Australian television, where she appeared in series such as Hey Dad..! , Brides of Christ , and Home and Away . Her film debut was the 1986 drama For Love Alone...
. He went on to garner another Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
Oscar nomination for his work in the latter. He then appeared in the film adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of Frank Miller's
Frank Miller (comics)
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...
graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
Sin City, directed by Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
, and Things We Lost in the Fire
Things We Lost in the Fire (film)
Things We Lost in the Fire is a 2007 drama film directed by Susanne Bier and written by Allan Loeb. The film was released in the United States and Canada on October 19, 2007 and in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2008.-Plot:...
, the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
debut of celebrated Danish director Susanne Bier
Susanne Bier
Susanne Bier is a Danish film director best known for her feature films Brothers, After the Wedding and the Academy-Award-winning In a Better World.-Life and work:Susanne Bier was born to Jewish parents in Copenhagen, Denmark...
. Things We Lost in the Fire co-starred Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
, Alison Lohman
Alison Lohman
Alison Marion Lohman is an American actress. She has had lead roles in the films White Oleander, Where the Truth Lies, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Flicka and Drag Me to Hell as well as smaller parts in Matchstick Men, Big Fish, Gamer, and Beowulf...
, and John Carroll Lynch
John Carroll Lynch
John Carroll Lynch is an American actor, known for his role as Drew Carey's cross-dressing brother on The Drew Carey Show, and for his role as Norm, the unassuming husband of Margie Gunderson in Fargo....
.
In 2008, del Toro was awarded the Prix d'interpretation masculine
Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)
The Best Actor Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946.- Award Winners :-External links:* * ....
(or Best Actor Award) at the Cannes Film Festival
2008 Cannes Film Festival
The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 14 to May 25, 2008. In addition to films selected for competition this year, major Hollywood productions such as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Kung Fu Panda had their world premieres at the festival.The British press...
for his characterization of Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
in the biographical films The Argentine and Guerrilla (together known as Che
Che (film)
Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline...
). During his acceptance speech del Toro dedicated his award "to the man himself, Che Guevara" along with director Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
. Del Toro was also awarded a 2009 Goya Award as the Best Actor
Goya Award for Best Actor
The Goya Award for Best Actor is one of the Goya Awards, Spain's principal national film awards....
for his depiction of Che. Actor Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
, who won an Oscar
81st Academy Awards
The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2008 and took place February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST...
for his role in Milk
Milk (film)
Milk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
, remarked that he was surprised and disappointed that Che and del Toro were not also up for any Academy Award nominations. During his acceptance speech for the Best Actor's trophy at the Screen Actors Guild Awards
15th Screen Actors Guild Awards
----Best Cast - Motion Picture: Slumdog Millionaire----Best Cast - Drama Series: Mad Men Best Cast - Comedy Series: 30 Rock ...
Penn expressed his dismay stating, "The fact that there aren't crowns on Soderbergh's and Del Toro's heads right now, I don't understand ... that is such a sensational movie, Che." For the final portions of the film (shown here), del Toro shed 35 pounds to show how ill Guevara had become near the end of his life in the jungles of Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
.
In 2010, del Toro starred in and produced the remake of Lon Chaney, Jr.
Lon Chaney, Jr.
Lon Chaney, Jr. , born Creighton Tull Chaney, was an American character actor. He was best known for his roles in monster movies and as the son of famous silent film actor, Lon Chaney...
's classic cult film The Wolf Man.
He was chosen to be the face of the 2011 Campari
Campari
Campari is an alcoholic apéritif obtained from the infusion of herbs and fruit in alcohol and water. It is a bitters characterized by its dark red color....
calendar, becoming the first male model to be featured in the Italian liquor company's calendar.
Personal life
Benicio is not related to Oscar-nominated director Guillermo del ToroGuillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and designer. He is mostly known for his acclaimed films, Blade II, Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy film franchise. He is a frequent collaborator with Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi and Doug Jones...
; this is a popular misconception.
While promoting his film The Wolfman in 2010, he described his romantic life as "in limbo." When asked if he had thoughts of settling down, he responded, "Why? Everyone says, 'Why isn’t he married?' But it’s like, F***! Why do I have to get married? Just so I can get divorced?" In an interview with The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
he mentioned that he didn't want his West Hollywood apartment, which he described as his "cave," to be "invaded" by a wife and children.
On April 11, 2011, del Toro's publicist announced that del Toro and Rod Stewart's daughter Kimberly Stewart
Kimberly Stewart
Kimberly Alana Stewart , is an actress, model, and fashion designer. She is the daughter of Rod Stewart and Alana Stewart.-Early life:...
were expecting their first child, although they were not in a relationship. Stewart gave birth to a daughter, Delilah Genoveva Stewart Del Toro, on August 21, 2011.
In November of 2011, he acquired Spanish citizenship
Spanish nationality law
Spanish nationality law refers to all the laws of Spain concerning nationality. The 11th article of the First Title of the Spanish Constitution refers to Spanish nationality and establishes that a separate law is to regulate how it is acquired and lost. This separate law is the Spanish Civil Code...
. The request was granted by the Spanish government due to his artistic talents and his Spanish roots (he has family in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
).
Films
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Big Top Pee-wee Big Top Pee-wee Big Top Pee-wee is the 1988 American family comedy sequel to the 1985 film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and stars Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman, Penelope Ann Miller, Valeria Golino, and Kris Kristofferson. The original music score is composed by Danny Elfman. The film is marketed with the tagline... |
Duke, the Dog-Faced Boy | First on-screen appearence |
| 1989 | Licence to Kill Licence to Kill Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. It marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in his brief tenure in the lead role of James Bond... |
Dario | |
| 1991 | Miguel Aguilera | ||
| 1992 | Christopher Columbus: The Discovery Christopher Columbus: The Discovery Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, a 1992 film directed by James Bond alumnus John Glen, was the last project developed by the father and son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind. It follows the events leading up to and including the voyage of Columbus to the New World in 1492... |
Alvaro Harana | |
| 1993 | Fearless Fearless (1993 film) Fearless is a 1993 film directed by Peter Weir and written by Rafael Yglesias from his novel of the same name. It was shot entirely in California.... |
Manny Rodrigo | |
| 1993 | Huevos de oro Huevos de oro Huevos de oro is a 1993 Spanish film directed by Bigas Luna. It stars Javier Bardem, Maria de Medeiros, Alessandro Gassman, Maribel Verdú and Benicio del Toro.-Plot:... |
Bob, the friend from Miami | Also known as Golden Eggs |
| 1993 | Money for Nothing Money for Nothing (film) Money for Nothing is a 1993 comedy/crime film directed by Ramón Menéndez. It is based on the life of Joey Coyle, an unemployed longshoreman in Philadelphia who, in February 1981, found $1.2 million in the middle of the street after it had fallen out of the back of an armored car. The screenplay,... |
Dino Palladino | |
| 1994 | Swimming with Sharks Swimming with Sharks Swimming With Sharks is a 1994 American comedy drama film, directed and written by George Huang.- Plot :... |
Rex | |
| 1994 | China Moon China Moon China Moon is a 1994 neo-noir written by Roy Carlson, directed by John Bailey, and starring Ed Harris and Madeleine Stowe.-Plot:The film opens as detectives Kyle Bodine and Lamar Dickey investigate a murder scene... |
Det. Lamar Dickey | |
| 1995 | Fred Fenster | ||
| 1996 | Gaspare Spoglia | ||
| 1996 | Juan Primo | ||
| 1996 | Cannes Man Cannes Man (film) Cannes Man is a 1996 independent comedy film directed and composed by Richard Martini. The film stars Seymour Cassel and Francesco Quinn. The film also features more than 15 famous Hollywood actors including Johnny Depp, Jon Cryer, Benicio del Toro, John Malkovich, Dennis Hopper, Kevin Pollak, Jim... |
Himself | Cameo appearance Cameo appearance A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television... |
| 1996 | Basquiat | Benny Dalmau Jaco Pastorius John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player.... |
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male |
| 1996 | Joyride Joyride (1996 film) -Plot:A bored motel clerk and his buddies go for a little joy ride in a woman's car. They don't realize until it is too late that she is a paid assassin only known as Ms. Smith and that her latest victim is in the trunk... |
Detective López | |
| 1997 | Excess Baggage Excess Baggage Excess Baggage is a 1997 crime-comedy film written by Max D. Adams, Dick Clement, and Ian La Frenais, and directed by Marco Brambilla about a neglected young woman who stages her own kidnapping to get her father's attention, only to be literally kidnapped by a car thief... |
Vincent Roche | Nominated — ALMA Award Alma Award The American Latino Media Arts Award, or ALMA Award is a distinction awarded to Latino performers who promote positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment field... for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Crossover Role in a Feature Film |
| 1998 | Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a 1998 American drama film directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke and Benicio del Toro as Dr. Gonzo. It was adapted from Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel of the same name.... |
Dr. Gonzo aka Óscar Zeta Acosta Oscar Zeta Acosta Oscar Zeta Acosta was an American attorney, politician, minor novelist and Chicano Movement activist, perhaps best known for his friendship with the American author Hunter S. Thompson, who characterized him as his Samoan Attorney, Dr... |
|
| 2000 | Traffic Traffic (2000 film) Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the... |
Javier Rodríguez | |
| 2000 | Longbaugh | ||
| 2000 | Snatch Snatch (film) Snatch is a 2000 crime film written and directed by British filmmaker Guy Ritchie, featuring an ensemble cast. Set in the London criminal underworld, the film contains two intertwined plots: one dealing with the search for a stolen diamond, the other with a small-time boxing promoter named Turkish ... |
Franky 'Four Fingers' | |
| 2000 | Bread and Roses Bread and Roses (film) Bread and Roses is a 2000 drama film directed by Ken Loach, starring Adrien Brody. The plot deals with the struggle of poorly paid janitorial workers in Los Angeles and their fight for better working conditions and the right to unionize... |
Himself | Cameo |
| 2001 | Toby Jay Wadenah | Nominated — ALMA Award Alma Award The American Latino Media Arts Award, or ALMA Award is a distinction awarded to Latino performers who promote positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment field... for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture |
|
| 2003 | 21 Grams 21 Grams 21 Grams is a 2003 American drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Danny Huston, and Benicio del Toro.... |
Jack Jordan | |
| 2003 | Aaron Hallam | ||
| 2005 | Sin City Sin City (film) Sin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City, is a 2005 crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez... |
Jack Rafferty Jack Rafferty Jack Rafferty is a fictional character in Frank Miller's Sin City, and a main antagonist of The Big Fat Kill. He is mainly referred to by his nickname Jackie Boy... |
Nominated — ALMA Award Alma Award The American Latino Media Arts Award, or ALMA Award is a distinction awarded to Latino performers who promote positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment field... for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture |
| 2007 | Things We Lost in the Fire Things We Lost in the Fire (film) Things We Lost in the Fire is a 2007 drama film directed by Susanne Bier and written by Allan Loeb. The film was released in the United States and Canada on October 19, 2007 and in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2008.-Plot:... |
Jerry Sunborne | |
| 2008 | Che Che (film) Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline... |
Che Guevara Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist... |
Also producer |
| 2010 | Lawrence Talbot Larry Talbot Lawrence Stuart "Larry" Talbot is a fictional character and antihero who appears as the protagonist of the 1941 Universal film The Wolf Man, where he was portrayed by Lon Chaney, Jr... /The Wolfman |
Also producer | |
| 2010 | Somewhere Somewhere (film) Somewhere is a 2010 American drama film that was written and directed by Sofia Coppola. The film follows Johnny Marco, a newly famous actor, as he recuperates from a minor injury at the Chateau Marmont, a well-known Hollywood retreat. Despite money, fame and professional success, Marco is trapped... |
Himself | |
| 2011 | The Iceman The Iceman (2011 film) The Iceman is an upcoming drama thriller film based on the life of notorious Mafia assassin Richard Kuklinski.-Cast:* Michael Shannon as Richard Kuklinski* Chris Evans as Robert 'Mr. Softee' Pronge, Kuklinski's fellow hitman.... |
Roy Demeo Roy DeMeo Roy Albert DeMeo was a soldier in the Gambino crime family. He is infamous for heading the DeMeo crew, a gang suspected by the FBI of murdering at least 70 people between 1973 and 1983. The vast majority were disposed of so thoroughly that they were never found... > |
|
| 2011 | The Upsetter: The Life & Music of Lee Scratch Perry | Narrator Narrator A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for... |
|
| 2012 | Savages Savages (2012 film) Savages is an upcoming crime-drama film directed by Oliver Stone. It is based on the novel of the same name by Don Winslow, who co-wrote the script with Shane Salerno... |
Lado | |
| 2013 | Star Trek 2 Star Trek 2 (2013 film) Star Trek XII is a planned film sequel to 2009's Star Trek currently untitled and in the pre-production stages. The sci-fi action film is scheduled to enter production in January 2012 and is due to be directed by J.J. Abrams.-Development:... |
(rumoured) | |
Short films
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Submission | Director, writer and producer | |
| 2005 | Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula | Naevius Sutorius Macro Naevius Sutorius Macro Quintus Naevius Cordus Sutorius Macro was a prefect of the Praetorian Guard, from 31 until 38, serving under the Roman Emperors Tiberius and Caligula... |
Five minutes |
| 2005 | That's So New York | Himself | Three minutes |
Television series
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Miami Vice Miami Vice Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989... |
Pito | Episode: "Everybody's in Showbiz" |
| 1987 | Private Eye | Episode: "Blue Movie" | |
| 1990 | Drug Wars: The Camarena Story Drug Wars: The Camarena Story Drug Wars: The Camarena Story is a 1990 TV mini-series based on Elaine Shannon’s book Desperados and the Time magazine article of the same name. It was directed by Brian Gibson and starred Steven Bauer, Miguel Ferrer, Benicio del Toro, Treat Williams and Craig T. Nelson... |
Rafael Caro Quintero Rafael Caro Quintero Rafael Caro Quintero is an incarcerated Mexican drug lord born in La Noria, Badiraguato, Sinaloa. Quintero was a co-founder, with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, of the Guadalajara Cartel and Sonora Cartel. Upon of the cartels' disintegration, its leaders were incorporated mostly into the Tijuana... |
All episodes |
| 1994 | Tales from the Crypt Tales from the Crypt (TV series) Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO... |
Bill | Episode: "" |
| 1995 | Fallen Angels Fallen Angels (TV series) Fallen Angels was an American neo-noir anthology television series that ran from 1993 to 1995 on the Showtime pay cable station and was produced by Propaganda Films. No first-run episodes were shown in 1994.... |
Paco | Episode: "Good Housekeeping" |
| 2008 | Todos Contra Juan | Himself | Episode: "Juan & La Critica" |
Selected awards
| Year | Award | Nomination | Film |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Independent Spirit Award | Best Supporting Actor win | The Usual Suspects The Usual Suspects The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American neo-noir film written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey and Pete Postlethwaite.... |
| 1996 | Independent Spirit Award | Best Supporting Actor win | Basquiat |
| 2000 | Academy Award Academy Awards An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers... |
Best Supporting Actor win | Traffic Traffic (2000 film) Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the... |
| Berlin International Film Festival Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978... |
Silver Bear for Best Actor win | Traffic Traffic (2000 film) Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the... |
|
| British Academy Awards (BAFTA) British Academy of Film and Television Arts The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:... |
Best Supporting Actor win | Traffic Traffic (2000 film) Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the... |
|
| Chicago Film Critics Association Chicago Film Critics Association The Chicago Film Critics Association is an American film critic association.-Members:Current members include:*Sarah Knight Adamson*Zbigniew Banas*Shelley Cameron*Dave Canfield*Vittorio Carli*Erik Childress*Camerin Courtney*Bonnie DeShong... |
Best Supporting Actor win | Traffic Traffic (2000 film) Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the... |
|
| Golden Globe | Best Supporting Actor win | Traffic Traffic (2000 film) Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the... |
|
| National Society of Film Critics Film criticism Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films, individually and collectively. In general, this can be divided into journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, and other popular, mass-media outlets and academic criticism by film scholars that is informed by film theory and... |
Best Supporting Actor win | Traffic Traffic (2000 film) Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the... |
|
| New York Film Critics Circle | Best Supporting Actor win | Traffic Traffic (2000 film) Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the... |
|
| Screen Actors Guild Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide... |
Best Actor win | Traffic Traffic (2000 film) Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the... |
|
| Toronto Film Critics Association Toronto Film Critics Association The Toronto Film Critics Association is an organization of film reviewers from Toronto-based publications. As of 1999, the TFCA is member of FIPRESCI.-History:... |
Best Actor win | Traffic Traffic (2000 film) Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the... |
|
| 2003 | Academy Award Academy Awards An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers... |
Best Supporting Actor nomination | 21 Grams 21 Grams 21 Grams is a 2003 American drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Danny Huston, and Benicio del Toro.... |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Chicago Film Critics Association The Chicago Film Critics Association is an American film critic association.-Members:Current members include:*Sarah Knight Adamson*Zbigniew Banas*Shelley Cameron*Dave Canfield*Vittorio Carli*Erik Childress*Camerin Courtney*Bonnie DeShong... |
Best Supporting Actor nomination | 21 Grams 21 Grams 21 Grams is a 2003 American drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Danny Huston, and Benicio del Toro.... |
|
| L.A. Film Critics Association Los Angeles Film Critics Association The Los Angeles Film Critics Association was founded in 1975. Its main purpose is to present yearly awards to members of the film industry who have excelled in their fields. These awards are presented each January... |
Best Supporting Actor win | 21 Grams 21 Grams 21 Grams is a 2003 American drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Danny Huston, and Benicio del Toro.... |
|
| Screen Actors Guild Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide... |
Best Supporting Actor nomination | 21 Grams 21 Grams 21 Grams is a 2003 American drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Danny Huston, and Benicio del Toro.... |
|
| 2008 | Cannes Film Festival Cannes Film Festival The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals... |
Best Actor win | Che Che (film) Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline... |
| Goya Awards Goya Awards The Goya Awards, known in Spanish as los Premios Goya, are Spain's main national film awards, considered by many in Spain, and internationally, to be the Spanish equivalent of the American Academy Awards.... |
Best Actor win | Che Che (film) Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline... |