Biography - Javier Bardem

One of the most popular and respected Spanish performers of his generation, Javier Bardem is currently sitting on a hot seat of buzz from his performance in Joel and Ethan Coen’s Oscar frontrunner “No Country for Old Men,” for which Bardem has received a near-sweep of critics’ awards, a Golden Globe, a SAG Award, and an Oscar nomination. The sexy actor is known for his powerful screen presence and gracious, friendly attitude.

Bardem was born on March 1, 1969 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain into a long line of Spanish filmmakers, actors, and writers. He is the nephew of legendary Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bardem. Though he began acting in television and film by the age of six, he cultivated an interest in painting and sports as a youth, playing for a time on the Spanish national rugby team. He quickly turned back to acting (it couldn’t have been long before someone recognized his talents), starring in “The Ages of Lulu” when he was 20 years old. 1992 saw the release of his first hit film “Jamón Jamón,” in which he co-starred with 18 year-old future superstar Penélope Cruz, who is currently rumored to be his girlfriend. Bardem’s best-known film internationally from his Spanish period in the 90s is Pedro Almodóvar’s exquisite 1997 film “Live Flesh,” which also starred Cruz and Francesca Neri. Bardem also had a brief role in Almodóvar’s 1991 film “High Heels.”

His international breakthrough came in 2000 with Julian Schnabel’s “Before Night Falls,” portraying exiled gay Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas. The film earned Bardem an Oscar nomination, the prestigious Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival, Best Actor from the National Society of Film Critics, and an Independent Spirit Award. He has since appeared in Michael Mann’s “Collateral” with Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, the critically acclaimed Spanish film “The Sea Inside,” Milos Forman’s “Goya’s Ghosts” with Natalie Portman, and “Love in the Time of Cholera.” His performance as a deranged sociopathic assassin in “No Country for Old Men” has been his biggest success to date. He is lined up to solidify his star-making momentum with roles in Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (also starring Cruz, along with Scarlett Johansson and Patricia Clarkson), Joe Carnahan’s Pablo Escobar biopic “Killing Pablo,” Francis Ford Coppola’s “Tetro,” and Rob Marshall’s big-budget adaptation of the 80s musical “Nine,” which is based on Federico Fellini’s landmark film “8 ½.”