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Javier Bardem

Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (born 1 March 1969) is a Spanish actor. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Encinas and the second or maternal family name is Bardem.

Javier Bardem

Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem

(1969-03-01) 1 March 1969

Actor

1990–present

(m. 2010)

2

A son of actress Pilar Bardem, he first became known for such Spanish films as Jamón jamón (1992), Boca a boca (1995), Carne trémula (1997), Los lunes al sol (2002), and Mar adentro (2004). He received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing Reinaldo Arenas in Before Night Falls (2000), a criminal with cancer in Biutiful (2010), and Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos (2021). His portrayal of assassin Anton Chigurh in the Coen brothers' western film No Country for Old Men (2007) won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.


Bardem has also starred in Woody Allen's romantic drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Sam Mendes's James Bond spy film Skyfall (2012), Terrence Malick's drama To the Wonder (2013), Darren Aronofsky's horror film mother! (2017), Asghar Farhadi's mystery drama Everybody Knows (2018), Denis Villeneuve's science fiction films Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024), and Disney's live-action remake The Little Mermaid (2023).


Bardem has been married since 2010 to actress Penélope Cruz, with whom he shares two children. In January 2018, Bardem became the ambassador of Greenpeace for the protection of Antarctica.[1]

Early life[edit]

Bardem was born on 1 March 1969 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, Spain. His mother, Pilar Bardem (1939–2021), was an actress, and his father, José Carlos Encinas Doussinague (1931–1995), was the son of a cattle rancher.[2] According to Pilar's memoirs, José had a "capricious and violent will," and shot up the front door. He changed jobs more than 10 times, leading to evictions and the children going hungry. The two separated shortly after Javier's birth.[3][4] His mother raised him and his elder siblings, Carlos and Mónica, alone (another sibling died shortly after birth), both of whom have also pursued an acting career. His father died of leukemia in 1995.[2][5]


Bardem comes from a long line of filmmakers and actors dating back to the earliest days of Spanish cinema. He is a grandson of actors Rafael Bardem and Matilde Muñoz Sampedro (sister of actresses Mercedes and Guadalupe),[6] and a nephew of screenwriter and director Juan Antonio Bardem.[7] On the latter's side, he is a cousin of filmmaker Miguel Bardem.[8] He comes from a political background, as his uncle Juan Antonio was imprisoned by Franco for his anti-fascist films.[5] Bardem was brought up in the Roman Catholic faith by his grandmother.[9][10]


As a child, he spent time at theatres and on film sets.[5] At age six, he made his first film appearance, in Fernando Fernán Gómez's El Pícaro (The Scoundrel).[5][11] He also played rugby for the junior Spanish National Team.[12][13] Though he grew up in a family full of actors, Bardem did not see himself going into the family business, and painting was his preferred medium.[14] He went on to study painting for four years at Madrid's Escuela de Artes y oficios.[12][15] In need of money, he took acting jobs to support his painting but felt he was a bad painter and eventually abandoned it as a career.[14]


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, a job that made him question whether he wanted to be an actor at all.[16] Bardem also worked as a stripper (for one day) during his struggling acting career.[17]

Career[edit]

1990–1999: Early roles[edit]

Bardem came to notice in a small role in his first major motion picture, The Ages of Lulu, when he was 21, in which he appeared along with his mother, Pilar Bardem. He also appeared in minor roles in Amo tu cama rica and High Heels.[18] Bigas Luna, the director of Lulu, was sufficiently impressed to give him the leading male role in his next film, Jamón Jamón in 1992, in which Bardem played a would-be underwear model and bullfighter. The film, which also starred his eventual wife Penélope Cruz, was a major international success.[12] Bardem featured in Sancho Gracia's Huidos,[18] and starred in Bigas Luna's next film Golden Balls (1993).


Bardem's talent did not go unnoticed in the English-speaking world. In 1997, John Malkovich was the first to approach him, then a 27-year-old, for a role in English, but the Spanish actor turned down the offer because his English was still poor.[13][19] His first English-speaking role came that same year, in with director Álex de la Iglesia's Perdita Durango, playing a santería-practicing bank robber.

: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, for Before Night Falls (2000)

73rd Academy Awards

: Best Actor in a Supporting Role, win, No Country for Old Men (2008)

80th Academy Awards

: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, Biutiful (2010)

83rd Academy Awards

: Best Actor in a Leading Role, nomination, Being the Ricardos (2021)

94th Academy Awards

Over his career, he has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following performances:

List of Spanish Academy Award winners and nominees

List of actors with Academy Award nominations

List of actors with Hollywood Walk of Fame motion picture stars

at IMDb

Javier Bardem