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Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (born March 1, 1969) is a Spanish actor. Born in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, he is the latest in a long line of a family which has been making movies since the earliest days of Spanish movie making: son of Pilar Bardem, nephew of screen writer and director Juan Antonio Bardem. His film debut was at the age of 6, and he appeared in several television series before turning to painting and, eventually, athletics. He was a member of the Spanish national rugby team.

In 1992 appeared in Jamón, Jamón, an international hit movie. But his role in that film as a sexy stud made him afraid that he would be typecast, and he deliberately decided to avoid such roles later. Eventually he would land his international breakthrough performance role in Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls in 2000, as Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role, the first Spaniard to be so honored.

Bardem 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 2004, he won the Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his role in The Sea Inside, a film about the true-life suicide of Ramón Sampedro. Future roles include an appearance in Steven Soderbergh's upcoming biopic Che (2006), as well as a starring role as Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar in Joe Carnahan's Killing Pablo. He is also slated to appear in the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men.

Internet rumors say that Bardem may be cast in a new biopic of international terrorist Carlos the Jackal, which is to be supposedly helmed by maverick Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles.

Nominations and awards

Academy Awards

• 2001 - nominated Best Actor in a Leading Role - Before Night Falls

Donostia-San Sebastián International Film Festival

• 1994 - won Silver Seashell Best Actor - Días contados and El Detective y la muerte

European Film Awards

• 2004 - won Best Actor - Mar adentro
• 2002 - nominated Best Actor - Mondays In The Sun
• 1998 - nominated Best Actor - Carne trémula

Golden Globes

• 2005 - nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama - Mar adentro
• 2001 - nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama - Before Night Falls

Goya Awards

• 2005 - won Mejor Actor Principal - Best Lead Actor - Mar adentro
• 2003 - won Mejor Actor Principal - Best Lead Actor - Los lunes al sol (Mondays In The Sun)
• 1998 - nominated Mejor Actor Principal - Best Lead Actor - Carne trémula
• 1996 - won Mejor Actor Principal - Best Lead Actor - Boca a boca
• 1995 - won Mejor Actor de reparto - Best Supporting Actor - Días contados
• 1994 - nominated Mejor Actor Principal - Best Lead Actor - Huevos de oro
• 1993 - nominated Mejor Actor Principal - Best Lead Actor - Jamón, jamón

Independent Spirit Awards

• 2001 - won Best Male Lead - Before Night Falls

Venice Film Festival

• 2004 - won Volpi Cup Best Actor - Mar adentro
• 2000 - won Volpi Cup Best Actor - Before Night Falls

Controversy

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 over the church" (mañana mismo, sólo para joder a la Iglesia). Bardem has always been wary of Hollywood, preferring instead to make films in his native Spain or elsewhere.

Actor credits

• Guerrilla (film) (2007)
• Amor en tiempos de cólera (2007)
• No Country for Old Men(2007)
• Goya's Ghosts (2006)
• Killing Pablo (2005)
• Collateral (2004)
• The Sea Inside (2004)
• Mondays In The Sun (2003)
• The Dancer Upstairs (2003)
• Between Your Legs (2003)
• Before Night Falls (2000)
• Second Skin (2000)
• Perdita Durango (1997)
• Live Flesh (1997)
• Mouth To Mouth (1996)
• Huevos de oro (1993)
• Jamón, jamón (1992)

External links

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