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Javier Bardem
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Javier Bardem is no stranger to fame. The tall, unconventionally handsome actor is already a huge star in his native Spain, where he has made 16 films in the last decade. More important, he has displayed a dazzling range that has made him part of that rare breed of actor: one who is capable of playing any role. Lover, fighter, rascal, brute, con man, gay man, mad Santeria priest on a murderous spree: Bardem has done them all. Now America is starting to pay attention. The reason for all the fuss is Bardem's American debut in Julian Schnabel's ''Before Night Falls,'' a portrait of the Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas, which opens next week.
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Javier Bardem was a major star in his native Spain long before earning international acclaim. He initially wanted to be a painter, but eventually went into the family business—he's the youngest in a family of actors. Bardem's breakthrough role, as the Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas in Before Night Falls... made him the first Spanish actor ever to receive an Oscar nod. He stars in two current films, the romantic drama, Love in the Time of Cholera, and the Western thriller, No Country for Old Men.
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Actor Javier Bardem has a big week ahead of him. He is up for "Best Supporting Actor" for his portrayal of a serial killer in “No Country For Old Men”. Javier won the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA for his performance and many believe he will take home the golden statue this coming Sunday.
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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.
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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, Bardem was a child actor who grew up in Madrid and appeared on Spanish television throughout his teen years. In films his breakout role came in 1992's Jamón, jamón (with young Penelope Cruz), and over the next decade he 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. Alternately brawny and sensitive, 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.
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Actor Javier Bardem is used to accolades. He has enough Goyas - the Spanish Oscar - to serve as legs for a coffee table. And he has been showered with attention since bursting onto the international scene with "Before Night Falls" in 2000.
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Javier Bardem